Intermediate and Advanced Ceramics

This intermediate-level ceramics course builds upon foundational skills in wheel throwing, hand-building, glazing, and firing while encouraging students to develop greater technical control, independence, and intentionality in their work. Students will refine their understanding of clay through more complex forms, processes, and construction techniques, with an emphasis on precision, consistency, and craftsmanship. Through demonstrations, focused exercises, and individual projects, students will explore more advanced approaches to form, proportion, function, surface, and design. Students will develop greater fluency on the potter’s wheel and through hand-building while learning to alter, combine, and manipulate forms in more deliberate and complex ways. Emphasis will be placed on moving beyond simply making functional or well-crafted objects toward creating work that communicates a clear point.

Students will be challenged to push beyond familiar techniques, troubleshoot their own processes, and use failure and experimentation as part of their creative practice. By the end of the course, students will have developed a stronger technical foundation, a more intentional approach to making, and greater confidence in pursuing their individual direction in clay.

The first class is mandatory, as it covers essential studio safety procedures. Students who miss the first class will be dropped from the course and issued a 50% refund.