Making Space: Rainbow Refugee Pottery Program

The Rainbow Refugee pottery program has been offering free art and pottery classes to LGBTQIA+ newcomers since March 2023. This program is funded by Arts NS and offers weekly classes to 9 participants, led by artist Andrea Puszkar.

The folks involved learned basic pottery throwing, as well as clay sculpture and carving skills. After a few weeks of ceramics, they began working with artist Ariella Palke to document and create short videos about their work and lives, using ceramics as topic, background, and metaphor. The program also offered movement workshops with Sally Morgan, and textiles, felting, and sculpture workshops with Abi Hodson. Each of these artists transformed their work and connected it to the participants ceramics practices.

A show of our work will take place at Pier 21, Ralph and Rose Chiodo Gallery from October 12- 15th, and it will include ceramics, video, and photography. We will also host a small community project open to the public on Saturday October 14th from 1PM - 5PM in the Rail Side Room at Pier 21. This project is sponsored by Rainbow Refugee Association of NS, Arts NS, and Craft NS. Come visit us at Pier 21 during Nocturne for a demonstration of we’ve been up to and get your hands in some clay