Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony & Clay-Making Workshop with Netsanet Shawl
Workshop Description:
This community project invites participants to experience the warmth and hospitality of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony while learning how to handcraft small clay coffee pots (Jebena) and cups. The event will begin with an introduction to the Ethiopian coffee tradition, where Netsanet will roast green coffee beans on-site. Participants will learn about the cultural meaning of the ceremony as a space for storytelling, connection, and community. Coffee will be brewed in a traditional jebena and shared among guests to create a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere.
Following the coffee sharing, Netsanet will guide participants through making small clay coffee pots and cups using commercial clay, ensuring workability and durability. The designs will be inspired by the graceful, rounded forms of Ethiopian jebenas, adapted to a smaller size suitable for a beginner workshop. Participants will use simple hand-building techniques and have the option to add decorative patterns. This workshop blends cultural exchange with hands-on making, offering a sensory experience that celebrates tradition, craft, and community. Completed pieces will be fired and returned to participants, serving as a personal keepsake from the gathering.
About the Instructor:
Netsanet Shawl is a multidisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg, Canada. Originally from Ethiopia, she creates sculptural works using clay, natural fibers, and found materials to explore cultural memory, migration, and the intergenerational knowledge of women. Her practice weaves together Ethiopian and Indigenous methods learned through research, community engagement, and land-based processes in Manitoba.
Netsanet holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) and is completing her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Manitoba in 2025. Her thesis, From Earth to Art: Cultural Continuity Across Ethiopia and Indigenous Manitoba, investigates women’s creative knowledge through material exploration, storytelling, and the use of locally gathered resources like cattail grass and Winnipeg clay. Her installations often include vessels, baskets, photographs, and raw materials that evoke land, memory, and lived experience. Netsanet’s work is rooted in care, ancestry, and the transformative power of working with one’s hands. As a mother, migrant, and maker, she brings a relational and embodied approach to art-making centering storytelling, tradition, and place as vital sources of meaning and connection.
Accessibility Information about the space: 329 Cumberland has wheelchair access around the right side of the building. The C2 Centre has gender neutral family washrooms.
Workshop Runs:
October 11th, 2025 | 12:30 – 3:30 pm
In-person at the C2 Centre for Craft
Registration: FREE
All materials are provided
Registration deadline: October 2nd, 2025
Register Online:
REGISTRATION AND THE WAITLIST FOR THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
Any questions regarding this workshop?
Contact MCC Programme Coordinator, Katrina Craig at mccprogramming@c2centreforcraft.ca or (204) 615-3951.
