Javier Jasso

This course provides an introduction to clay as a material. Participants will be introduced to a wide variety of methods and techniques to build, decorate, and glaze ceramic. Demonstrations in Hand-building, coiling, slap-building and surface application including glaze development and application, slip decoration and firing methods, will give students a proficiency in working with clay and in the ceramic department. Introductions to the rich and complex history of ceramic through readings, lectures and museum visits, will provide students with exposures to the critical discourse of contemporary ceramic. This is primarily a beginner's course but open to all levels of students. Readings will vary but typically include, Hands in Clay by Charlotte Speight and John Toki. Vitamin C: Clay and Ceramic in Contemporary Art by Clare Lilley. Ten thousand years of pottery by Emmanuel Cooper. 20th Century Ceramics By Edmund de Waal. Live Form: Women, Ceramics, and Community by Jenni Sorkin. The course will look at artist like Magdalene Odundo, George E. Ohr, Shoji Hamada, Roberto Lugo and Nicole Cherubini as well as historic ceramic from the Art Institutes of Chicago?s collection. Students are expected to complete 3 projects by the end of the semester, Biweekly readings will be part of the course.

This intro course will allow students to build upon and deconstruct our preconceived notions of what a 'pot' is. Can a pot be a subversive act of defiance? Can it express pleasure, grief or discomfort? We will explore what a pot can say and do beyond mere function. Investigating materiality, process, and conceptual frameworks the pot will serve as a form through which we?ll unpack issues ranging from the primordial to the celestial. Students will learn technical ceramic processes while examining the histories, practices, and conceptual potentialities of the vessel. We will look at artists who employ the vessel in their practice in a critical, subversive, personal and humorous ways. Some of the artists include Rubi Neri, Betty Woodman, Kathy Butterly, Theaster Gates, Sahar Khouri, Bari Ziperstein and more. Readings will include excerpts from ?Documents of Contemporary Art: CRAFT? and authors such as Glen Adamson, Edmund de Waal and Tanya Harrod. Students should expect to produce a body of work consisting of assigned and self directed projects to be presented in a culminating midterm and final critique.

This course is a broad overview of ceramic construction methods, firing processes, development of clay and glaze, and use of equipment. This is course is essential in learning the core processes of working with clay. Students will broaden their skills and gain a more thorough understanding of material characteristics and processes, develop firing skills, and participate in a dialogue about theory and content in ceramics. This course will address processes of hand-building and throwing on the wheel. The format of this course includes weekly demonstrations and lectures and development of a personal body of work utilizing ceramic technology. We will look at artists working both in traditional and non-traditional methods. Artists will vary, but some we will include are: Bouke de Vries, Kahlil Robert Irving, Ed Eberle, Marilyn Levine, Bonnie Marie Smith, Kjell Rylander, Gerrit Grimm, Genesis Belanger, Richard Shaw, Kristen Morgin, Shannon Goff, Bente Sk?ttgaard, Joanna Powell, Joanna Poag, and Eugene Von Brunchenhein. Readings will include articles covering topics about the convergence of fine art and craft, how objects affect our daily life and rituals, the place of craft within contemporary society. Specific authors are: Glenn Adamson, Jenni Sorkin, Jo Dahn, Garth Clark, Edmund de Waal. Projects vary, but typically there are 4 assignments in the course with each assignment consisting of 1-5 pieces of finished work with additional research in glaze and firing processes. Students will also have readings and responsibilities with firing work.