“YOU KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE A HARD DAY AND YOU JUST WANT TO UNWIND? THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I WANT MY STUDENTS TO FEEL. THEY SHOULD FEEL LIKE THEY HAVE ARRIVED AT THEIR OASIS.” CERAMICS DOUBLES IN SIZE
Rosa shows off her finished bowl, ready to be dried and trimmed up before a bisque firing. 8 THE CRUCIBLE magazine 2022
Until recently, the Ceramics Department’s small space has prevented it from growing into the powerhouse our community wanted it to become. When we asked Rosa what she was most excited about regarding the expansion, she shared that she is ready to give the community what they have been requesting for years—wheels! Over the past few months, Rosa and our studio team have been busy revamping the Ceramics classroom with brand new equipment and an expanded layout. Our staff have added eight new pottery wheels, a clay recycling system, an additional sink, a brand new slab roller, and more. For the first time ever, we will offer classes focused specifically on wheel throwing for all levels, including Wheel Throwing I and II starting this January. The new recycling system allows our faculty and students to reuse slurry, produced in abundance when throwing on the wheel. This new slurry system will enable our studio to recycle slip into reusable clay, as clay is one of the most easily recycled materials in the world. As long as clay has not been fired, it can be recycled. Many potters keep their throwing slurry, clay scraps from trimming, or broken greenware to recycle and reuse. This new system for reclaiming unused clay will allow The Crucible to further commit to reducing waste in the studios. In addition to all of these updates, Rosa is expanding our glaze area to include dipping glazes, which will allow students to submerge their pieces into large-scale buckets of glaze. This process is much faster for glazing and is an upgrade from our current brush-only glaze system. Also on the list is a brand new ventilation hood, which will allow for students to work with spray on glazes.
