The BFA in Ceramics offers you opportunities to explore various ways of working with clay. Our program begins with ART 270: Ceramics I, which is a core course that concentrates on basic hand building and decorating techniques.
Subsequent Ceramics courses concentrate on:
- throwing techniques;
- glaze formulations;
- surface applications and decoration;
- problems relating to large scale work and;
- experimental techniques and/or research in glazing and firing.
After three courses in the sequence, you will enter the advanced section of the curriculum, where you are allowed to work more independently and one-on-one with the instructor. Specialized courses, for example in kiln design and construction, are also occasionally offered to advanced students.
Our Studio
Our Ceramics studio offers ample space and equipment for:
both wheel and hand throwing, including 10-12 electric potter’s wheels, three slab rollers, and two clay extruders;
rack storage for student work;
- facility for storing clay;
- equipment for mixing glazes;
- drying/kiln facility;
- electric and alpine gas kilns;
- outdoor firing facility with hand built kilns for primitive firings, a gas-fired salt kiln and a raku kiln and;
- adequate space for exerimental kiln building.
The Ceramics program at EKU emphasizes the importance of clay as a medium of artistic expression as well as craft. By studying its rich history, you are encouraged to become artists/craftspersons who experience a means to personal expression through your work. As a Ceramics student, you will be challenged by a range of past and present techniques and theories in order to define your own positions within the contemporary landscape of ideas and as a professional artist/craftsperson. The Ceramics program often arranges for visiting artists and adjunct faculty to participate in our program, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for as much as a full semester, in order to provide students with the opportunity to work with them on a firsthand basis. Practitioners and educators with national reputations who reflect a variety of ideologies and techniques are commonly guests.
By providing such a wide experience and strong foundation of study for our students we open opportunities for admission to graduate school, establishment of a private studio, work in a public art center, teaching, and a wide variety of other careers in their field.