More Than Just Molding Clay!

Participants in Hood College’s Graduate Ceramics Arts programs have several degree options, but all students are working with both theory and practice in ceramics. Whether they are working towards a Ceramic Arts Certificate, Masters of Arts (M.A.), or Masters of Fine Arts (MFA), students develop their own style and point of view. Several exhibited over the summer, each showing different techniques.

Janet Greer earned an M.A. this summer, and created an exhibition called “Mudpies and Monsters”. A grandmother, Greer chose to feature ideas from her imagination and from the work of six of her grandchildren. She created both functional and decorative pieces using mostly porcelain clay in electric, wood, soda, and Raku firings.

“Surviving Fire” by Ryan McGlone showed ceramic canteens faced with images of war. An art teacher who works with disabled children, McGlone chose to “show the survival and emotion of war in the mind, heart, and soul” in this exhibition, moving to a more serious and emotional perspective.

MFA recipient Joseph Delphia’s exhibition was titled “A Tactile Vision.” Joe is a functional artist and ceramics teacher who “hopes that his pots become objects that spend more time in a hand than on a shelf”. His work is fired in a wood-burning kiln, which creates color and texture through marks of the ash and flame.

Dawn Lovell’s exhibition was titled “Glazes, You Rock!”. As the title suggests, Lovell used a variety of glazes to create pieces with different textures and colors to show a variety of natural-looking works.