Anna Brass: Tabletop Sculpture

Various Sundays
Feb-May 2026

Devised by artist Anna Brass this series of practical workshops hosted by Helgate Pottery and the Sainsbury Centre invites you to use the Sainsbury Centre collection as inspiration for making sculptural vessels and tabletop ceramics.

Over four sessions, each a month apart, participants will make a series of sculptural tabletop objects (plates, bowls, cups and vessels) that directly reference the Sainsbury Centre collection.

Drawing on the domestic nature of many of the artworks in the Sainsbury Centre collection, Anna will guide participants through a process of looking and researching, sculpting, glazing and firing their work; followed by a shared supper at Helgate Pottery – using the finished pieces as tableware - to celebrate the creative process and mark the end of the project.

Anna Brass is an artist who makes lots of different things: films, drawings, paintings, ceramics, carpets, wall hangings, architectural maquettes. She is an Associate Artist at the Sainsbury Centre. Her work continually absorbs and interprets images: illuminated manuscripts, Byzantine mosaics, cartoons, film posters, early playing cards. Her practice is driven by a desire to generate and analyse visual material resulting in streams of imagery that are bound up by her research, which often centres around medieval and Renaissance Italy.

Sainsbury Centre is one of the first museums in the world to display art from all around the globe and from all time periods equally and collectively, Sir Robert and Lady Lisa Sainsbury created one of the most sought after yet non-conformist art collections. In 1973 they donated their collection, which transcended traditional barriers between art, architecture, archaeology and anthropology, to the UEA, and created an entirely new type of museum. Housed in Sir Norman Foster’s revolutionary first ever public building, the space aimed for an interactive relationship between people, object and landscape, where art was placed within an open yet intimate ‘living area’.

Session 1: Sainsbury Centre Collection Walkthrough
22nd February, 10:00am - 12:30pm

During this session Anna will guide you through an exploration of the Sainsbury Centre collection, and then you will create quick drawings with charcoal, ink, and collage. Your drawings will be cut out and added to a big paper parallelogram tabletop on the wall, ending the session with a collaborative image of what a dinner table might look like.

Session 2: Clay Vessels
29th March, 10:00am - 3:30pm (inc. 1 hour for lunch)

Working from Helgate you will reflect on your drawings from the first session, and will begin working with clay! Anna will support you in the creation of a series of vessels that can become a part of a collaborative table setting.

Session 3: Glazing
26th April, 10:00am - 12:30pm

Together you will look back at the objects from the Sainsbury Centre's collection that originally inspired you, discuss colour while looking over Helgate's glazes, and begin glazing your pieces.

Session 4: Lunch
31st May, 12:00pm - 2:30pm

This will be a pot luck lunch where everyone is asked to bring one dish that is inspired by the work you have made together.  You will take a moment to discuss all of the pieces made and then begin feasting!