Earth and Stone: Cave Pottery
Step beneath the surface and into deep time.
Set within the ancient limestone chambers of the Marble Arch Caves, Earth and Stone: Cave Pottery is a rare opportunity to work with clay in the very place where earth, air, and water have shaped the land over millennia. Surrounded by rock sculpted drop by drop, you’ll explore one of humanity’s oldest crafts in a setting that feels both elemental and timeless.
Here, raw clay meets living stone. Guided by lantern glow and shifting shadows, you’ll take inspiration from the textures, curves, and passages carved by water. This immersive experience invites you to slow down, tune into the elements, and create a vessel that echoes the ancient landscape around you.
Perfect for those drawn to creativity, nature, and the quiet power of wild places.
Event Instructor
Lisa McCabe, the creative force behind Corranny Forest Pottery, works primarily with bare clay techniques, celebrating the honesty and material presence of earth itself. She describes her work as Contemporary Antiquities, drawing on ancient and archaeological ceramics while allowing each piece to evolve organically through process and intuition.
As an emerging artist, Lisa’s practice is deeply rooted in material, place, and time, making her an ideal guide for a workshop shaped by stone, shadow, and elemental forces.
Pottery Hand-Building Session
This intimate, hands-on workshop is inspired by prehistoric pottery-making traditions, when vessels were formed by hand, fire, and instinct. With a maximum of 8 participants, the session offers a calm, supportive environment tailored to the group’s experience and ability.
Using coil, slab, and pinch techniques, alongside simple moulds, you’ll create a decorative (non-functional) vessel that responds to the cave’s forms; ridges like stalactites, hollows like carved passages, surfaces marked by time.
Natural and coloured slips will be applied, along with earthy materials such as bog grasses, allowing you to imprint texture and memory into the clay. The result will be a piece that feels unearthed rather than made.
All pieces will be bisque fired by Lisa at Corranny Forest Pottery, using fire to complete the elemental journey. Finished work will be available for collection from the Marble Arch Caves approximately two weeks after the event.
The Show Cave Experience
As part of the event, participants will be guided through the spectacular show cave to the pottery-making area. Along the way, an expert guide will share the story of the cave’s immense age and formation, a landscape shaped patiently by water flowing through stone, air circulating through passages, and geological forces beyond human timescales.
This journey sets the tone for the workshop, grounding the creative process in place and history.
Light, Shadow, and Atmosphere
The workshop area will be illuminated using low-level cave lighting, lanterns, and headtorches. This intentionally subdued lighting allows shadows to move across the cave walls, revealing textures, contours, and forms that shift with every step.
Working in this environment encourages a deeper visual and tactile response to the cave, an authentic connection to shadow, surface, and space, much like early makers may have experienced.
What to Bring
All materials are provided. For comfort on the day, we recommend:
- An apron will be supplied, but please wear old clothes suitable for working with clay
- The cave temperature is a constant 9-10°C, so dress warmly with layers
- Sturdy footwear and a waterproof jacket are advised due to uneven ground, cave drips, and outdoor conditions
- A small hand towel for water droplets from the cave ceiling
- A warm drink in a flask to stay comfortable during the session
Booking
Due to the type of event all amounts paid hereunder shall be non refundable once paid. In the instance of the event being cancelled due to inclement weather refunds will be provided in this instance.
This is more than a workshop, it’s a meeting of material, memory, and landscape. A chance to shape earth within earth, guided by shadow, water, in one of Northern Ireland’s most ancient spaces.
