Ceramics Program

For over 35 years the Ceramics Program has provided a creative studio environment for the Harvard, greater Boston, and international communities. The core strengths of this renowned center are the excellent courses, the unlimited studio access for independent study, and the expansive, well-equipped facility.

Complementing the wide range of course offerings are lectures, workshops, and ceramics history symposia featuring and attracting potters, sculptors, art historians and archaeologists from all over the world. Special events for undergraduates include Clay All Night parties and workshops for FAS courses and student groups.

May and December exhibitions of work created in the studio feature the best, largest and most varied selection of contemporary ceramics in the Northeast.

A highly accomplished group of instructors, independent professionals, resident and visiting artists inspire students and engage them in developing critical and technical skills for making functional and expressive vessels, figurative and abstract sculpture, tiles, and murals.

Coupled with the seduction of working with a material that is so responsive to touch and transformation is a complex process of physical and chemical changes that requires specialized equipment and fosters community. Mentoring opportunities flourish from the advantage and necessity of sharing knowledge, studio space, and large, long kiln firings. In most media it is rare for professional artists to work alongside beginners, but learning through exposure to creative work-in-process is central for the Ceramics Program's dynamic mix of students; the general public and Harvard undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and faculty.

The excellent 10,000 square-foot studio facility has spacious areas for hand building, wheel throwing, figure modeling, slip casting, glaze research, and firing electric, gas, soda, and raku kilns. An excellent ceramics library, a study collection of work made by visiting artists, and studio exhibitions enhance the educational resources.