Ceramics Overview

The School of Art and Design offers the B.F.A., B.A., B.S., or A.S. degrees. Most students elect the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program (B.F.A.) which allows you to take up to 20 hours of specific ceramics classes. Additional work can be pursued by electing to use the Directed Studies series. As an incoming freshman, you would take AD 122 Ceramics: Handbuilding Techniques.

The initial courses emphasize the investigation of various construction techniques used in ceramic production. Subsequent courses motivate the student to become involved with the other aspects of the ceramic process, such as glaze calculation, kiln building, firing procedures, etc. At the upper levels greater emphasis is placed on developing and refining the technical and conceptual aspects of each students’ work. The Art and Design Department does not specify any one approach to the ceramic process, but rather organizes problems to allow the students to investigate and discover their personal approach to the medium. Senior B.F.A. work in recent years has included utilitarian wheel-thrown pottery, slip-cast vessels, hand built figurative work, large-scale sculpture, and ceramic installations.

We offer well equipped studios and at the upper levels we attempt to make available to the ceramic major a personal studio space. A year-round program of exhibition is to be seen in the University Art Museum, which is supplemented by workshops and lectures by visiting artists. Recent visiting artists include Julia Galloway, Stephen DeStaebler, Jane Shellenbarger, Keisuke Mizuno, Kurt Weiser, and Akio Takamori. Ceramics students have also made field trips to Minneapolis/St.Paul and Detroit to visit established ceramic artists/potters, galleries, and museums.

The Art and Design Department consists of 12 full-time faculty who are practicing artists and designers, exhibiting their work at the regional, national, and international levels. Each instructs an area of specialization such as ceramics, drawing/painting, photography, etc., and often teach our core courses as well. Our size and ratio of students to faculty allows for a more personal and in-depth teaching approach than can be found in larger universities and should be considered in your choice of schools.