Ceramics | Department of Art and Art History

About the Program

The program in ceramics offers students a range of courses dealing with all aspects of the medium. Instruction is offered in all forming techniques, glaze calculations, kiln construction, and kiln-firings. Students are encouraged to experiment with the medium and to explore new processes. Emphasis is placed on the student’s development of individual concepts and technical mastery of clay. Recent undergraduates have gone on to programs at Penn State, University of Florida and other institutions of higher learning. Recent MFA graduates have gone on to do art residencies across the country. For information about applying, go here: http://art.ua.edu/about/prospective/ or call us for more information: (205) 348-5967.

Ceramics Faculty

Wade MacDonald, assistant professor

About the Facilities

The department’s ceramics area is a large, fully equipped facility with a complete inventory of clay and glaze materials. Ceramics has interior work space of 7,000 square feet with graduate studio space available. The 900 square foot kiln facility is comprised of a 16 cubic foot Skutt front load electric kiln, five Skutt top load electric kilns (digital), a Skutt glass fusing coffin kiln (digital), a 40 cubic foot Alpine updraft gas kiln, a 9 cubic foot test updraft gas kiln, 40 cubic foot Geil downdraft gas kiln, and two raku kilns. We have a Soldner mixer, as well as three Bluebird de-air pug mills and a hammer mill and two tile saws. We have 8 kick and 12 electric potter’s wheels, a slab roller, a ball mill, and a blunger for mixing slip. The studio has an image room for the documentation of artwork, as well as a media center equipped with books, periodicals and a Mac computer.

Visiting Artists

In February 2016, the ceramics program at UA hosted visiting artist Bryan Czibesz for a two-day workshop where students and faculty worked with him to construct 3D printers from scratch. Listen to our faculty members, Matthew Mitros, Wade MacDonald, and Jamey Grimes, talk about the process. View larger on Vimeo.