Josephine Larsen, 2018

Hayden Richer, 2018

Anjuli Wright, 2017

Ceramics

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Department Philosophy

The Cranbrook Ceramics department is a collaborative community committed to a rigorous studio practice.

Department Philosophy

The Cranbrook Ceramics department is a collaborative community committed to a rigorous studio practice.

It is a place where we look deeply into the ceramic spectrum, finding strength in its position as a material and as a strategy for conceptual form and idea making. The landscape of ceramics is a vast open-ended question, with links to design, the crafts, the art world, industry and engineering. At Cranbrook, we see these links as a language to explore and as a way into our work. The open structure of the program allows students to find their own interests within the material world of ceramics and its contextual opposition.

Think of the Ceramics department as a hub. Within this hub we look outward and inward, back through history and forward into the unknown. Out into material possibility and back into its relationship to clay.

Studio Views, 2018. Photo Courtesy Studio Ian McDonald.

Artist In Residence

Ian McDonald

An accomplished ceramicist, Ian McDonald’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, at venues including the Curators Cube in Tokyo; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco; The New Wight Gallery at UCLA in Los Angeles; and Patrick Parrish Gallery in New York City.

His work has appeared or been mentioned in numerous publications, including Artforum, Metropolis, Wallpaper magazine, Ceramics Monthly, Dwell, and The New York Times. Prior to Cranbrook, he served as a member of the faculty at the
San Francisco Art Institute from 2003 to 2015.

In the Studio

Central to the Ceramics department philosophy is dedicated time in the studio.

In the Studio

Central to the Ceramics department philosophy is dedicated time in the studio.

This cannot be emphasized enough. We choose to work through ideas, to explore the range of ceramic possibilities from the humble pot to a tape cast pre-fabricated translucent chip in order discuss the issues that may stretch beyond the material itself. All of these processes hold a language that affords us a way to express the opportunities of singular material examination without being hemmed in by material specificity.

Cranbrook Ceramics embraces the multiple working methodologies that the clay and ceramic processes have to offer. There is no singular way to make. Only a singular dedicated vision and rigorous work ethic that the Cranbrook Ceramics department and community strive to foster.

Ian McDonald

The Cranbrook Experience in Ceramics

Ian McDonald

The Cranbrook Experience in Ceramics

Program

Critique

Photo by Ray Im

Program

Critique

As a group, we have formal mandatory critiques every week. During these weekly critiques, select students present their work to the entire department. Critiques are also open to other departments and students, making for a lively interdisciplinary discussion through the lens of ceramics. Here we take a long concentrated look at the work and discuss current issues and future possibilities. In addition, students have access to the Artist-in-Residence through individual meetings that occur on a weekly basis.

Kiln Room

Technical Facilities

We have 4 energy efficient Dutch Blaauw gas kilns fully computerized with additional kiln floor carts.

We also have several medium and small electric kilns as well as salt and soda kilns. The studio is also equipped with all of the essentials and more: blunger, hydraulic extruder, tilesaws, spraybooth, grinders, sandblaster and a large network of point-of-contact dust collection arms. We are always looking to improve the facilities and find new ways to approach the clay and ceramic process.

The Academy also offers access to 3D milling machines, a 3D printer and 3D scanner, a laser-cutter, large format printers and other equipment as necessary. We offer training in this machinery as well as 3D modeling.

As mentioned, central to the philosophy of the department is dedicated studio time, and that anything imaginable in that space is possible. We have the facilities to accomplish those goals. In this way, we hope to not only work within the already established ceramic tradition but to challenge the material, its process and its place in contemporary ceramic art and design.

Department visit to Ceramica La Mejor in Mexico City, 2019. Photo by Ray Im

Visiting Artists

Each year, we welcome visiting artists, critics, curators and thinkers from around the world.

Due to the size of our department, students have a unique opportunity to spend time with our visiting artists and critics and to gain valuable insight into their work and process. We visit museums and collections, studios and factories. Cranbrook Ceramics also engages in the real world of ceramics, collaborating on larger projects with artists, designers, and art directors, giving students first-hand experience into the world of ceramic production.