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ceramic art history class?

updated tue 7 mar 00

 

Jeff Campana on sun 5 mar 00


Recently, in my art history class, we had ceramic art day:

I felt outraged that we could spend two months on painting, only to spend a
mere day on ceramic art. To further this, nothing significant was even
covered. we learned vaguely about early greek and anasazi pottery, but no
more than i already knew from my assorted museum visits. I was hoping to
at least cover the funk movement and perhaps a few important figures in
comtemporary ceramics, but that did not happen.

I was wondering if anyone has even ever heard of a ceramic art history
class out there? I know most of us take the learning upon ourselves, with
library visits and buying books, at least i do, but it would be comforting
to know if there are any Universities out there that consider ceramic art
important enough to dedicate a whole class to just that.

I have no doubt that even i could assemble enough material to fill a 3
credit slot, if not more. After all, ceramic art is one of the oldest and
most durable forms of ancient art,, and having very recent strong movements
(which i don't think have even been named) makes it one of the more
exciting art forms for anyone to study. Also, the duality of ceramics (art
vs. craft, function vs. sculptural) and all the aspects of surface,
technical chemistry, and color make it a very thought provoking subject.

please send a thought out on this one, even all you lurkers out there. I
would definitely like to know of any programs out there that have a
specific Ceramic art history class, not just a weekly slide show in
ceramics class or something like that. (That's what we have here).

Thanks,

Jeff Campana

Suzanne Wolfe on mon 6 mar 00

Jeff,
I teach a History of Western Ceramics course (no Chinese, Japanese, etc.,
because we have an art history program that already covers those areas).
Suzanne Wolfe
University of Hawai'i

On Sun, 5 Mar 2000, Jeff Campana wrote:

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> Recently, in my art history class, we had ceramic art day:
>
> I felt outraged that we could spend two months on painting, only to spend a
> mere day on ceramic art. To further this, nothing significant was even
> covered. we learned vaguely about early greek and anasazi pottery, but no
> more than i already knew from my assorted museum visits. I was hoping to
> at least cover the funk movement and perhaps a few important figures in
> comtemporary ceramics, but that did not happen.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has even ever heard of a ceramic art history
> class out there? I know most of us take the learning upon ourselves, with
> library visits and buying books, at least i do, but it would be comforting
> to know if there are any Universities out there that consider ceramic art
> important enough to dedicate a whole class to just that.
>
> I have no doubt that even i could assemble enough material to fill a 3
> credit slot, if not more. After all, ceramic art is one of the oldest and
> most durable forms of ancient art,, and having very recent strong movements
> (which i don't think have even been named) makes it one of the more
> exciting art forms for anyone to study. Also, the duality of ceramics (art
> vs. craft, function vs. sculptural) and all the aspects of surface,
> technical chemistry, and color make it a very thought provoking subject.
>
> please send a thought out on this one, even all you lurkers out there. I
> would definitely like to know of any programs out there that have a
> specific Ceramic art history class, not just a weekly slide show in
> ceramics class or something like that. (That's what we have here).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jeff Campana
>

ferenc jakab on mon 6 mar 00

Jeff,
I agree. My major was sculpture and sub in ceramics. Our Art History teacher
wanted to spend an entire semester on Velasquez. One painter, one period of
history in a six semester course and I hate 2 dimensions. I lost my temper
and threw a chair at her. I should have been excluded from the course but
the powers that be agreed that art history for the 3D students should be
more relevant. I was given a special project where I had to score in the 80s
or lose my place at art school and the other students were given a broader
curriculum.
that was 25 years ago. Seems for some art history teachers Nothing's
changed.
Feri.