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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2026

Advanced Ceramics I (Face-to-Face)

ART 4610-01

Course: ART 4610-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2026
Department: Filmmaking, Art, & Design
CRN: 31411

Course Description

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class is a continuation of ceramics 3610 and 3620. It is an exploration of advanced work in throwing, hand-building, firing, and special topics with emphasis on individual artistic expression.  It is to aid in the development of one’s own artistic methodology and conceptual pursuits using the ceramic medium as a form of visual communication.

This course is designed as an ‘Intensive’ study in Throwing and/or Hand-building practices and put you on the path to independent study for 4620. There is a list of projects for your choice of technique - throwing or Hand-building. No matter the technique you choose to pursue, you will be required to fulfill the Glaze formulation and testing project which will be ongoing throughout the semester. Advanced students are required to fire all their own work and are responsible for their own glazes (although you may use the studio glazes). You will need to load all your own work. If it is put on the community bisque shelves, I will not load it into a kiln for you. If you require assistance, please do not hesitate to ask. You may also use work from the community bisque shelves to help you fill your kiln.

(Fall, Spring) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Prerequisite(s): ART 3610 and ART 3620 - Prerequisite Min. Grade: C Repeatable for Add’l Credit? Yes - Total Credits: 12 

Required Texts

These are all recommended reading materials:
Resource Materials (textbooks and journals)
 
Creative Pottery: Innovative Techniques and Experimental Designs in Thrown and Handbuilt Ceramics, by Deb Schwartzkopf
Functional Pottery, by Robin Hopper

The Complete Guide to Mid-Range Glazes: Glazing and Firing at Cones 4-7, by John Brit 

The Ceramics Bible Revised Edition, by Louisa Taylor

The Essential Guide to Moldmaking and Slipcasting, by Andrew Martin

Mold Making for Ceramics, by Donald E. FrithP
 
Extra / Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art, Edited by Maris Elena Buszek
 
Ceramic Journals:
 
CERAMIC REVIEW
CERAMICS ART AND PERCEPTION
CERAMICS MONTHLY
CERAMICS TECHNICAL
NEW CERAMICS

Learning Outcomes

OBJECTIVES: This class emphasizes clay as a creative art material. Students learning outcomes are:

1. Students will demonstrate their own artistic vision and methodology through a highly focused course of study. 

2. Students will practice integrative, critical, and creative thinking skills by articulating their intentions and ideas in critiques and written form with their artist statement. 

3. They will demonstrate their understanding of the creative process and how to apply it to future bodies of work.

4. They will begin or complete an individual portfolio with documentation and exhibition of their artistic pursuits. 

5. They are expected to participate in end of term clean-up

Course Requirements

REQUIRED TOOL AND MATERIALS:

Sketchbook and a drawing implement. Always bring these to class.

Clay. Clay is available in the ceramic studio, but you must acquire a receipt from the cashier’s office in the student center. The price is listed on the board in the studio. You may expect to use at minimum two bags of clay. Your course fees cover the cost of glaze, slips, firing and studio tools and upkeep.

Basic ceramic tool kit found at the SUU Bookstore or online.

Items not available in the basic kit that you will need include:

A dust mask with cartridges (mandatory)

A serrated rib 

Various watercolor or Chinese calligraphy paint brushes

A small plastic container with a lid, such as a recycled yogurt or ice cream container.

A large container for throwing (such as a one-gallon bucket).

A small towel.

An apron (if you do not want to get clay on your clothes)

Various carving tools

An x-acto Knife

Recommended supplementary tools: Surform tool, small carving tools. Online sources to order tools are: Mudtools, Tacoma Clay Art Center, Georgie’s Ceramic Supply. There are many.

Course Outline

List of Projects: Hand-Building Intensive

Project 1: Binary / Dichotomy
 
Binary / Dichotomy – In critical theory, a binary opposition (also binary system) is a pair of theoretical opposites. A simplified example of this is hot and cold - words or ideas that define what the other is not. Dichotomy is also another closely related word to binary. Dichotomy is defined “a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different: a rigid dichotomy between science and mysticism.” Develop work that embodies this idea or plays with opposite concepts. Think ‘Nature’ and ‘Technology’ or ‘wild’ and ‘domestic’. 
 
To start, pick an object you find interesting. Or pick a concept you find interesting and chose an object that represents your concept. Next figure out what its binary would be. Be aware of how your object communicates metaphorically. This will help in understanding what its binary may be. 
 
Next, pick two objects that embody the binary system you would like to use in your piece. Print out an image of both objects. Finally, devise (work out ideas in your sketchbook) a way to combine these images to create one form. You may use the slab and/or the coil method to make your piece. Your piece must be 15 inches in one dimension. You must do ‘to scale’ drawings and have them approved before you start.
 
Project 2: Re-iterate
 
For this project do one more iteration of the piece from project 1. This time around you must incorporate on non-ceramic material in the piece. The main part of the piece must be ceramic and must be 15 inches in one dimension.
 
 
Project 3: Human Form Narrative

For Project 3 you will have to make a human form that tells a narrative. You may use coils, slab, or solid forming. Your final piece must be 12 inches minimum in one dimension. Options for developing your narrative, may include selecting your favorite children’s story and use this story as a baseline. Then you must weave your own personal, political, or social comment into the narrative of the forms you create. Other options may be a social or political commentary, or a simple retelling of a personal experience or idea. Preliminary drawings must be approved. Your piece does not need to be an entire figure. It may be a part of the human body or the whole. It may merge with other forms be they abstract or representational.

Project 4: Animal Form Narrative

For Project 4 you will have to make a animal form that tells a narrative. You may use coils, slab, or solid forming. Your final piece must be 12 inches minimum in one dimension. Options for developing your narrative, may include selecting your favorite children’s story and use this story as a baseline. Then you must weave your own personal, political, or social comment into the narrative of the forms you create. Other options may be a social or political commentary, or a simple retelling of a personal experience or idea. Preliminary drawings must be approved. Your piece does not need to be an entire animal figure. It may be a part of the figure or the whole. It may merge with other forms be they abstract or representational.

 

Project 5: Your choice

For the final project you are required to write a proposal of what you would like to make. You may use any technique you choose. I will help advise on what each project will be - meaning size, firing method and use of non-ceramic materials. Each piece should be large (as this is the focus of this semester). ‘To Scale’ drawings must be made and approved for the final piece. 

 

Project 6: Glaze Testing and mixing

This project will be ongoing throughout the semester. You will learn to develop and mix a base glaze. After your initial base glaze is developed, you will then add colorants to your glaze through a series of colorant testing. We will work with cone 6 glazes and fire them in Reduction and Oxidation. You will be required to assist in firing the gas reduction kiln. This means we will need to fire it 2 times. No exceptions. We will set the firing dates as a group. 

 



 
Calendar (Hand building)
 
Week 1: 
Sept. 2 – Introduction to class. Get Started on Project 1. 
 
Week 2:
September 7 – No Class, Labor Day Holiday.
September 9 – Continue working on Project 1.
 
Week 3:
September 14 – Continue working on Project 1. Make Glaze Test tiles.
September 16 – Continue working on Project 1.
 
Week 4:
September 21 – Start Project 2. Project 1 due.
September 23 – Continue Project 2.
 
Week 5:
September 28 – Continue Project 2. Glaze Tests Demonstration.
September 30 – Continue Project 2.
 
Week 6:
October 5 – Start Project 3. Project 2 due.
October 7 – Continue Project 3. 
 
Week 7:
October 12 – Continue Project 3.
October 14 - Continue Project 3.
 
Week 8:
October 19 – No Class, Fall Break.
October 21 – Start Project 4. Project 3 due. Glaze all bisque pieces. Glaze Tests Due.
 
Week 9:
October 26 – Continue Project 4. Fire Glaze tests in Oxidation.
October 28 – Continue Project 4. All Glazed work is due!!
 
Week 10:
November 2 – Continue Project 4. Fire Glaze Tests in Reduction.
November 4 – Continue Project 4.
 
Week 11:
November 9 – Start Project 5. Project 4 due.
November 11 – Continue Project 5.
 
Week 12:
November 16 – Continue Project 5. Colorants Tests demo. 
November 18 – Continue Project 5.
 
Last wet clay day November 20th!!!
 
ALL WORK MUST BE ON THE GREENWARE SHELVES BY MIDNIGHT!!
 
Week 13:
November 23 – Thanksgiving Break – No Class, campus open.
November 25 – Thanksgiving Break – No Class, campus closed.
 
Week 14:
November 30 – Glaze all work!
December 2 – Glaze all work!
 
Week 15:
December 7 – Glaze all work! Colorants Tests due.
 
Last Day to glaze is December 8th!!!
 
December 9 – Quiz and clean-up day – attendance is mandatory. 
 
Week 16:
December 14th to the 17th, Finals Week
 
3610 Tuesday December 15th from 3:00 pm to 4:50 pm



 
List of Projects: Throwing Intensive

Project 1: 10 Bowls

Project 1 is to throw 10 bowls with a trimmed foot. Each bowl should be made with a minimum of 1.5 lbs. of clay. 

Project 2: 10 Mugs

Project 2 is to throw 10 mugs ALL with a pulled handle. Start by playing with a few forms. Once you have found a form you like, you must replicate that form and handle for your 10 mugs. Your grade will be assessed on throwing the forms even, how well the handle is pulled and how similar all the forms are grouped together. 

Project 3: Plates

Throw 5 plates using 3 to 5 pounds of clay each. Each plate must have a trimmed foot. 
 
Project 4: 2-Part Throwing

Project 3 is to throw 5 flowerpot forms using 2, 3 lb. balls of clay. Start by throwing the first form with a bottom, just as you would generally throw a 3 lb. flowerpot form. Next you must throw another piece to fit on top of the first form you made. It must be attached and then thrown to look as though you have made one form with 6 lbs. of clay. Finally throw a basin for each form. 

Project 5: Multiple parts, One Form

Throw 3 forms composed of at minimum 3 parts. One part must be thrown with 3 pounds of clay, and the other two must be thrown with at minimum 1 pound of clay. Your forms may be containers (although a lid does not count as one of the parts), vase forms or sculpture. Your work will be assessed on the complexity of the thrown parts and the overall design of the form.

Project 6: Teapots
 
Throw six teapot forms. Each piece must have a thrown lid and spout with a pulled handle. 
 
Project 7: Glaze Testing and mixing

This project will be ongoing throughout the semester. You will learn to develop and mix a base glaze. After your initial base glaze is developed, you will then add colorants to your glaze through a series of colorant testing. We will work with cone 6 glazes and fire them in Reduction and Oxidation. You will be required to assist in firing the gas reduction kiln. This means we will need to fire it 2 times. No exceptions. We will set the firing dates as a group. 

 
Calendar (Throwing)
 
Week 1: 
Sept. 2 – Introduction to class. Get Started on Project 1. 
 
Week 2:
September 7 – No Class, Labor Day Holiday.
September 9 – Continue working on Project 1.
 
Week 3:
September 14 – Continue working on Project 1. Make Glaze Test tiles.
September 16 – Start Project 2. Project 1 due.
 
Week 4:
September 21 – Continue Project 2.
September 23 – Continue Project 2.
 
Week 5:
September 28 – Continue Project 2. Glaze Tests Demonstration.
September 30 – Start Project 3. Project 2 due.
 
Week 6:
October 5 – Continue Project 3.
October 7 – Continue Project 3. 
 
Week 7:
October 12 – Start Project 4. 
October 14 - Continue Project 4.
 
Week 8:
October 19 – No Class, Fall Break.
October 21 – Continue Project 4. Glaze all bisque pieces. Glaze Tests Due.
 
Week 9:
October 26 – Start Project 5.
October 28 – Continue Project 5. All Glazed work is due!!
 
Week 10:
November 2 – Continue Project 5.
November 4 – Continue Project 5.
 
Week 11:
November 9 – Start Project 6. Project 5 due.
November 11 – Continue Project 6
 
Week 12:
November 16 – Continue Project 6
November 18 – Continue Project 6
 
Last wet clay day November 20th!!!
 
ALL WORK MUST BE ON THE GREENWARE SHELVES BY MIDNIGHT!!
 
Week 13:
November 23 – Thanksgiving Break – No Class, campus open.
November 25 – Thanksgiving Break – No Class, campus closed.
 
Week 14:
November 30 – Glaze all work!
December 2 – Glaze all work!
 
Week 15:
December 7 – Glaze all work!
 
Last Day to glaze is December 8th!!!
 
December 9 – Quiz and clean-up day – attendance is mandatory. 
 
Week 16:
December 14th to the 17th, Finals Week
 
3610 Tuesday December 9th from 3:00 pm to 4:50 pm

Attendance at the final exam time is mandatory. Schedule any departures after this date!!!

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late Assignment Policy and/or Make-up Work: 
Due dates for all projects are listed in the calendar provided with the syllabus. It is recommended students adhere to all due dates. The dues dates provided are for pieces in their leather hard state ready to be dried and bisque fired. If a student misses a due date for a project, there is still time to complete the project with minimal affect on their grade. In fact, students may make up assignments or re-make assignments at any time during the semester with minimal or no effect on their grade up to the ‘Last Wet Clay Day’ where no student will be able to use wet clay in any form after that date. For this semester the deadline is November 20th. This is a hard and fast deadline, because the instructor is responsible for firing all of student work for this class and all other classes during the semester. The instructor needs the time after the ‘Last Wet Clay Day’ to ensure all the student projects are fired and complete. If a student misses this deadline without completing all the required projects, the only option is to give the student an incomplete for the course. The student will have to provide proof of a legitimate reason for not completing the course work on time, such as a medical emergency, death in the family or other situational cause.
 

Attendance Policy

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Because this is a Face-to-Face studio course it mandates you be in the studio to accomplish your projects for the class. Attendance is crucial to do well in this course. There is an Filmmaking, Art and Design attendance policy - if you miss more than one quarter (25%) of the class sessions you cannot receive better than a C. For this class that would amount to 7 absences. If you have an emergency, please contact me via email and we can make accommodations. You must be present in the studio for more than half of the class for it to count as being present. However, if your grade can be affected by too many absences, then it should be rewarded if you have zero absences. Thus, I will raise your grade by 5% if you make it all the way through the semester without missing one class session.
 

Course Fees

$19.00 per credit hour

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.