Dear Students,
A warm and hearty welcome to class blog for Art 165: Ceramics I. You will find nearly all of the resources you need for our class on this blog, and what you can't find here you will find in our class google folder. Please begin to familiarize yourself with course policies and course goals and intended learning outcomes (see right hand menu for links to the syllabus, etc).
This course provides an introduction to art-making and artistic practice through the medium of ceramics. We will complete a series of 4 - 5 studio projects, each designed to build technical, conceptual, and historical knowledge about making art in ceramics, one of the oldest known art forms/materials. For example, the Venus of Dolnà Vestonice (pictured below), is estimated to be 29,000 years old! Shaped from sticky earth (aka clay), these objects were tossed into a fire .. most blew up. Those that didn’t were transformed by the fire (vitrified), becoming as nearly permanent as the rocks and minerals from which they had been shaped. Over time, people discovered that different colors of sticky mud were actually mixtures of different clays (aka clay body) that could be used for different purposes, resulting in innovations of form, function, glaze, kilns and firing temperatures. In this sense the field of ceramics and ceramic engineering began at least 29,000 years ago when people first learned to control heat in kilns by watching the color of the fire, and when formal and aesthetic knowledge grew exclusively from direct experience, keen observation and detailed record keeping. Today, we push a few buttons on the kiln’s computer, walk away and the kiln does the work for us, but, even for that to work, we must first understand the principles.
Venus of Dolnà Vestonice
Works like the Venus of Dolni Vestonice represent some of the earliest forms of ceramic sculpture and provide archeological evidence of early human culture, revealing the centrality of art and ritual as the basis for cultural and aesthetic expression. Ellen Dissanayake, author of numerous books including Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes From and Why makes the claim that aesthetic expression and experience is hard wired into us! Through our work together this semester I hope you will strengthen that hard-wiring and discover your artistic vision and build skills to support that vision!
What follows below is a collection of some works by well known ceramic artists. Through the semester we will learn about both historical and contemporary works in both western and non-western cultures. This exposure to excellent works in the field of ceramic art is intended to help support and inspire the development of your own work as an emerging ceramic artist!
Judy Moonelis
David Hicks
Adrian Arleo
Dear Students,
A warm and hearty welcome to class blog for Art 165: Ceramics I. You will find nearly all of the resources you need for our class on this blog, and what you can't find here you will find in our class google folder. Please begin to familiarize yourself with course policies and course goals and intended learning outcomes (see right hand menu for links to the syllabus, etc).
This course provides an introduction to art-making and artistic practice through the medium of ceramics. We will complete a series of 4 - 5 studio projects, each designed to build technical, conceptual, and historical knowledge about making art in ceramics, one of the oldest known art forms/materials. For example, the Venus of Dolnà Vestonice (pictured below), is estimated to be 29,000 years old! Shaped from sticky earth (aka clay), these objects were tossed into a fire .. most blew up. Those that didn’t were transformed by the fire (vitrified), becoming as nearly permanent as the rocks and minerals from which they had been shaped. Over time, people discovered that different colors of sticky mud were actually mixtures of different clays (aka clay body) that could be used for different purposes, resulting in innovations of form, function, glaze, kilns and firing temperatures. In this sense the field of ceramics and ceramic engineering began at least 29,000 years ago when people first learned to control heat in kilns by watching the color of the fire, and when formal and aesthetic knowledge grew exclusively from direct experience, keen observation and detailed record keeping. Today, we push a few buttons on the kiln’s computer, walk away and the kiln does the work for us, but, even for that to work, we must first understand the principles.
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| Venus of Dolnà Vestonice |
Works like the Venus of Dolni Vestonice represent some of the earliest forms of ceramic sculpture and provide archeological evidence of early human culture, revealing the centrality of art and ritual as the basis for cultural and aesthetic expression. Ellen Dissanayake, author of numerous books including Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes From and Why makes the claim that aesthetic expression and experience is hard wired into us! Through our work together this semester I hope you will strengthen that hard-wiring and discover your artistic vision and build skills to support that vision!
What follows below is a collection of some works by well known ceramic artists. Through the semester we will learn about both historical and contemporary works in both western and non-western cultures. This exposure to excellent works in the field of ceramic art is intended to help support and inspire the development of your own work as an emerging ceramic artist!
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| Judy Moonelis |
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| David Hicks |
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| Adrian Arleo |
Nathan Prouty, grouping of various forms
Dennis Gallagher, Man & Broken Column, 2004
Jenny Mendes
Virginia Scotchie
My hope for you is that you will gain confidence in your ability to express your ideas through one of the oldest materials known to artists, and that you will come to love this material and the processes associated with it! There’s nothing more basic and pure than raw earth with which to express your ideas!
May you work hard and enjoy the journey!
Prof G
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Dennis Gallagher, Man & Broken Column, 2004
My hope for you is that you will gain confidence in your ability to express your ideas through one of the oldest materials known to artists, and that you will come to love this material and the processes associated with it! There’s nothing more basic and pure than raw earth with which to express your ideas!
May you work hard and enjoy the journey!
Prof G
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