Ceramics
A course of study in ceramics may be pursued as an emphasis in the Studio Art major (BFA). Ceramics is housed in a newly renovated state-of-the art facility. The ceramics studio includes a spacious work area for handbuilding and wheelthrowing, and separate spaces for plaster work and slip casting, raw material storage, clay mixing, glaze mixing, and glaze application. Individual studios are provided for graduate students; advanced undergraduate students have a designated work area. Equipment includes 20 electric and kick wheels, a slab roller, two extruders, a Soldner clay mixer, a Venco pug mill, a ball mill, a sandblaster, five top-loading electric kilns and a front loading Olympic electric kiln; a Laguna raku kiln, two Alpine updraft kilns (one used for soda firing), two Geil downdraft kilns, and a wood kiln.
Ceramics courses introduce students to the wide range of artistic expression possible in the use of clay as an art medium. Students acquire proficiency in forming techniques, glazing and other surface treatments, and kiln firing. The study of historical and technical developments relates ceramics to other three-dimensional media, as well as to the broader history of art. An active visiting artist program and field trips to area collections and exhibitions augment the ceramics curriculum. As a student progresses through the ceramics curriculum, increased emphasis is placed on developing the ability to produce expressive objects that embody content and are sophisticated, knowledgeable, and resolved.
Ceramics area concentration courses (18 semester hours)
- ART 350 - Ceramics I Hours: 3
- ART 450 - Ceramics II Hours: 3
- ART 451 - Ceramics III Hours: 3
Plus 9 semester hours* from: ART 350 Ceramics I, ART 450 Ceramics II, ART 451 Ceramics III - Courses are repeatable.
9 semester hours from:
- ART 320 - Airbrush Painting Hours: 3
- ART 321 - Watercolor I Hours: 3
- ART 330 - Printmaking Hours: 3
- ART 331 - Screenprinting Hours: 3
or 9 sh from any advanced (300 or 400-level Photography course)
