Semesterly Information:

• Office Hours
  T-R 10-12
  W 11-12
• Final Exam: See University Exam Schedule
• Suggested events (not part of the class) this year and beyond:
  • NCECA 2010, 44th Annual Conference Philadelphia, PA, March 31-April 3, 2010 (advance warning) http://nceca.net
  • Gruene TX, Texas Clay Festival , Last full weekend in October 24-25 http://www.texasclayfestival.com/home.html

Stable Information and Teacher Information:

• Name of Instructor:  Katz, Louis
• Office phone number: 361 825-5987
• E-mail address:louis.katz@tamucc.edu
• Office number and building: CA112
• This syllabus is subject to change.

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: Intermediate Ceramics
• Course number: ART 3324
• Course description: This course is an introduction wheel thrown ceramics.It is designed to teach you, or allow you to learn, to throw, and to throw a variety of forms that conform to a dogma of "good" form. It is not the instructors belief that these dogmatic criteria for what truly is good or beautiful are effective, but conforming to certain criteria will bring about pots that are functional, teach the new potter to get accepting what is easy, train the eye, and train the hand. In short this course takes the philosophy that good art can be built on skill and training.The course will further your understanding of glazes through lectures and testing and will expose you to historical and contemporary functional pottery.

  Stoneware clay and slips will be used. Most work will be glazed and fired to cone10 in reduction or soda. Students will prepare clay and will mix clay as needed during the semester. Students will use the gram scales and will learn to prepare glazes. Students will learn to unload and load bisque and glaze kilns. Lectures on glaze materials and glaze composition will be given.

• Student Learning Outcomes:
  1. Competence in basic throwing techniques, skills and forms.To increase surface application skills and develop a palette of glazes and/or slips.
  2. Increased surface application skills and to develop a palette of glazes and/or slips.
  3. Increased competency in loading of kilns and more understanding of firing.
  4. Additional awareness of historical and contemporary functional ceramic art.
  5. Exposure to glaze materials, theory and glaze testing

Graded activity:

All assignments should have your initials incised or stamped into the clay. Bats holding your pots may also be marked with slip.

Read Syllabus and class materials completely. Read the appropriate parts of the Lab Handbook. Expect to be tested on the safety material contained in the pages "Basic Safety Material, and Safety Agreement"

• All ceramics students must be a member of the Ceramics Listserv and read their email M-F. Email may be checked in CA 201. Students should send an email to Louis.Katz@tamucc.edu with "Join Ceramics" in the subject line. Please include your real name and not just your email account name. Students not having an email account can get one on campus. When you join you will be given a link to our list archives. They may be of interest.
• All art students should belong to the Art Listerv. You may join by sending your name to Louis with "Join Art" in the subject line. The listserv has departmental information and announces shows and other art community events. It is also a place for discussions of art issues.
• Make 15 glaze test tiles the first week of class.Make the tiles 2"x6 inches and bend them per instructions. Put a line of black slip acrose the front of the tile and a pencil hole through the top for hanging on a nail. But your initials on the bottom and inscribe the numbers 1-15 on the tiles. Get together with your fellow students and get them fired. Ask for help if necessary.
• Make the ball of clay for the trimming excercise. (instructions in class)

Stamp

• All Intermediate students will make a stamp to mark their work. The stamp should be bisqued. It should be smaller than 1/4" x 1/2". Do not glaze fire the stamp.

Assignment One

Assignment Two

• Collect 10 images of cups you like. Get them from the web or scann them from books.
• They must have handles.
  1. You must be able to identify who made the cups.
  2. Email the files named as follows: Artists last name,first initial CUP a number your intials.jpg (or gif or tif). For Example if Bernard Leach is the artist and I collected the image name it, "LeachBCup1LK.jpg "
  3. Email them to Louis.Katz@tamucc.edu
  4. These are due before the fifth class day. You may not use images on my site.
  5. If you are having trouble finding images try using the names from this page in a search engine: http://critical.tamucc.edu/wiki/CeramicsClass/Potters20thCentury
  6. If you are having trouble learning to scan, or copy images from the web you can ask at the student computer help desk in Corpus Christi HAll (CCH).

Assignment Three

• Keep at least 20 drinking vessels with pulled handles. This means make many more and keep the best.This is not a set. They should all be different forms, rims and surfaces.
• The vessels should have walls with even thickness 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. Thinner is acceptable but evenly thick walls is an important goal. The pots may not be trimmed. Weigh your clay and keep your ball size constant.Work to get the floor the same thickness as the wall.Learn to use the wooden cutoff tool to prduce a neat bottom edge.
• Dry the pots just to the stage where handles can be pulled on them without distorting them. The wetness is critical. Too dry and the handle may crack at the upper attachment, to soft and the pot will distort.
• The handles should be pulled with soft aged clay. If the clay is only 2 days old, don't bother. You can always use slop dryed on a board or bat. Wedge it well. Roll your carrot on dampened canvas or on formica. If the surface of the carrot is dry the handle will crack when it is bent. Score and slip the pot with rather thick slip. Do not slip the carrot. This is one of the purposes of using wet clay. Make sure you roll the carrot onto the pot to expel air. Before you begin to pull have a tad of slip on your serrated rib for attaching the bottom of the handle after pulling.
• The dogmatic "good handle" has an attachment that looks like a branch leaving the trunk of a tree. There is a much thicker attachment than the cross section of the handle. The bottom attachment is more flexible. It can look like the top or be thinner. Only bend the handle once. If you bend it twice or try to correct the curve it will loose the freshness of its spring. Practice making handles before you try them on your good cups.
• The bottom edge should be smoothed when the pot is leather hard. The center of the bottom should be tapped to cause it to curve up slightly.
• Get ten images of teabowls and send them to Louis. See instructions above but replace CUP with TBOWL
• This is due with handles, wet is OK.

More Tips

• If you slide your pots onto a board, make sure it is a clean unfinished (no paint) wooden board and not a plastic bat. The wood will draw water from the bottom of the pot and dry it. After the pot has sat on the board a short (1 hour) while come back with your wire and recut but do not attempt to cut it off with a wire again after it has sat on the bat for more than three(?) hours. The wire will rise up and may slice through the floor.
• Rims. You are learning to make "good pots" . Rims are perhaps the most important part of a pot after form, maybe even more important than form. A good rim serves the function of the pot. In pouring pots such as pitchers and teapots the lip that is poured over may have a sharp edge to prevent drips, but this makes the lip prone to chipping. In all other forms including cups the rim should be rounded. You probably do not want a rim that will cut your lips. Use a balloon or chamois on the rim and make it round and a pleasure to put against your lips. Often anemic rims can be saved by good use of a chamois, but learn to leave a little meat at the top of your walls to make the rim from. Pete Pinnel talks about the intimacy of a cup, how we hold it to our face, our lips, a place that is most personal.
• Practice handles on bricks, cans, or some other non-cup that you are not going to keep. It is much easier when the stress is lower. When you can do three in a row without screwing it up, start with your worst cup. Start practicing pulling handles early.

Assignment Three

• Throw thirty teabowls and trim feet on them. Ample clay must be left on the bottom for trimming (at least 3/4 of an inch, if your pots are wobbly, more). These pots should be dried to trimming stage slowly (at least 3 days). If the pots have dried quickly (less than two full days), they should be placed tightly under plastic and allowed to become evenly hard. You may NEVER trim bone dry pots for use in this class, they must be trimmed before they are bone dry. It makes too much dust. Pots trimmed bone dry will not count towards a grade in this class.
• Feet should be trimmed so that the outside of the form conforms to the inside with even walls. The foot-ring should be out far enough to give the pot a steady stance, and should be tall enough that there is at least 3/16's of inch clearance between the body of the pot and the table.
• Experiment with types of forms, surfaces, rims and feet. These, your first twenty teabowls should look like twenty different people made them. The should be unrelated.
• Teabowls are a standard form in the United States for loosening up your throwing and starting out a new body of work or when in school a new semester. They need not take more than a few minutes each to throw.
• Due October 25 trimmed.

Tips

• Make sure your pots are the right hardness to trim. Do not dry them too quick. If the outside is stiff and you trim into soft clay you have dried them too fast. It will take at least four days to dry pots well to trim them.
• This assignment does not require great skill in throwing but it does require that you learn to trim. Leave enough clay at the bottom of the pot to trim good feet.
• Practice trimming early. See the exercise below. If you are having trouble, make sure the pot is centered before trimming and keep the wheel speed up around what you would use for opening.

Assignment Four

Throw round bottom bowls and trim feet on them. Successful bowls will have continuous curves, well trimmed feet and considered rims. They will have even walls and well sized and detailed feet. Keep at least five bowls. Due November 22

Tips

• Learn the sequence required to get a smooth inside curve with little hump or slump.
• Concentrate on the curve of the floor.
• Trimming is easier when the curve is smooth
• Aged clay really helps with bowls.

Assignment Five

Make a series of jam jars with flanges on the pots. Be as precise as you can when throwing so that the lid fits the pot snug. Learn to make a gallery for the lid with a good profile. Optional.

Assignment Six

Learn to layer glazes using liquid wax as a resist.

Tips: Watch demonstration carefully. Think before you act. If you are new to our glazes it might help to do over and under glaze tests first. Allow wax to dry before applying the next layer. Choose glazes carefully, contrasting hue, stiffness and transparency. Think about how the combinations work. If you are unfamiliar with our glazes start learning about them early in the semester.

Trimming Exercise

1. Make a grapefruit size lump of clay. flatten one side. Get the clay evenly leather hard.
2. Trim a foot on the bottom of the lump.
3. Ask for a critique from Louis with the lump still centered on the wheel.
4. Cut the foot off.
5. Trim another foot.
6. Return to step 3

Technical Lectures

Attend during-class technical lectures. Take notes.

Glaze Tests

• Make a line blend between two glazes with another classmate.
• Make test tiles using the square extruder die.Make them two inceslong. cut a 1/4 inch hole in one end so they can be hung on a nail. Inscribe your initials into them. Get them fired immediately.
• Weigh out 1000 grams exactly of a glaze recipe.If you cannot or don't want to do this with a classmate, mix up two.
• Discuss your choices with your instructor. The most interesting glazes to line blend are different in surface, ingredients and colors.
• Mix the glazes a bit on the thick side, but still liquid.
• Sieve both glazes being carefull to recover most of the cleanings from the seive.
• Water down one of the glazes so that they are both the same volume.
  1. Glaze a test tile with glaze B mark it 0
  2. Glaze a tile with 1 Tablespoon(T) glaze A and 5T Glaze B mark it 1
  3. Glaze a tile with 3T(T) glaze A and 3T Glaze B mark it 3
  4. Glaze a tile with 4T(T) glaze A and 2T Glaze B mark it 4
  5. Glaze a tile with 5T(T) glaze A and 1T Glaze B mark it 5
  6. Glaze a tile with glaze A mark it 6
• When the tests are fired annotate the first and last tile with the glaze name.
• When these are done ask Louis about followup tests.
• Fill out a line blend test form copied from the Ceramics Handbook. Get a clear copy to Louis and keep one yourself.

Vocabulary Self Study

Students will learn to identify the following styles, kilns, and artist's typical work:

• Peter Volkous
• Richard Notkin
• Akio Takamori
• Toshiko Takaezu
• Rosalie Wynkoop
• Linda Arbuckle
• Palisy Ware
• George Orr
• Shoji Hamada Enameled ware
• Gail Nichols
• Historic:
  • Shino
  • Oribe
  • Shigaraki
  • T'ang style
  • Thomas Toft
  • Wedgewood

These will be tested with images and a multiple choice test on the 17th class day. In 200909 it will be on October 22. Late takes of the test will be docked 10%

Grading

Day #

GRADE BEFORE ATTENDANCE______________

GRADE AFTER ATTENDANCE_______________

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

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.

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. Must show competent use of glaze.

• 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

More Requirements

• Use of Campus email system.
• -having a "HEPA" type respirator for dusts and mists for use in class
• -having a pair of rubber gloves available for glazing
• -Completion of all projects assigned .
• -Preparation of clay. Mixing may take place outside of class time. Do not plan to mix clay during beginning class time.
• -Participation in loading, firing, and unloading of group kilns, and preparation of clay
• -All project work and outside work to be graded must be available for review at the end of the semester. Due to space limitations 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.
• -Each Advanced and Intermediate ceramics student may be put in charge of a bucket of glaze. The will be responsible for keeping it full, the sides scraped down and keeping the consistency appropriate.
• -Tests: students may be tested on class information, lectures, vocabulary and reading assignments.
• -Studio Hygiene and Safety: read, sign, and hand in student agreement, attached. Students using equipment or materials in an unsafe manner may be prevented from using the ceramics facility even if this results in a failing grade. All students are required to clean up their work areas before leaving the studio and do other studio cleaning as necessary.
• -RESEARCH- to enrich their own work, students should:
• -Make a habit of looking at Ceramics publications. -Become familiar with The Library's large collection of Ceramic titles and periodicals. Search under subject headings Ceramics, Clay and Pottery or head for the stacks.
• -NOTEBOOK-Students are required to keep a notebook with all class information, all handouts including this syllabus, results of glaze tests, and notes from class lectures. It should also contain the Class Work Sheet. Students will be expected to have this notebook in the studio every day in class with a writing implement(It is not acceptable to leave it in your locker). The presence of the notebook may be checked during the final exam. The notebook must contain a complete set of class handouts including this one.
• Participation in critical discussions

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. See above , under "Attendance", for critiques.
• -More than three unexcused absences will result in your final grade being lowered by one letter.
• -All assignments not assigned one class period to be due the next must be reviewed in progress during class time. It is not acceptable to complete all work on a project outside of class.
• -Most projects will require a minimum of three hours work outside of class for every three hours spent in class.
• -There will be a critique given after each project- attendance is mandatory. Failure to attend class on critique days is excusable only in cases of dire emergency i.e., severe illness or a death in the family. Students missing the final exam should expect their grade to be lowered a full grade.
• -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. Four latenesses are equal to one unexcused absence. To avoid being marked absent when you are late, it is your responsibility to speak to the instructor to make sure your attendance is accurately recorded.
• Students missing the final exam will be marked down a full letter grade if the instructor is show the work before he turns in grades. Conflicts with the exam time must be worked out the first week of school.
• Students missing classes for religious observances, athletic events, or other excusable academic events must inform the instructor of thier schedule the first week of class.

GRADING CRITERIA:

All work must be marked with a student's initials or stamp.

REQUIRED TEXT

•  A Potter's Workbook, by Clary Illian, University of Iowa Press

SUGGESTED TEXTS:

• Ceramics Monthly Magazine PO Box 12448 Columbus Ohio 43212
• A POTTER'S BOOK- by Bernard Leach. A classic, this book was the inspiration for many of this centuries greatest potters. It has some very good basic information, but is better as an expression of a philosophical stance towards pottery.
• CERAMICS, A POTTER'S HANDBOOK- Glenn C. Nelson, Fifth Edition:, very good general text, especially about technical topics. You should have read this or a similar text in the beginning and intermediate class.
• THE CRAFT OF THE POTTER, A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO MAKING POTTERY- Michael Casson: just as the title indicates, a technique oriented book with good step-by-step illustrations to many ceramic processes. Especially strong as regards throwing. 
• HANDS IN CLAY- Charlotte Speight, Has the most information about contemporary and historical ceramics, along with technical and technique oriented information.

LOCKERS: See Art Office to reserve a locker in the hallway.

TOOLS: HEPA Respirator, notebook & rubber gloves REQUIRED. Any respirator with a HEPA cartridge for dusts and mists should work. The Cartridge must say HEPA. My suggestion is a Mine Safety Appliances respirator from the book store or from Home Depot.Buy it as soon as possible preferrrably before the second day of classes. Make sure the respirator is not a small or large unless you have an very unusually large or small face. Filters often come separate. These respirators are often available from Home Depot but may need to be ordered online.

If you don't already own a potters tool kit, bucket and serrated rib, buy them. The bucket should be big enough to realy clean your hands but not so big that it is too tall to get your hands inside of. Mark all your tools with a permanent marker.

This list is intended only as a guide- you may find you need or want other tools.

• - a small 2"X 4" piece of real chamois attached to a fishing float or a long balloon. The chamois is better than the balloon.
• -brushes for slips and glazes. You will need a fine brush for labeling glaze tests. If you want to see catalogs to order from, ask.
• -thin plastic dropcloths (.03 mm) for covering work.
• -work clothes: You might want to keep a change of clothes that you can get very dirty in your locker, also closed top, sensible shoes. You cannot mix clay or use potter's wheels wearing sandals or high heels or loose clothing or hanging jewelry. 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.
• -Scarf or cap: to cover your hair when mixing clay or glaze, sweeping, or other dusty jobs.