About Ceramics
Our ceramics program prepares students to produce work of professional competence in various clay media focusing on mastery of relevant technical skills and creative expression with a strong emphasis on concept, craftsmanship, design, and aesthetics. We offer wheel-throwing, hand-building, mold making, slip-casting, clay formulation, glaze formulation, kiln theory, and studio practice. Our focus is to promote creativity, conceptual development and individual expression in both functional and sculptural ceramics.
Students will be challenged to think creatively, to inquire, create, learn, and grow in a quest for personal expression within the field of visual art/design. It also provides an energetic atmosphere that will enable the art/design student to develop to the fullest of their creative intellect and potential. This includes expanding and broadening their skills and discipline, strengthening their confidence in their abilities, and developing problem solving capabilities. Excellence and the commitment to excellence is instilled in the students ‑ not to accept the "standard solution" but to seek to go beyond, to take risks.
Students learn the verbal and visual vocabulary of the artist/designer, and how to use this vocabulary to translate their ideas and feelings into a synonymous three-dimensional form that reflects these ideas and feelings. This development is rooted in a strong foundation of the fundamental techniques which are necessary for personal experimentation and investigation of clay as an individual statement.
Degree Information
Design majors cultivate talents that make them desirable in numerous professions. Many careers directly involve design work, but a graduate from a liberal arts program in design enters the workforce with a highly developed sense of aesthetics, an aptitude for working alone or as part of a team, and the abilities to exercise critical judgment and respond positively to criticism.
Graduates also have valuable experience in planning projects and seeing them through to completion. These qualities are highly sought after by many employers. Some design graduates, particularly those in the crafts areas, maintain studios from which they exhibit or sell their work.
Design majors are prepared for careers in businesses that require design or art professionals. Advertising, fashion, publishing, e-commerce, and consumer product industries all required designers/artists to create, contribute to, or package their products.
Ceramics Student Organization
The Coalition of Ceramic Designers (C2D) student organization is a USG funded club focused on educating those interested in the ceramic arts. Through the club, the students are able to bring in nationally known ceramic artists for demonstrations and lectures, host kiln firing events, and collaboratively present their work in local galleries. They also build community through monthly themed potlucks.