There’s something timeless and powerful about sculpting animals, transforming raw clay to reflect the grace, strength, and mystery of their worlds. Sculpting animal portraits is a hands-on workshop in which participants will learn to create expressive animal portraits, deep bas relief sculptures that capture not only an animal’s features (face/body) but an essence of who they are in a particular moment in time. This 3-hour workshop will involve a mix of group demonstrations and one-to-one guidance, emphasizing observation and connecting with your animal subject. Participants will learn basic animal anatomy, handbuilding techniques, modeling skills, and how to bring their own animal creations to life through texture (fur/hair) and gaze (eyes, head/body position). Participants can design their portraits to hang on walls, to be displayed on an easel, or to stand on a base. Participants are asked to bring basic sculpting tools and photos of an animal they would like to sculpt taken from different angles (front, side, closeup).