Woodfire: Ancient Methods & Contemporary Applications

with Henry Crissman & Virginia Rose Torrence
CERAMICS 660 001 | 3 credits | $300 Lab Fee
June 1–14, 2025

This course will explore the many histories, methods, and potentials of using wood as fuel to heat and transform clay into ceramic. Presentations will survey ceramic science, the history and logic of kiln design, and the range of objects made with wood fired kilns. Demonstrations will include handbuilding and wheel throwing techniques as well as experimental methods with found ceramic materials and objects. Films and readings including Maria Martinez: Indian Pottery of San Ildefonso and Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass will offer insights as we engage and form the material of the Earth. Conversations throughout will aim to assist students in finding creative agency with ceramics. Students will work on independent projects and the class will culminate in a nearly two day long firing of Ox-Bow’s 50 cubic foot catenary-arch wood-kiln; a massive group effort that will involve loading the kiln, and methodically stoking it with wood for the duration of the firing until our desired temperature is reached throughout. While the kiln cools we’ll explore ways in which the techniques covered might be applied outside of the workshop, and build and fire a small and temporary kiln which students could easily recreate independently. Once cool, the big kiln will be unloaded and cleaned, results will be finished and analyzed, and we'll hold an exhibit of the works created.

Henry James Haver Crissman (he/him) is an artist and educator who thinks of his art as a means, not an end. Crissman earned a BFA in Craft from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan in 2012, and a MFA in Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York in 2015. He now lives and works in Hamtramck, Michigan where he and his wife and fellow artist, Virginia Rose Torrence, founded and co-direct Ceramics School, a community ceramics studio and artist residency. He regards teaching as an integral aspect of his creative practice, and in addition to teaching at Ceramics School, he is currently an adjunct professor in the Studio Art and Craft Department at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

Virginia Rose Torrence (she/her) co-owns, operates, and teaches at Ceramics School, a community ceramics studio and Artist Residency in Hamtramck, Michigan. Virginia’s art practice is sometimes making pottery, and sometimes making sculptures. She received her BFA in Craft/Ceramics from the College for Creative Studies (Detroit) in 2013 and her MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University (Alfred, New York) in 2016. Virginia lives and makes art in Hamtramck, Michigan with her partner and co-teacher Henry Crissman, two dogs, two cats, and a parakeet.

Cuteness Overload

with Chase Barney
CERAMICS 663 001 | 3 credits | $250 Lab Fee
June 15–28, 2025

Cuteness and humor can be used to convey serious topics in a palatable way. Artists such as Robert Arneson, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Ruby Neri, and Beth Lo utilize these tactics in their clay practice to tell us stories from unique points of view. Students will learn hand-building techniques such as coil building, slab construction, pinch pots, and various surface design techniques, combining these skills with their interpretation of “cute” to achieve their desired result. This course allows students of all levels to work on projects, improve their ceramics skills and develop their visual vocabulary. Participants will have access to all materials in the ceramic studio and demonstrations will include hand-building, vessel creation, construction methods, proper firing methods, and encourage an intermediate understanding of drying times, methods for building sound pieces, techniques for minimizing loss, and studio safety. Taking inspiration from the California Funk movement and ideas about the aesthetics of optimism, as coined by curator Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy, students will be encouraged to listen to episodes of Vizcarrondo-Laboy’s podcast “Clay in Color”. Group readings and discussion will focus on Sontag’s “Notes on Camp”, we will screen episodes of Art 21 and Craft in America, as well as classic cartoons such as Looney Tunes and Hello Kitty. Assignments are designed to build an understanding of hand-building techniques, ceramic tradition, cuteness's place in the present art canon, and how to introduce humor and play into your practice. Assignments and exercises may include clay-exquisite-corpse, pinch pot coffee cups, and a narrative vessel. Instructors will be available to help facilitate individual projects and class critiques.

Chase Barney (he/him) is an artist working with clay to create vases adorned with flowers, animals, and bright colors. The narrative in his work is loose, a mish-mash of Mormon dogma, fairy tale, and fable, as well as a deep love for cliché, pop culture, and family lore. Barney graduated with a BFA from the University of Minnesota and his MFA at the School of the Art Institute Chicago in 2022. Barney has exhibited across the United States and received numerous grants and scholarships supporting his work, including a 2020 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant and the New Artist Full Merit Scholarship from SAIC. Barney is originally from Utah. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

Hand-Building Pottery for Plants

with Dee Clements
CERAMICS 671 001 | 3 credits | $250 Lab Fee
June 29–July 12, 2025

In this class, we will use hand-building techniques to create planters, baths, vases, and sculptures specifically designed for growing flowers and ornamental plants. We will pay special attention to the strength, drainage, and outdoor readiness of our designs to best serve our growing needs. Students will have access to all materials in the Ceramics Studio. Demonstrations will cover hand-building, vessel creation, and construction methods, with a focus on developing an intermediate understanding of drying times, building sound pieces, minimizing loss, and studio safety. In addition, students will have the opportunity to explore effective surface techniques using the Ox-Bow glaze lab. We will use coil- and slab-building methods to construct pots and then enhance them with ornamental and decorative surface treatments including carving, sgraffito, incising, feathering, and the addition of other sculptural elements. We’ll also explore colored slips and underglaze techniques. To draw inspiration, we will study various ceramic artists working in similar styles. Assignments will invite students to consider the idea of the clay pot as a container for holding plants, foods, and objects and how decoration and ornamentation can signify an object's use or history, or tell a story. We will consider the idea of "The Carrier Bag Theory" and its application within both ancient and modern pottery.  We will look at examples from early Greek pots to contemporary artists like Betty Woodman, Roberto Lugo, Grayson Perry, and more. Our final installation will be supported by a trip to the plant nursery to buy plants to create a studio installation of living elements supported by our ceramic wares.

Dee Clements (she/her/ella) is a sculptor and designer whose practice uses the language of weaving and ceramics to explore her interests in materials, ethnography, and gender politics. She holds an MFA in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in Fiber and Materials Studies and Sculpture from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is currently represented by Nina Johnson Gallery in Miami, Florida.

Mix & Match: Assemblage with Ceramics

with Allison Wade
CERAMICS 666 001 | 3 credits | $250 Lab Fee
July 21–August 2, 2025

In this course, students will create a collection of hand-built ceramic parts to be combined with found and/or constructed elements into hybrid sculptural objects. Inspired by materials at hand and the work of Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Arlene Shechet, and Linda Sormin (among others), we will think through the relationship of the part to the whole, intuition versus planning, time as it relates to material, and construction and conjunction methods. Over the two weeks, we will pinch, coil and slab build fire-able components while concurrently sourcing and fabricating non-clay materials. The final days of the session will be devoted to producing playful groupings for display and discussion. In addition, students will be asked to bring an item of old clothing to be deconstructed and used for our first assignment, a series of small pieces with unfired clay. A screening of Craft in America’s “Inspiration” episode and Art21’s Arlene Shechet interview, as well as short readings such as Joan Key’s “Readymade or Handmade?”, will complement studio time.

Allison Wade (she/her) is a visual artist and educator whose practice is material-based, intuitive, and formally focused. She combines ceramics, textiles, wood, and metal into unexpected arrangements that explore the intersection of flatness and form. Wade’s process, which she likens to syntax, is closely aligned with writing. Deploying an idiosyncratic visual language, she explores the structural and formal contingencies of her materials and sculptures. Wade received an MFA from the Fiber and Material Studies Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and holds a BA in English literature from Stanford University. She has been a visiting artist/lecturer at Cranbrook Academy of Art’s Ceramics Department, Kansas City Art Institute, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Miami University, among others. Residencies include Ragdale, Loghaven, Watershed, Ox-Bow School of Art & Artist Residency, ACRE, and the Vermont Studio Center, where she was supported by a John Mitchell Foundation Fellowship. Wade’s work has been shown internationally and nationally, notably at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and she is represented by Devening Projects. She currently resides in Chicago, where she is Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Art Theory & Practice at Northwestern University.

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 “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 (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.

Clay, Fire & Food

with Edward Cabral & Maxwell Holden
CERAMICS 669 001 | 3 credits | $250 Lab Fee
August 10–23, 2025

Preparing and sharing meals represents one of the most intimate relationships we have with the earth. With plates made from clay, forks pulled from mountains, and ingredients cleaved from nature, this class will uncover how clay feeds us by learning an abridged history of fire, earth, and food. From Jell-O molds to contemporary art, we will explore the role of ceramics in facilitating artwork at the table. Students of all levels are welcome to join this course, which will include demonstrations of techniques for effective hand-building, throwing, firing, and finishing. In addition to time spent in the Ox-Bow kitchen, the course will have a substantial seminar component. Discussions will introduce students to various histories of mealtime ceramic design and collective making and meal planning. In addition to reading Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space and watching Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, we will consider the work of Erica Lord, Roberto Lugo, Clare Twomey, Michael Rakowitz, Mel Chin, Dirt Waffles Collective, Félix González-Torres, Daniel Spoerri, Stephanie Temma Hier, Stephanie Shih, Alison Knowles, Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Group, Adrian Saxe, and Eva Zeisel. Together we will plan and cook a final food presentation, supported by wood-fired ceramic wares. In addition to working toward the community meal, assignments will include “Spirit of the Fire,” for which students will construct a totem representing fire.

Edward Cabral (he/him) is a sculptor and chef living in Brooklyn. His research-based practice encompasses traditional art, edible sculpture, performance, and impermanent objects. He received his BA in Visual Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. He has exhibited at Williams College Museum of Art, Massachusetts; Roots and Culture and Heaven Gallery, Chicago; Alexander Gray Associates, The Drawing Center, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and Superhouse, New York. He has been interviewed in Mold Magazine, Architectural Digest, and CakeZine, and has appeared on the History Channel, Disney+, and The Food Network.

Maxwell Holden's (he/him) career has included both time abroad and within industry, encountering highly creative engineers and artists embracing the sciences. The result has amounted to a passionate interest in the absurdity of modern life, and our quest to find meaning in endless abundance and scarcity. Maxwell is particularly interested in food after nearly a decade spent as a farmhand and many more years making a range of dinnerware, including a collaboration with Blue Hill.