Be part of a national project to make 1000 clay horses!

Please join our national call for schools, faculty, and students to replicate clay horses in the style of Mycenaean and early Greek clay horse figurines.  The resulting exhibit in Washington, DC will be a spectacular national event to launch Making/History: The Trojan Horse Project. 

The Trojan Horse Project started in the spring of 2016, when students and faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design began researching the history, making drawings and models through museum visits, classwork, workshops, travel programs and more. VIEW the Trojan Horse MassArt Class Film.

How to Participate /

a)    Complete THIS APPLICATION before October 30, 2017

b)    Review project description and follow project guidelines—see below

c)    Ship works to Handshouse Studio by December 11, 2017

Project Description

Handshouse Studio invites faculty and students to make accurate full-scale replications of Mycenaean and early Greek clay horses figurines. The objective is for students to exercise keen observation and hand and eye skills to re-create, as accurately as possible, a precise, one-to-one replication. We invite faculty to present the project to their classes using the Trojan Horse history provided HERE.

All the work from participating faculty and students will be amassed and entered into a national exhibition in Washington, DC in 2018.

Who may participate?

This project is open to faculty and students from high school to college level and independent artists. Students are eligible to apply independently as well. All participants must agree to donate their clay horses to the project. At the conclusion of the exhibition, the clay horses will be used to augment funding for more exhibitions, scholarships and the Trojan Horse Project.

Deadlines

Applications are being accepted now through October 30, 2017
Shipping by December 11, 2017

Materials

Review our suggested clays, oxides and underglazes HERE.

Making the Horses

Horse replicas should be actual size—approximately 6 to 7 inches tall

Each student will be given a choice of an image of a Mycenaean or early Greek clay horse figurine, pre-selected by Handshouse Studio. The images of the horses are available HERE. 

Faculty can download the images from this website. Please use all the images if possible. Duplication is acceptable. Participants may send one or more horses.

Students will reference the selected images. This exercise will help build observation skills and knowledge of Mycenaean and early Greek artistic style and form. A brief history of the Trojan War is available HERE.

Tips for Students

•    Look at and determine dimensions, proportions, adjacent shapes, curves and thicknesses. Align your clay horse in the same orientation as the point of view of the photo image you are replicating.
•     When applying glazes, determine the size of your brush to match the single stroke of the original maker. Match color and artistic style of the original maker. Use a test piece of clay to test strokes before taking the brush to your own final work. Develop the same quality and nature of the original artist’s brush painting style.
•     When you have completed your first model, do another one with the intention to make your second attempt even more accurate than your first attempt. Time permitting, make a third!

Fee

There is NO FEE to participate in lieu of everyone covering shipping costs of their work or works to Handshouse Studio. See Packing & Shipping below

Selection

•      Faculty and students should select pieces to be packaged and shipped to Handshouse Studio.
•      All works meeting project guidelines and submitted on time will be exhibited.
•      Participants may send one or more horses.
•      Please use this SUBMISSION FORM to list names of all your participants. At the top of the submission form is a waver to be signed by faculty, director or individual participant, giving Handshouse Studio all rights to the clay horses.

Packaging & Shipping

•      Please wrap each clay horse separately in packing material for safe travel.  Please place the horses in quality boxes with sufficient packing materials to prevent damage. We recommend double boxing—putting the box inside a box—for safest shipping.
•      If a horse is broken when it arrives, we will try to repair it. If the repair is suitable, it will be included in the exhibition.
•      Include the Handshouse Submission Form with name of institution and names of all participants inside each package with the clay horses.
•      Ship works no later than December 11, 2017 to:
            Handshouse Studio
            8 Meadow Farm Way
            Norwell, MA 02061

Exhibition

•     All participants agree to donate their clay horses to the project and agree to have the horses in one or more exhibitions. At the conclusion of the exhibitions, the clay horses will be used to augment funding for exhibitions, scholarships and the Trojan Horse Project.
•     A list of all participants and home institutions will accompany the works submitted for exhibition.

For questions please contact info@handshouse.org

Please Apply Here /

Resources /

Submission Form
1000 Horses Clay Figurines PDF

Resources / Promotion

Print Version: One Thousand Horses Flyer PDF
Web Version: One Hundred Horses Web Flyer PDF
The Trojan Horse Project Brochure PDF

Mycenaean period clay figurines have been found in or near ancient Greek settlements, shrines, sanctuaries and cemeteries. Their role has been much debated and variously described as protection, aides for the transition to the next world, representations of necessities in the afterlife, offerings to the dead, offerings to divinities, and toys. Our selection includes horses with riders—one with a goddess sitting side-saddle—and a number of chariot groups.

While the form of these sculptural horses evolved over the centuries, their significance and the importance of the animal itself as a necessity for civilization, a symbol of wealth, a funeral offering, and a gift from the gods, continues throughout the history of Ancient Greece.

The One Thousand Horses project hopes to attract artist participation nationwide to collectively popularize the subject and to inspire potential donors to fund the Trojan Horse Project.

The Trojan Horse Project is a collaboration between Handshouse Studio, Trillium Studios and The International SPY Museum. Our long-term goal is for Handshouse Studio to produce a full-scale representation of the Trojan horse. Trillium Studios plans to create a documentary film of the process for television broadcast. Upon completion, the Trojan horse representation will be exhibited at the new International SPY Museum.