The Chronicle stops the presses- Play offers new twist on classic story
- Students create illustrations for Georgia Ports Authority
-
Graduate student channels classic horror in thesis film - Alumnus creates mobile gallery
- SCAD libraries hold artist’s book competition for students
- Griffis discusses development of Arthur legend
- Noted author speaks to students
- The Green Scene: 'We have a dream'
- Personnel File: New staff members join SCAD-Savannah
- SCAD hosts regional IDSA conference
- Titus Kaphar to speak at SCAD
- The Bee Line
- Women’s lacrosse sets records in Kennesaw State win
- Athlete Feats highlights for Feb. 22
- Baseball takes series from St. Thomas
- Women’s basketball wraps up second place in Florida Sun
- Athletics updates for Feb. 15
- Baseball off to best start in program’s history
- Big third period leads lacrosse team to victory
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
Class in the Spotlight
|
Students hone ceramics skills in Wheel Throwing class
 Photo by Dennis Burnett Professor Jared Jaffe (left) demonstrates ceramics techniques to students Eliza Glaister (center) and Anna Whitacre in Alexander Hall April 24. By Monique Bos Published: Friday, May 25, 2007 Wheel Throwing I, a ceramic arts course at the Savannah College of Art and Design, meets Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8 a.m., but the five students in the class don’t seem to mind the early time slot. In fact, they often stay after the session ends to continue working on their projects. “I like this class,” said Anna Whitacre, a senior painting student with a ceramics minor. “It’s a nice alternative to any major.” “I really enjoy it,” said Eliza Glaister, an art history student. “You make something new every time you sit down.” “It’s a very calming, meditative process,” interior design student Brad Wilkinson said. “It’s stress-free, usually, and really one of the art forms that most fully uses the body and hands. Your hands are a big instrument in creating art.” Professor Jared Jaffe began the quarter by assigning students to create a set of six cylinders that featured thin walls, straight sides and lapped bottoms. The pieces had to match in shape and form, but students could decorate them individually. Jaffe explained that to craft the cylinders, students had to trim their work upside down, lathing away extra clay. “If you’re not careful, you can trim too much,” he added. When that happens, the students enlist the help of ceramics technician James Lobb to mix more clay, and then they start over, using electric wheels to build their pieces. “If you mess something up, you just take it off the wheel and throw it again,” said student Brittany York. “Even though there’s a lot of trial and error, you can make things quickly.” After the pieces are finished, the students place them in a rack to be fired in one of the department’s two kilns. “The pottery gets fired twice, from a wet state to dry as bone,” Jaffe said. “When it comes out [after the first firing], it’s called a bisque. It’s glazed and goes back into the kiln.” Each firing takes approximately 12 hours, he said. Pieces can be fired at either low or high heat, although the SCAD kilns can only do low. “For a low fire, it’s usually terra cotta and bright colors,” Jaffe explained. “The tradeoff is that the pottery itself is not very dense. The advantage to that, especially in industry, is that it’s cheaper to fire.” With a high fire, the colors lose intensity but the pieces gain durability, he said. After the first firing, the students can choose from a wall full of glazes to decorate and embellish their work. In more advanced classes, they experiment with mixing their own glazes. When the cylinder project was completed, the students moved on to craft bowls and other low, open forms. Then they worked on pouring vessels, which incorporate both bowl and cylinder forms. “The assignment was basically to take two forms and stack one on top of the other, then cut out the clay between them,” Jaffe explained. “Finally, they’ll add some sort of pouring orifice.” Their final project of the quarter was a lidded vessel. After demonstrating techniques, Jaffe gave them a handout with various types of lids and advice for how to make each one. “In Wheel Throwing II, they can combine the pouring vessel with lids to make teapots and coffee pots, and also do plates in sets — basically, more complex constructions,” he said. “They make identical sets of things, like cups and saucers.” The ceramics facilities, located in Alexander Hall, 668 Indian St., include electric wheels, one foot-operated wheel, a kiln room, drying racks, stainless steel tables for glazing and a wedging table for kneading air bubbles from the newly mixed clay. The college supplies students with dry clay mix, and their surplus is recycled for future use. “They go through a lot during the quarter,” Jaffe said. “The learning curve at the beginning is kind of tough; it’s a new skill, like practicing scales on the piano.” He said the more times clay is mixed and reused, the better it is to work with. “When it’s first mixed, the clay isn’t as workable,” he explained. “Moldy clay is more workable than fresh. It holds together better.” The fact that SCAD provides the clay means the students don’t spend much money on supplies. “This is probably the cheapest class to take,” Whitacre said. Painting student Sean Wells signed up for Wheel Throwing I partially because the class is in the same building as his major. “I’ve been in the same building for four years and never tried ceramics,” he said. “It’s great being able to make functional objects.” Wilkinson said he enjoys “the ability to create something like what you see in an art history book, the ability to create something you see in your imagination.”  |
|
|