Semesterly Information:

• Arts 2346.001 Ceramics I
• Class Hours:T-R 3:30-6:20
• Office Hours: MW 12:30-3:20
• Final Exam: See Schedule Below
• Suggested events this year and beyond:
  • NCECA 2010, 44th Annual Conference Philadelphia, PA, March 31-April 3, 2010 (advance warning) http://nceca.net
  • Oso Bay Biennial On Campus, March 3-6

Stable Information and Teacher Information:

• Name of Instructor:  Tegarden, Gregory
• Office phone number: 361 825-5987
• E-mail address: gtegarden@islander.tamucc.edu
• Office number and building: CA112
• This syllabus is subject to change.

• -Students will be expected to have a notebook every day in class with a writing implement. The notebook will hold all class handouts and the students notes. Students arriving without a notebook may be recorded as absent. We will not wait as students go to get notebooks or pencils. Taking careful notes during demonstrations and using them will greatly improve a students success.
• -completion of all projects assigned.See grading sheet.
• -participation in preparation of clay and glazes for class use; students will be assigned a mixing partner and will mix clay or glazes as necessary several times each semester. Do not waste work, avoid putting usable clay in scrap barrels.
• -participation in loading and unloading of class kilns
• -having a pair of rubber gloves available for glazing
• -Tests: students that fail a test on the safety materials if it is given must demonstrate knowledge of all the items on the safety agreement before returning to class.
• -all project work and outside work to be graded must be available for review at the end of the semester. Due to space limitations fired finished work may not be stored in the ceramics studios. If work will not fit in lockers, students must make other arrangements for safe storage- i.e., take work home, etc. Again, all work must be available for review at semester's end.
• -Studio Safety and Hygiene: we will read, sign, and hand in the student agreement, attached. All students are required to clean up their work areas before leaving the studio and do other studio cleaning as necessary.
• all work, tools and other belongings, must be removed from the studio the last day of finals week by noon. (in the summer session by the end of the day of finals). The studio will be cleaned and remaining personal belongings and claywork may be thrown out.
• BREAKAGE, LOSS, FIRING ACCIDENTS Ceramics is fragile, firing is difficult and full of unknowns, especially in a group situation. It is inevitable that some pieces will be lost, broken, or misfired. While losses are regrettable they will happen. The faculty and TAMU-CC cannot be held liable for such accidents. Students should handle work carefully and as little as possible. All work must be marked with a student's initials or stamp.
• LOCKERS: See the Art Office (CA107) to reserve a locker in the hallway. You will need one. The sooner you get one the closer it will be to the studio.  If you wait there might not be one available.
• STUDIO HOURS:
  • You may use the Ceramics Lab any time when the building is open except during class time for the other sections of Ceramics or during floor cleaning.
  • The class will involve work in the studio outside of class time.
  • The building is open many nights and weekends. Check on the front door, or with the building supervisor for details. It may be closed Thanksgiving weekend and Labor Day weekend and MLK day.
• CALENDAR: Ceramics is a time sensitive medium. Allowing projects to dry slow and even makes work less prone to cracking and easier to manipulate. Consequently work completed late in the semester will have a greater chance of cracking in the drying process. It is often possible to finish a piece in a small fraction of the time it would take to do it in one week if you spread the work out.

  Approximately two weeks before final exams will be the end of the time when wet clay can be used.(this date is different in the summer). This date is not fixed until a month before the end of the semester. If most of the work in the studio is already bisqued a few more days of wet work can be added. If little has been bisqued a few more days for firing will be needed and there will be less time for wet work. Even with this two week lead, objects made the last few days for wet work will need to be small if they are to survive the fast drying necessary. Roughly one week before finals will be the last time pots can be glazed. This will occur during dead week. The exact date for the last day for wet work is determined by the amount of work in the studio still needing to fired at the end of the semester.

  Occasionally there is too much work to fire in the last week. If the work was glazed before the last day to glaze and it was on the racks to be fired before the last day for them to be placed there it will be graded as if is was glaze fired. Work still needing firing may be brought back into ceramics at the beginning of the next long semester for firing. It may not be left in the studio between semesters. Work left in the studio between semesters will be thrown away.

• Required statements:
  *Notice to Students with Disabilities:  Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act in making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. If you suspect that you may have a disability (physical impairment, learning disability, psychiatric disability, etc.), please contact the Services for Students with Disabilities Office, located in Driftwood 101, at 825-5816. If you need disability accommodations in this class, please see me as soon as possible. 

  **ACADEMIC ADVISING:  The College of Liberal Arts requires that students meet with an Academic Advisor as soon as they are ready to declare a major. The Academic Advisor will set up a degree plan, which must be signed by the student, a faculty mentor, and the department chair. The College's Academic Advising Center is located in Driftwood 203E, and can be reached at 825-3466.

  *** Grade Appeal Process.  As stated in University Rule 13.02.99.C2, Student Grade Appeals, a student who believes that he or she has not been held to appropriate academic standards as outlined in the class syllabus, equitable evaluation procedures, or appropriate grading, may appeal the final grade given in the course. The burden of proof is upon the student to demonstrate the appropriateness of the appeal.  A student with a complaint about a grade is encouraged to first discuss the matter with the instructor.  For complete details, including the responsibilities of the parties involved in the process and the number of days allowed for completing the steps in the process, see University Rule
  13.02.99.C2, Student Grade Appeals, and University Procedure 13.02.99.C2.01, Student
  Grade Appeal Procedures. These documents are accessible through the University Rules
  Web site at http://www.tamucc.edu/provost/university_rules/index.html. For assistance and/or guidance in the grade appeal process, students may contact the Office of Student Affairs.

  **** Because art studios use materials and tools that could be dangerous, safe and cooperative behavior by students is absolutely necessary. The studio course instructor will be the ultimate judge of cooperative as well as safe and unsafe behavior. Individuals engaging in uncooperative and/or unsafe behavior will be cautioned and instructed once by the instructor. If a second occasion of uncooperative and/or unsafe behavior occurs, that student will be un-enrolled from the course and given a “wd” with no refund of tuition and fees. (per Dean Richard Gigliotti)

Course Specific Information

• Course title: Ceramics I
• Course number: ART 2346
• Course description: This course is an introduction to fine arts ceramics. Handbuilding processes: pinching, slab construction, coil building, etc., will predominate. There will be approximately six major projects, some of which may require the student to make more than one object. An introductory wheel thrown project will be assigned. Various clays and slips will be used. Most work will be fired in high-fire reduction or high fire soda kilns. bonfire, pit, and Raku firing processes may also be included. Each student will mix clay at least once and probably twice during the semester. Students will learn to unload and load bisque and glaze kilns, & maintain kiln shelves. A simple glaze making project may be assigned. Students will learn how to apply even coats of glaze in appropriate thicknesses. Significant out class time will be required. Students are required to be familiar with material on the safety agreement and may be tested on it at any time. A test on the syllabus and the handout "The Material" may be given the third class period.
• Student Learning Outcomes:
  1. Student will use a variety of clay, slips, glazes and experience simple firing techniques.
  2. Student will become competent in basic handbuilding and glazing techniques.
  3. Student will begin to learn about using the potter's wheel.
  4. Student will successfully work with form, proportion and surface in three-dimensional ceramic objects.
  5. Student will become aware of the scope historical and contemporary ceramic art.
  6. Student will begin to learn about loading and firing kilns .
  7. Student will gain the sensitivity to be able to gauge the appropriate wetness of the material for a particular process.
  8. Student will begin to gain a broader understanding of the scope of the medium and an introduction into philosophical issues surrounding the field.

Graded activity:

Typical calendar subject to change.

• Stamp. Beginning students will make a bisque stamp to identify their work. All assignments should have your initials incised into the clay or have your stamp. The relief on the stamp should be high and have clean sides so it pulls away easily.
• Pinched Vessels.
• Slab Plates and slip.
• Coil Assignment
• Slab Assignment
• Teapot
• Glaze Test (separate sheet)
• Thrown Cylinder
• Handled Cups

Grading Rubric:

Name:(print neat) ________________________________________________________Semester 2010 01 Ceramics 1

GRADE BEFORE AT TENDANCE ______________

GRADE AFTER ATTENDANCE _______________

Grade lowered one letter for missed final.

For a grade of A student must:

• Complete all studio practices.
• Finish all objects satisfactorily. At least three must be excellent.
• Demonstrate all skills satisfactorily. At least three skills must be excellent.

For a grade of B Student must:

• Complete all studio practices.
• Finish all objects satisfactorily
• Demonstrate each skill except integration satisfactorily.

Excellence in any one part of a group offsets an unsatisfactory in that group

Grade of C

• Complete 2 of three studio practices
• Finish all but two objects satisfactorily. Student must complete all but one of the objects.
• Demonstrate all but two skills satisfactorily. One of these must be the ability to construct and finish. Most work must be glazed.

• Projects that are finished by the end of the semester but do not meet wet finished or glaze deadlines will be marked unsatisfactory
• All student grades after computing by this method will be adjusted per the attendance policy.
• All work must be available for review during the final exam period.

Policies

• late work:
  • Any work not available for the final exam period will not be graded.
  • Work not available for the assignment critiques may be marked as not on time.
• plagiarism: Work made by other students will be marked as not turned in, skills associated with the work will be marked as unsatisfactory. Students caught turning in the work of other students may be subject to the rules and procedures set out in the student handbook. Students missing more than 3 class will be marked down one full grade. Each two classes absence after that will result in the loss of another grade. Three tardies equals one absence.
• -ATTENDANCE: -
  • This is a studio class. Attendance is mandatory. There is no "make up work" to compensate for missed class time. Some information will be imparted only during class. It is the students responsibility to follow the attendance procedure.
  • -All assignments spanning more than two class periods must be reviewed in progress during class time. It is not acceptable to complete all work on a project outside of class. It may not be possible to complete all work for a project inside class. Passing through the building to cover and uncover work will be necessary several times a week. If the plan is to be on campus only twice a week, a different class might be a good idea.
  • -LATENESS- It is essential that students come to class ON TIME. Important information will be given each class during the first few minutes of class. Attendance may be taken by sign in sheets or other means.
  • -Leaving early- While it is better to show up for part of a class than none at all. leaving early without the instructors' permission (he may say no) may result in an absence or lateness being recorded for the day. Often demonstrations, or slide shows occur in the last 1/2 hour of class.
  • It is the students responsibility to find out what materials were missed because of absence or tardiness. Just as in lecture classes the absent students will want to ask fellow students for notes. It is not the instructors responsibility to provide makeup demonstrations.
  • Students missing the final exam will be marked down a full letter grade. The instructor must still be shown the student work before he turns in grades or lack of information may result in an F. Conflicts with the exam time must be worked out the first week of school.
  • Incompletes will be given to those called to active US military duty in accordance with university policy. Other incompletes are at the instructor's discretion. They will not be given unless 3/4 of the work is finished before the reason for the incomplete takes place. The reason must be out of the students control. Attendance must be good before the reason for the incomplete takes place.
  
  

Supplies Texts/readings :

• -rubber gloves for glazing.
• -Kemper potter's tool kit
• -a dull exacto knife, or a dull drywall knife, or a dull pairing knife .A long thin blade is best, sometimes these can be picked up cheap at discount stores such as the Dollar Store®.
• -Serrated rib Will be supplied.
• -thin plastic drop cloths (.3-.8 mm) for covering work. Paint and hardware stores sell these for under $1.00
• -notebook. You should have your notebook in class at all times and use it to record processes, hints, etc. during demonstrations.All handouts should be stored in your notebook. They are almost all available online at http://www.tamucc.edu/~lkatz if you loose one.
• -work clothes: You might want to keep a change of clothes that you can get very dirty in your locker, also closed top, and closed back shoes that you can work in. You cannot be in the studio with sandals, open or high heeled shoes. Loose skirts and aprons, hanging jewelry and other loose ware are not safe for mixing clay.See student agreement.
• -hair control devices: long hair must be tied back when using potter's wheel, mixing clay, using the grinder, or firing kilns.
• -one gallon or so plastic bucket with a wide top.
• -Cap: to cover your hair when mixing clay or glaze, sweeping, or other dusty jobs (optional).

SUGGESTED TEXT

• Ceramics A Potter's Handbook by Glenn C. Nelson, Richard Burkett 6th edition. Reading assignments will be given (see calendar). If you are short on cash and find an older edition it will do. It is quick reading and may be able to be checked out of local libraries.

Other SUGGESTED TEXTS

• HANDS IN CLAY- Charlotte Speight, Has the most information about contemporary and historical ceramics, along with technical and technique oriented information. I have considered changing to this text. It is very good. I am not impressed by their safety information
• Ceramics Monthly Magazine. Anyone serious about clay should be subscribed to this magazine. Others should look at it in the library. Other magazines in the library worth looking at are American Ceramics, Studio Potter, and Ceramics Technical.