CERAMICS

FLORA, FAUNA, FIGURE, & NARRATIVE

with Salvador Jiménez Flores & KC Weldon

CERAMICS | 651 001 | 3 CREDITS $225 LAB FEE | MAY 28 - JUNE 10

This class engages with the form and content of flora and fauna through figurative ceramics. Throughout history, artists have used plant and animal life as tools for narrative and as modes of expression to represent the conflicts and connections between living things. Notions of the wild and domestic merge and are reflected in processes like taxidermy, idealized floral prints, and in the process of firing raw clay into ceramic objects. From mythical narratives to hyper-realist practices, representations of plant and animal life can create possibilities for new stories, meanings, and identities. Students will explore various hand-building methods, basic surface application, and assemblage to discuss their interest in culture, storytelling, and self-identity. Works by artists including Kiki Smith, Marcus Kenney, Firelei Baez, Alesandro Gallo, and others will act as points of departure for our work in this course. Some of the scholars we will study in this course include France de Waal and Homi K. Bhabha. Through demonstrations, slides, in-class activities, readings, and group discussions, this course will provide a productive and critical space for making. Class conversations will focus on the content and context of student work. Students should expect to produce 2-3 finished sculptures during the semester, to be presented in a culminating course critique.

WOODFIRE: ANCIENT METHODS & CONTEMPORARY APPLICATIONS

with Henry Crissman & Virginia Rose Torrence

CERAMICS | 660 001 | 3 CREDITS $250 LAB FEE | JUNE 11 - 24

This course will explore the many histories, methods, and potentials of using wood as fuel to heat and transform clay into ceramic. Presentations will survey ceramic science, the history and logic of kiln design, and the range of objects made with wood fired kilns. Demonstrations will include handbuilding and wheel throwing techniques as well as experimental methods with found ceramic materials and objects. Films and readings including Maria Martinez: Indian Pottery of San Ildefonso and Robin Wal Kimmerer’s ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ will offer insights as we engage and form the material of the Earth. Conversations throughout will aim to assist students in finding creative agency with ceramics. Students will work on independent projects and the class will culminate in a nearly two day long firing of Ox-Bow’s 50 cubic foot catenary-arch wood-kiln; a massive group effort that will involve loading the kiln, and methodically stoking it with wood for the duration of the firing until our desired temperature is reached throughout. While the kiln cools we’ll explore ways in which the techniques covered might be applied outside of the workshop, and build and fire a small and temporary kiln which students could easily recreate independently. Once cool, the big kiln will be unloaded and cleaned, results will be finished and analyzed, and we’ll hold an exhibit of the works created.

THE ANCIENT FUTURE: CLAY & SOUND

with Israel Davis & Douglas R. Ewart

CERAMICS | 659 001 | 3 CREDITS $225 LAB FEE | JULY 10 - 22

Music and clay, are two of the most malleable, elastic, enduring, widely utilized, and shared materials and experiences known to the Human Family. Many of the oldest musical instruments found at archeological sites are made of clay and, inspired by this ancient relationship, we will study the symbiotic nature of ceramics and sound through instrument making and performance. We will explore music and clay as medicine for meditation, comfort, and peace through the creation of ceramic drums, shakers, whistles, cups, bowls, and as carriers of sound, food, and libation. The works of Raven Halfmoon, Dante K. Hayes, and Ebi Baralaye may guide our creative path and we will review the ceramic instrument works of Nigeria, Pakistan, Morocco, and Turkey. Through daily musical improvisations, guided sessions, group discussions, and demonstrations on ceramic studio processes including hand-building, throwing, and glazing techniques, this course will culminate in pit fire and a final performance. We aim to share in meaningful exchange that reexamines ancient practices as a way to forge new pathways to cultural wellness.

THE EMOTIONAL ALCHEMIST: COLORED CLAY & GLAZE LAB

with Ling Chun & Amanda Salov

CERAMICS | 661 001 | 3 CREDITS $225 LAB FEE JULY 30 - AUGUST 12

This course will introduce students to a variety of exciting methods to bring color into their ceramics. Methods will include introducing stains and oxide stains onto clay bodies and glazes. By creating our own measurement of color, we will produce a visual color-aid to process, share ideas, and represent emotions. We will look into ceramic history and investigate how scientists and artists find ways to measure and apply color in their wares. Examples will include the cyanometer, a 225-yearold hue measuring tool for the sky and Nerikomi, a traditional Japanese colored clay method. Students will learn how to concoct inclusive stains into their clay body, and work through the process of understanding glaze through a series of testing methods including line blends & triaxial blends. This course will end in the presentation of successfully fired pieces.

MOSAICS IN STRATA

with Dove Hornbuckle & E. Saffronia Downing

CERAMICS | 658 001 | 3 CREDITS $300 LAB FEE | AUGUST 13 - 26

In this course, students will produce handcrafted ceramic tiles, forage for ceramic materials, and gain knowledge on material ecologies. Students will be taught techniques in tile making including slab making, reusing ceramic residue, and various methods in surface design. Taking advantage of the unique setting of Ox-Bow, we will forage for materials from local clay deposits and transform them in the ceramics studio. Students in this course may make mosaic sculptural pieces utilizing their handmade tiles. This class will be informed by the work of artists including Nek Chand, Isaiah Zagar, and Mary Nohl. Readings can include Carrier Bag Theory by Ursula Le Guin. Assignments will include tile making, surface treatment exercises, ceramic recycling methods, and discussion.

COVER ARTIST

1. E. Saffronia Downing, Path Star (Variation), 2022, Risograph prints of foraging sites, earthenware, glass and stones from

Chicago, Baltimore, Steuben,

Waterville, stoneware, glaze, 4 x 4 ft.

2. Salvador Jiménez-Flores,

A Hand Gesture to Systemic

Racism: Al que le quede el saco que se lo ponga, 2022, earthenware, stoneware, black stain, underglaze, glaze, wood, steel, graphite, and latex paint, 96 x 60 x 20 in.

3. Virginia Rose Torrence,

Untitled, 2018, ceramics, glass, found objects, on wood, 11 x 8 in.

4. Israel Davis, Mining the Echoes

Series: Incumbent Beyond, 2022, Wall-hung, ceramic tile mounted on painted plywood with hanging wire, 5lb., digitally generated images, screen-printed underglaze on earthenware, ceramic toner decals, 11 x 10 x 1 1/2 in.

5. Douglas R. Ewart, Truth is

Power, The Tongue is Mightier

Than The Sword, 2019, pine and maple woods; buttons; pyrographics: pencil; chicken wire; corn, rubber and wood glues; leather; canvas; acrylic paint; steel nails and screws; brass nails; nylon cords and thread, and plastic, 97 x 7 x 12 in.

6. KC Weldon, Prey, 2022, ceramic, 13 x 6 x 7 in.

7. Dove Hornbuckle, Self-Control, 2020, stoneware, glaze, 21 x 13 x 18 in.

8. Amanda Salov; Morning Light, 2020, porcelain, pigment, brass, cable; 3 ft. wide, height varies

9. Henry J.H. Crissman, Untitled

Teapot, 2021, wood-fired ceramic, 8 x 7 x 9 in.

10. Ling Chun, Bright Moon, 2021, ceramics, 4 1/2 x 4 x 4 in.