The Ancient Future: Clay & Sound

with Israel Davis & Douglas R. Ewart
CERAMICS 659 001 | 1.5 credits | $125 Lab Fee
August 3–9, 2025

Music and clay, are two of the most malleable, elastic, enduring, widely utilized, and shared materials and experiences known to the Human Family. Many of the oldest musical instruments found at archeological sites are made of clay and, inspired by this ancient relationship, we will study the symbiotic nature of ceramics and sound through instrument making and performance. We will explore music and clay as medicine for meditation, comfort, and peace through the creation of ceramic drums, shakers, whistles, cups, bowls, and as carriers of sound, food, and libation. The works of Raven Halfmoon, Dante K. Hayes, and Ebi Baralaye may guide our creative path and we will review the ceramic instrument works of Nigeria, Pakistan, Morocco, and Turkey. Through daily musical improvisations, guided sessions, group discussions, and demonstrations on ceramic studio processes including hand-building, throwing, and glazing techniques, this course will culminate in pit fire and a final performance. We aim to share in meaningful exchange that reexamines ancient practices as a way to forge new pathways to cultural wellness.

Israel Davis, Devil-May-Care Series: Tea Bowl, 2024; ceramic, 3 x 4 x 4 in.

Israel “Izzy” Davis is an artist whose work plays between the boundaries of object and image. He has taught numerous workshops and exhibited nationally and internationally. Izzy’s work ranges in content from personal narratives, observations, particulars, and fun. He is a professor and head of ceramics at Central Michigan University.

Douglas R. Ewart

Douglas R. Ewart (he/him) Professor Emeritus at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1946. His life and his wide-ranging work have always been inextricably associated with Jamaican culture, history, politics, and the land itself. Professor Ewart immigrated to Chicago in 1963, where he studied music theory at VanderCook College of Music, electronic music at Governors State University, and composition at the School of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Professor Ewart’s varied and interdisciplinary work encompasses music composition, painting and kinetic sound sculpture, and multi-instrumental performance on a full range of instruments of his own design and construction for which he is known worldwide. His visual art and kinetic works have been shown at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Ojai Festival, Art Institute of Chicago, Institute for Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.