Ceramics 2

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following: - Glaze and Colour This course introduces students to glaze chemistry and develops the key skills of mixing and altering glaze recipes for variation in firing temp., atmosphere, colour, and texture development. Students undertake a research project to examine raw materials of certain glazes, mapping out some of the geological, cultural and political intricacies. There are weekly lectures which incorporate examples of artists who work with conventional and alternative materials as glazes. The aim of this course is not only to gain experience in making glazes, but to think creatively about what constitutes a glaze, to experiment with raw materials and to explore the politics and poetics of material origins and transformations that are inherent in ceramic practices. - Expanded Ceramics In Expanded Ceramics, students are offered an opportunity to explore clay both inside and outside the studio. Students test and learn from local materials, such as clay from the SoAD garden, and experiment with blending alternative materials into and clay for sculptural works. Lectures cover a range of concepts and artists that relate to the entanglement of materials and place. Ceramics-based projects are undertaken in relation to 3 sites around the ANU campus and incorporate other complimentary art mediums such as sound, video and creative writing. Students are taught an introduction to sound and video editing as part of this course. - Ceramic Mouldmaking and Casting Mouldmaking and casting is centred around the practices of embossing, embedding and creating multiples using clay. Students learn how to make one and multi-part plaster moulds, build experimental one-off moulds, and cast with slip. There are weekly lectures which incorporate examples of artists who use mouldmaking and casting in their artistic practice. Students will be encouraged to use divergent thinking when considering what it means to take impressions, record and duplicate objects, and to experiment with both the construction of moulds and the material used in the casting process. - Ceramic Surface This course investigates the dynamic relationship between surface, form, and process in contemporary ceramic practice. Students will explore how texture, mark, and process contribute to the expressive and structural qualities of form. Students will experiment with a range of material and textural approaches, including carving, impressing, printing onto, layering, and additive techniques, to develop an understanding of surface as both skin and structure: an active site of making, thinking, and expression that both responds to and redefines the underlying form. Weekly lectures will introduce artists who challenge conventional boundaries of surface, while demonstrations will explore techniques and processes that engage with these ideas. · Wheel Formed Ceramics In this course, students will significantly develop and refine their technical skills on the pottery wheel to create bodies of work that explore sculpture and an expanded approach to tableware. Students will experiment with different clay bodies and methods of surface treatment. Experimentation is encouraged, and the practical work will be underscored by a set of readings and tasks that position their work within a contemporary art context.