WINTER 2017 (January – April)
NSCAD Ceramics continues its dynamic role internationally for
progressive approaches to BFA and MFA studies. The Ceramics Department
is respected for its programming in pottery and contemporary sculpture
issues and more recently its architectural and design investigations,
recognizing the complex relationship between the built environment and
contemporary social and ecological issues.
We are inviting new and returning students to come to NSCAD for the
Winter 2017 semester to try out our new courses in our incredibly
equipped studios.
- You are a student from one of our partner schools studying through our Mobility or Exchange program.
- You are a current ceramics student at a non-exchange-partner school transfering our courses back to your program.
- You are a ceramic artist enrolling as a special student for professional development purposes.
We welcome you to apply for this special Winter 2017 semester (January – April) of ceramics study by November 15.
PROGRAM
The newly revised Ceramics Program offers three streams:
throwing/pottery, hand-building/sculpture and design/mold/digital
fabrication, in order to direct your learning to more particular
outcomes. An expanded offering allows interdisciplinary students to
build a portfolio of ideas in the Ceramics studios. Our topic workshops
offer in-depth approaches on graphic, narrative and technical approaches
to the ceramic surface, figuration, installation, architecture and
tableware.
The program emphasizes craft theory, history and discourse. As such,
NSCAD is committed to researching technologies to support new ceramic
practices combining developments in materials and computer interface 3D
fabricating technologies. Ceramics has mold making facilities, a large
RAM press, extruders, clay mixing facilities, spray booth, fully
equipped glaze lab and 15 kilns, including three state-of-the-art Blaauw
computer controlled gas kilns.
NSCAD ceramics graduates have successfully entered MFA programs such
as Alfred University, University of Florida and RISD, and have become
professors in institutions such as Alberta College of Art and Design,
Alfred University, MICA and Sheridan College.
COURSES
For the full list of courses offered during the Winter 2017 semester, search our online registration system, WebAdvisor.
CERM 3512 Architecture + Ceramics – Neil Forrest
This course examines the intersection of architecture and ceramics.
Ceramics has historically been essential to functional and narrative
capacities of architecture. This course will examine new artistic and
technical potentials for ceramics in contemporary architecture, and
provide a conceptual and theoretical framework to articulate new
relationships Students will work with structured and self-directed
projects and be presented with a range of architectural parameters in
which to develop a responsive practice in a truly interdisciplinary
context. In addition to tiles and other envelope/sheathing forms of
ceramic, students will be challenged to find new environmental
applications and artistic narratives. Architects and designers will
present the contemporary issues of architecture in regards to social,
artistic and engineering needs.
CERM 3513 Art of the Table – Joan Bruneau
The table is the context in which ceramics will define social space.
This course will examine historical and contemporary approaches to
function as it relates to food, society and ceramics. What and how we
eat is never static and this course will dissect social interaction
through objects in the environment of the dinner table. The
organization, display and relationships among ceramic objects create and
define social spaces. Historical form will be part of an equation to
find contemporary form, and tableware will be seen as a tool of social
interaction. Examples from contemporary design and craft will inform
processes in moldmaking, handbuilding and throwing as primary
construction techniques.
CERM 3110 Intermediate moldmaking and digital fabrication- RoryMacDonald
This course develops techniques of slip casting and complex
mold-making for students with prior experience in ceramics. Moldmaking
stands alone as a method of fabrication, but is widely used as a
supportive technique within a studio oeuvre. Molds apply equally to the
typologies of pottery, sculpture and architecture within the medium of
casting slip (liquid clay). Conventional and experimental methods will
help students develop a range of indirect fabrication methods to produce
unique vocabularies. This course exploits the process of slip casting
to amplify design and production methods for all ceramic genres.
Students work in small teams to organize and gas reduction and electric
kilns at midrange using semi porcelains and whitewares.
AHIS 2657 Folk Art – Sandra Alfoldy
This course will explore the complicated history of folk art, its
relationship to main street art, and the importance of folk art to Nova
Scotia’s cultural identity. Folk art is generally understood as
utilitarian, decorative art created in cultural isolation by anonymous,
untrained artists. We will question the role of folk art in our
globalized world and how it compares to outsider art while examining the
extraordinary objects created by ordinary people.
AHIS 4513 Senior Seminar: Craft and Food – Sandra Alfoldy
Craft and food have always been intimately connected. From early
artisanal production out of sheer necessity to the extravagances of the
table in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to today’s resurgence
of artisanal foods, this course will explore the morals, manners and
materials of craft and food. The seminar will culminate in a dinner
party.
HOW TO APPLY
MOBILITY / EXCHANGE
If you are a mobility or exchange student at one of our partner
schools, you may apply through your on-campus mobility or exchange
office. We are extending the deadline for application for Ceramics
studies for Winter 2017. Application details are found here. Please contact: [email protected] for more information.
ADVANCED STANDING
If you are currently studying at another art college or university or
you have recently graduated, but wish to enrol for further studies in
our Special Semester of Ceramics, apply as an Advanced Standing student
with your program specialization in Ceramics. Application details are
found here. Please contact: [email protected] for more information.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
If you are a graduate of a ceramics program or a professional ceramic
artist and wish to join our courses to further your professional
development, apply as an Advanced Standing student with your program
specialization in Ceramics. Application details are found here. Please contact: [email protected] for more information.
