Birds+Botanics Wall Relief Workshop (18 April – 3 May 2026)
Birds+Botanics Wall Relief Workshop with Jane du Rand
10–4:30pm: 18–19 April & 2–3 May 2026
Discover your inner artist in this four-day creative adventure with ceramicist Jane du Rand! You'll craft handmade bird and botanical ceramic reliefs, then arrange them into a stunning mosaic disc that's uniquely yours.
Perfect for adding personality to any room—indoors or out—this workshop transforms clay into conversation-starting wall art. No experience necessary, just bring your imagination and leave with a one-of-a-kind masterpiece you'll treasure forever.
A “relief” in art is a 3-dimensional sculpture that sits against a solid base or backing, as if rising from formlessness into form. Reliefs made from clay form an essential part of Jane du Rand’s ceramic and mosaic art, allowing her to combine ceramics and mosaics in unique ways that provide scale and life to her work. Jane’s wall reliefs were featured in her 2021 "Ornithological Observations" exhibition in Brisbane and celebrate the beauty and movement of Australia's native flora and fauna.
In preparation for the workshop, you might like to think about particular bird and plant species that you would like to feature in your design, although reference materials will also be available in the workshop to inspire you. Once we begin, we'll need four full days to create our artwork:
Day 1 (18 April):
The workshop will begin with a session on design in order to create a plan for the composition, tile choices, glazes and overall colour scheme for your work. Jane will have a selection of taxidermy specimens on hand for this task, as well as books and images to use as reference material.
Once your design is finalised, Jane will supply a ceramic base (approximately 40cm in diameter) that you will use as the foundation for your wall disc, and your next task is to make the various ceramic bird and botanical elements that will adorn your disc.
You will learn Jane's own techniques for hand-building 3-dimensional birds using clay with fine details down to the last feather. You will also be able to make use of ceramic moulds made by Jane to use to press repeated botanic elements for your work.
Day 2 (19 April):
While our ceramic pieces are drying, we will tackle the mosaic part of our design. Jane will demonstrate the tools and materials that she uses in her mosaic art, along with techniques for cutting mosaic tiles to create different design effects. You'll then work under Jane's guidance to incorporate mosaics into your work using glass mosaics and smalti.
Day 3 (2 May):
Our ceramic pieces will be bisque fired after the first weekend, so when we return for Day 3, we'll start by laying colour down on our discs. Jane will demonstrate the way that she uses underglazes, glazes, oxides and stains to create different effects for different ceramic surfaces. We will apply these techniques to our own work and send them off to the kiln for glaze firing overnight, before spending the rest of the day finishing the mosaics. (Mosaics take time!)
Day 4 (3 May):
The final day's work will be to grout and clean the mosaic sections of our disc and integrate all the ceramic pieces into the work. The finished piece can be taken home at the end of this class, or left to dry and collected from Plant Empire afterwards.
Materials and Collection
All materials and equipment for the workshop, including clay, glazes and mosaics to make and decorate your disc will be provided. Please wear closed shoes and an apron if you are worried about getting clay, glue or grout on your clothes.
Who Should Attend?
All levels of experience are welcome: this workshop is suitable for beginners or advanced students.
About Jane du Rand
South-African born, Ipswich-based Jane du Rand creates three-dimensional ceramic mosaic landscapes inspired by the native flora and fauna she encounters while bushwalking west of Brisbane. Originally trained as an architect, Jane’s intricate designs have been incorporated into the architecture of civic buildings, public spaces and private homes in Europe, the UK, the USA, South Africa and Australia.
Jane's accomplishments include being a finalist in the 2023 Siliceous award for ceramic excellence and she was one of 6 artists showcased in the 2023 Museum of Brisbane exhibition "Clay: Collected Ceramics" with her piece "Brisbane Bush Turkey" now held in the museum's collection. She was awarded "Best of Show" at the 2017 Ipswich Art Award, she was a finalist in the 2020 and 2022 Queensland Regional Art Awards, the 2018 Ipswich Art Award, and the Mercedes Benz Award for South African Art Projects in Public Spaces in 2009. Her solo exhibition "Living in Ipswich" was presented at Ipswich Art Gallery in 2020 followed by a second solo exhibition "Green Red and Black" in 2023. Jane's work features in many public spaces in south-east Queensland, with her most recent large-scale public art installation "All the Birds Singing" being commissioned for the Mental Health Unit at Ipswich Hospital which opened in 2024.
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Cost
$1600 / $1440 (Frequent workshoppers)
Frequent workshopper discount: Sign up for 2 or more Plant Empire workshops, or register 2 or more people for the same workshop, to receive 10% off the total registration price (discount will appear at checkout).
Location
Plant Empire has moved! This workshop will be held at our new premises in Tennyson, Brisbane: 15/55 Lofter St, Tennyson Q 4105.
Accessibility
In our new premises, we have ground floor workshop spaces as well as mezzanine level spaces with stairs. The ground floor spaces are all level without any steps, while the mezzanines are accessible via a staircase with 22 steps and 1–2 landings. Please let us know if you have any mobility issues that would limit your access to the mezzanine spaces so that we can ensure that your workshop is located at ground level by adding a note in the special instructions field when you register for your workshop: for example, "no stairs" or similar.
Reminders
You have full control over how (and how often) you receive reminders for our events. You will receive one email confirmation from us when you purchase your workshop registration; but we won't send any further email reminders, so please ensure that you have the workshop details in your diary. You can also use the "add to calendar" function in our events calendar to add workshops to your digital calendar and customise your reminder preferences.
Cancellation Policy
Please choose carefully before registering for this workshop as we do not offer refunds on event bookings. If you need to cancel your place up to 24 hours before the workshop, we will provide you with a voucher that you can use to attend a future workshop or any other purchase at Plant Empire. We regret that we are unable to provide vouchers for cancellations made within 24 hours of the workshop.
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