Musical Mud

with Liz McCarthy
CERAMICS 665 001 | 3 credits | $225 Lab Fee
June 9 – 22, 2024

This course explores designing, firing, and activating clay instruments, while considering the medium’s unique relationship with sound. We will review the four main types of ceramics instruments; aerophones, chordophones, idiophones, and membranophones (think whistles, harps, shakers, and drums) and explore building strategies for peak resonance. Hand-building and wheel throwing techniques will be demonstrated and students are free to explore these possibilities in service of designing their instruments. We will elevate the tasks of sourcing clay, designing a soundscape, preparing our bodies for performance, and accessorizing our happenings, taking inspiration from artists who did the same including ancient Mexican and Peruvian makers, Julia Elsas, Joey Watson and reviewing Barry Hall’s From Mud to Music. Assignments will invite students to participate in fluxus exercises, encouraging play in performance with objects. The course will culminate in a musical performance for the Ox-Bow community, utilizing our studio-made wares.

Liz McCarthy (she/they) is a Chicago-based artist that combines ceramics with other objects and performances. Often her sculptures take the form of whistles that have the potential for instrumental performances. These objects harken potential modes for human collectivity, ecology, vulnerability, and play. She received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Studio Art and her BFA from the University of North Carolina at Asheville in Photography. Her mix of performance, sculpture, and installation have been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Hyde Park Art Center, and Goldfinch in Chicago; Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles; ExGirlfriend in Berlin, and numerous other galleries and institutions. She has participated in residencies at Atlantic Center for the Arts, ACRE, High Concept Laboratories, Banff Centre, Ox-Bow, and Lighthouse Works. Her projects have been supported by Joan Mitchell Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, and Chicago’s Department of Tourism and Chicago Artist Run Spaces Award. Currently she acts as Founding Director of the GnarWare Workshop ceramics school and community studio. She was previously a founding Co-Director of the artist collective and exhibition space Roxaboxen Exhibitions. She also lectures at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Liz McCarthy, Untitled, 2021, foraged Chicago clay (as glaze) on stoneware, 8 (H) x 8 (W) x 10 (L) in.