For many U students, school means hitting the books and planning for a desk job. But some spend their days throwing clay at a potter’s wheel and aiming for a career creating pottery.
Many ceramics majors chose their field of study because they do not want typical nine-to-five jobs after graduation. Some are already selling their work.
“I want to do some residences after I graduate and travel, meet other potters,” said Austin Riddle, a junior in ceramics. “I’ve started selling my work a little, so I kind of have an idea about what it’s like to live off it.”
But most potters probably won’t live just off of their artwork.
“There [are] many opportunities for a student who graduates with a BFA: teaching, being a professional artist, working in museums and galleries,” said Brian Snapp, department chair for the College of Art and Art History and head of the ceramics department.
He believes the ceramics major gives student a unique set of problem-solving skills, a solid work ethic and self-motivation, skills which can prepare them for almost any job.
There are less than two dozen ceramics majors at the U. The students have formed a tight community because of their small class sizes. They often talk about their projects together, which stimulates their creative processes, Riddle said.
“We tend to be more extroverted. We have potlucks, and we have wood firing events,” Snapp said. “We are a much more sociable group.”
Riddle agreed.
“Ceramics is a really social environment,” he said.
The required classes for the ceramics major are very different from other classes offered across campus. Most students at the U will never sit at a pottery wheel or perfect handbuilding techniques for homework, but ceramics majors spend more time with clay than they do with books.
Ceramics majors also have fewer required math and typical sciences courses than most majors. However, many ceramics classes, such as glaze calculation, involve some chemistry skills.
Students in ceramics also attend fewer lectures. Their classes are built around group learning and time to work on their projects. They complete an extensive portfolio of work as part of their capstone course before graduation.
In addition to basic materials, ceramics majors work with glaze and several types of kilns to complete their artworks. The type of kiln changes the way the glaze reacts when fired. Soda kilns, for example, use sodium and other specific chemicals, as well as baking soda, to create different effects on the art work depending on the glaze used. Typically this effect produces an iron oxide finish that makes the artwork look as if it has been rusted.
“The soda kiln [is my favorite kiln]. We built that last fall, and I just got addicted to it,” Riddle said.
All projects are fired twice, first at a lower temperature in a process called bisque firing, and then at a higher temperature. If pieces are fired incorrectly, they can crack or the glazing may be ruined.
The art department builds and rebuilds kilns when they have funding to do so, and the students help build the kilns.
“I think you’re a scientist, a builder and a potter all at once,” Riddle said.
Ceramics majors are drawn to their arts for various reasons, but many like the close connection they have with their work as they handle their pieces throughout the creation process.
“Its pretty hands-on,” Riddle says. “I like to have that connection with my artwork.”
Snapp said the ceramics major is crucial because it trains students to communicate visually.
“The world needs people who are able to communicate non-verbally. We live in a world that is visually illiterate,” he said.