Ceramics Course Descriptions
A studio-based ceramics certificate at SAL focused on materials, process, and professional practice.
Level 1
Beginning Ceramics
A beginner-friendly foundation course introducing both handbuilding and wheel throwing. Students build basic forms using slab, coil, and pinch methods while learning core wheel skills including centering, pulling cylinders, shaping, trimming, and handle attachment. Functional pottery is completed with surface decoration using slips and glazes.
Beginning Handbuilding
An introduction to the three essential handbuilding methods: pinch, coil, and slab, supporting the construction of functional and sculptural forms. Students develop reliable joining and building strategies while experimenting with slips and glazes to explore surface and structure.
Beginning Wheel 1
A wheel-throwing course for beginning and continuing students focused on functional forms and technical growth. Students throw cups, bowls, plates, vases, and pitchers while strengthening shaping, ribbing, trimming, and finishing skills, and exploring surface decoration.
Beginning Sculpture 1
A foundational sculpture course focused on building larger clay forms using slab and coil construction. Students translate sketches into three-dimensional work while applying formal elements such as mass, weight, scale, repetition, and negative space, and develop expressive surfaces using slips, oxides, glazes, and underglazes.
Electives
List coming soon.
Level 2
Wheel 2: Bottles, Lids, and Pitchers
A Level 2 wheel course focused on increased scale, control, and complexity in functional forms. Students throw taller cylinders (6”+), larger bowls (up to 12”), plates, bottles, and pitchers, construct well-fitting lids, and apply decorative slip techniques including inlay, brushwork, sgraffito, and slip trailing to integrate form and surface.
Wheel 2: Lidded Vessels
A focused course on designing and producing lidded pottery with strong proportion and production technique. Students create functional lidded forms such as sugar bowls, casseroles, tea caddies, canisters, butter dishes, and ginger jars, learning multiple lid types, including lids cut from closed forms and locking lids, and using texture and pattern to influence glaze results.
Wheel 2: Handles
A wheel course centered on the design and construction of handled forms. Students pull, shape, and attach handles with strength and precision while producing functional and decorative objects such as mugs, pitchers, teapots, vases, urns, and lidded ware. Texture and pattern enhance surface and glaze response.
Wheel 2: Texture
A surface-focused wheel course exploring how texture, pattern, and imagery activate pottery. Students develop surfaces through imprinting, carving, and layering techniques, learn how texture alters glaze behavior, and incorporate imagery and motifs to create cohesive work.
Sculpture 2: Building TALL
A Level 2 handbuilding course focused on tall vessel construction, up to 27 inches, using coil, slab, and carving methods. Students learn structural planning, strong joinery, stable curves and angles, and reinforcement strategies to build elegant, stable large-scale vessels.
Handbuilding 2: Bottles, Lids & Pitchers
A Level 2 handbuilding course focused on increased scale, control, and complexity in functional forms. Students build taller cylinders (12”+), plates, bottles, and pitchers, construct well-fitting lids, and apply decorative slip techniques including inlay, brushwork, sgraffito, and slip trailing to integrate form and surface.
CRITIQUE WORKSHOP
A Level 2 course focused on learning how to critique ceramic work. Students develop visual and formal literacy by building vocabulary for form, shape, surface, and function, and practice analyzing their own work and the work of others to identify strengths, weaknesses, and underlying decisions, using artist references to support clear critical thinking.
ELECTIVES​
List coming soon.
Level 3
CRITIQUE GROUP L3
A Level 3 critique course that builds on foundational critique skills to support the development of personal taste and artistic voice. Students use group discussion to examine form, surface, and function, articulate ideas through ceramic work, and refine decisions through peer-based critical exchange.
BEGINNING DRAWING
A foundational course focused on observational skills including line, shape, value, proportion, and composition. Students develop their observational eye through contour, negative space, and light and shadow, then progress to gesture, structure, and spatial composition, building accurate, expressive drawings while exploring materials.
Wheel 3: Altered Forms
An advanced wheel course focused on altering thrown forms on and off the wheel to move beyond traditional round pottery. Students use paddling, darting, squaring, faceting, and reassembly techniques to create complex, asymmetrical forms, shifting volume, balance, and movement. Handbuilt elements are integrated to develop cohesive relationships between form, surface, and glazing while completing finished work with strong craftsmanship.
Wheel 3: Scaling Up: Lids & Handles
A Level 3 wheel course focused on throwing larger and taller pots with control and intention. Students refine planning and shaping strategies, practice throwing sets of similar forms, explore advanced slip decoration and altering at scale, and work with porcelain and stoneware.
Handbuilding 3: Scaling Up: Lids & Handles
A Level 3 handbuilding course focused on building taller pots with greater control and intention. Students refine planning and shaping, create more complex forms, explore advanced slip decoration and large-scale altering, and work with porcelain and stoneware.
Sculpture 3: Technical Building
Description to come
CERAMICS 3: Introduction to Glazing
A research-based course exploring glaze, underglaze, and slip through systematic testing. Students study glaze chemistry, mix their own glazes, document fired results, and apply this knowledge to make informed surface decisions aligned with artistic intent.
POTTERY TECH WORKSHOP
A hands-on workshop covering essential technical skills for ceramics studio operation. Students learn clay and glaze mixing, wheel repair, materials and equipment organization, kiln loading and firing, safe storage and disposal, and basic troubleshooting, preparing them to work as a pottery technician or manage an independent studio.
Ceramics 3: Art History & Studio Class
An art history course focused on ceramics across cultures, geographies, and time periods. Students study traditional methods, glazes, forms, and functions through close observation of ceramics from Song dynasty China, 16th-century Japan, the Mediterranean, Africa, Aztec and Incan cultures, Indigenous North America, Korea, Europe, and contemporary America, building visual literacy and understanding how historical context informs ceramic practice.
BEGINNING FIGURATIVE SCULPTURE (PORTRAIT or FULL FIGURE)
A foundational figurative sculpture course offered in two formats: Portrait or Full Figure. Students develop work from start to finish using additive and subtractive methods, hollow and solid construction, firing, and finishing. Emphasis is placed on transforming observation into expressive form through design evaluation and critique, addressing proportion, gesture, structure, and the dynamics of weight, balance, compression, and flow to move beyond replication into intentional sculptural decisions.
ELECTIVES​
List coming soon.
Level 4
Ceramics 4: Final Project and Exhibition
A capstone course in which students plan, produce, and present a cohesive body of ceramic work. Students demonstrate technical proficiency, conceptual development, and professional presentation standards, culminating in a publicly exhibited final project evaluated by faculty.
Ceramics 4: Independent Study
An advanced course supporting self-directed studio work under faculty supervision. Students define learning objectives, pursue focused technical or conceptual investigation, and demonstrate sustained independent practice through documented progress and completed work.
Ceramics 4: Portfolio Development
A professional preparation course focused on documenting and presenting ceramic work. Students develop conceptual direction and produce a cohesive portfolio demonstrating technical skill and consistency. Work is refined for professional, educational, or exhibition opportunities through evaluated visual documentation and organization.
Ceramics 4: Pro Practices
A professional practices course focused on preparing students to present, promote, and sell ceramic work. Students develop skills in documenting work, writing an artist statement and bio, planning presentation and display strategies, building professional connections, and preparing for sales and markets, including the SAL Pottery Art Sale.
OTHER SAL STUFF
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Who can use the ceramics studio during open studio hours?
Our Ceramics Open Studio hours are available to all students currently registered in one of our pottery classes. We do not offer ceramic studio usage or rentals to non-students.