Ian McMahon and Ashley Lyon
 

CER 624 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $150

In this class we will make sculptures using basic clay manipulating techniques (slabs, coiling, pinching, carving, etc...) as well as a variety of alternative approaches (paper-clay, unfired clay, combustible supports) and proceed to experiment and discover our own alternative approaches.  You will be encouraged to consider it in relation to other materials, both through incorporating alternative materials into clay bodies, as well as by challenging (or exploiting) conventional forms, practices, and the perceived boundaries of clay as a material. This class is intended to move beyond traditional technical instruction, and open up the dialogue on how we can use clay to convey and expand new meanings generally expressed with more conventional sculptural tools. This course will be open to beginning as well as advanced ceramic students; it will consist of demonstrations, critiques, slide presentations, and mostly, personal hands-on work. We will look at work from celebrated ceramicists like Cal Funk and Ken Price and artists like Johan Tahon and Salto Alto, to the sculpture of more historic artists like Matisse, Lucio Fontana, Niki de St. Phalle and contemporary makers like Vincent Fecteau, Rachel Harrison, Charles Long, Mark Manders, and Rebecca Warren.