Ceramics
The Ceramics area at the USC Roski School of Fine Arts is devoted to introducing students to the rich traditions of ceramic practice while encouraging the use of materials and methods as vehicles for individual expression in contemporary art making. Courses include beginning and advanced levels of ceramics, wheel throwing, clay and glazes, and 3D Actual/Virtual, an interdisciplinary, digitally based course on three-dimensional modeling.
As students advance in the level of their studies, they can choose to follow a traditional approach to clay and/or pursue exploration and experimentation with the medium. They have the freedom to create mixed-media pieces or to bring technology in to their work. The ceramics program at USC encourages interdepartmental and interdisciplinary exchange.
In Fall 2009 advanced ceramics students will be involved in a collaborative project with students from the USC Thornton School of Music. Ceramics students will be asked to create unique percussion and wind objects. Music students will then learn to play these creations and compose a specific musical score for each piece. In conjunction with this collaboration, a USC cultural Visions and Voices grant will feature a concert by percussion group The Antenna Repairmen. They will perform music from their CD, Ghatam, played exclusively on ceramic vessels and sculptural objects. Art Javinen, member of the group, will be a guest lecturer in the fall Galen Ceramics Lecture series. Also invited to speak to the advanced class will be Susan Rawcliffe, ceramic artist/master flute maker and musician. In preparation for this assignment, students will be exposed to the long multi-cultural history of handmade ceramic instruments and learn about the many contemporary ceramic artists that continue to make musical objects.
Since 2001 the Galen Ceramics Lecture Series has brought noted national and international artists, curators and critics to campus. The 2008-2009 Galen Ceramics Lecture Series included:
Glenn Adamson, Deputy Head of Research & Graduate Studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum; Charles Long, sculptor; John Mason, sculptor; Io Palmer, mixed-media artist / faculty member at Washington State University; Susan Rawcliffe, musician and master flute maker; and Kim Tucker, figurative ceramic artist.
Students have many opportunities to exhibit their work in the undergraduate program. Every other year Advanced Ceramics students have the occasion to mount a group exhibition of their work in USC's Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibition theme is determined by the class and students receive the experience of not only creating works for a specific show, but personal involvement in the other important elements that go into the mounting of a successful exhibition. They are responsible for the installation and de-installation of the show, writing an artist statement, resume and press release, designing an announcement card that is printed and distributed and arranging the opening reception. During the exhibition a professional art photographer presents a session on how to photograph three-dimensional work and a guest artist/curator is invited to participate in a critique of the exhibition.
Gallery visits to a variety of Los Angeles museums and galleries are an integral part of course curriculum.