Advisory:It is advised that students be able to engage in written composition at a college level and read college-level texts.
Transfers to: UC, CSU

This introductory course is open to all Art and non-art majors interested in learning basic skills in ceramics using the potter’s wheel. Students develop a visual vocabulary for creative expression through lectures, vocabulary lists and video presentations. The course covers beginning problems of centering, throwing, and shaping various functional and non-functional pottery. Students are introduced to the process of glazing and basic firing techniques. This course emphasizes exploring personal and cultural expression in the ceramic media.

Prerequisite: ART 140
Transfers to: UC, CSU

This intermediate course in ceramics is open to all Art and non-art majors, with continued emphasis on basic skills using the potter’s wheel. Intermediate problems on the wheel, basic decorative techniques, and more advanced use of glaze are covered. Also, students are introduced to ceramic kilns and how they are loaded and fired.

Prerequisite: ART 141
Transfers to: UC, CSU

This advanced course in ceramics is open to all art and non-art majors. The course places a special emphasis on personal growth and aesthetics as well as increased proficiency on the potter’s wheel. Students explore the concepts of management and expressive exploration of the unique characteristics of fired ceramics—both the opportunities and constraints—presented in the processing of clay from a soft, plastic, fragile, impermanent substance into a hard, rigid, and completely metamorphosed material after drying and firing.