Ceramic Pumpkin Workshop with Rachel Leary, Omagh

What to Expect

Rachel Leary leads an adult ceramics workshop at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh on Saturday 10 October 2026 at 10:30am, in which each participant builds and decorates an autumn pumpkin. The piece is made using the pinch pot method, the oldest hand-building technique in ceramics and the one that needs no wheel: you start from a ball of clay, press a thumb into the centre and work the walls outward and upward with your fingers.

Once the form is built, the session moves on to decoration, with participants adding detail and finishing with ceramic paints. Because fired ceramics cannot be completed in a single morning, Rachel Leary takes the finished pieces away, applies a gloss glaze at her own studio, and returns them to the Strule for collection. That means you leave the workshop empty-handed and come back for the finished pumpkin, which the box office will confirm when it is ready. The workshop is listed for adults and tickets are £30, booked through the Strule Arts Centre. It falls three weeks ahead of Halloween, which is roughly the right lead time if the piece is intended to sit out for the season. Once purchased, tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable.

Good to Know

• Date and time: Saturday 10 October 2026 at 10:30am
• Venue: Strule Arts Centre, Townhall Square, Omagh
• Price: £30
• Age: adults
• Tutor: Rachel Leary
• Technique: pinch pot hand building, decorated with ceramic paints
• Finished pieces are glazed off site by the tutor and returned to the Strule for collection
• Booking through the Strule Arts Centre website or the box office on 028 8224 7831; tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable

Getting There

The Strule Arts Centre is on Townhall Square in the centre of Omagh, beside the River Strule and a short walk from High Street and Market Street. Omagh is reached on the A5 from Strabane and Derry to the north and from Ballygawley and the M1 to the south, on the A32 from Enniskillen and on the A505 from Cookstown. Council car parks sit within a few minutes’ walk of the square, though Saturday mornings are the busiest time in town, so allow extra time. The Omagh bus centre on Mountjoy Road handles Ulsterbus services from Belfast, Derry, Enniskillen and Dublin.