Harvard Arts Beat

Last week, I audited Anthropology 1010: The Fundamentals of Archaeological Methods & Reasoning, basically an introductory course to Anthropology. But no, I didn’t take my notebook or my laptop; all I needed were my hands and five pounds of white earthenware clay to pound into shape.  At the ceramics studio, 136 Anthro students ventured into the ceramics studio for a special hands-on field day organized by their instructors and the Harvard Ceramics Program staff.

The students split into groups, assigned to each of the eight stations, which focused on a different aspect of claymaking—coil and slab building, paddling, wheel-throwing, carving, and even a tutorial on cylinder seals. By working with the clay themselves, the students were able to gain an intimate sense of the process behind the objects they were studying. Because clay is an ancient art, getting literally in touch with the various methods, and thus being able to identify them, proves useful when uncovering the history of human civilization.

The activities, timed to be ten minutes each, were framed by more educational lectures. At these stations, staff members taught students about the science of glazing, firing transformation, and morphology analysis—how to examine shards of pottery to determine by which process the pot was made. Of course, staying true to the fact that this is a Harvard course, each group was quizzed (lightly) at the end.

Seeing my peers smeared in clay dust and smiling amusedly and running from one station to the next when “Time’s up!” was much like observing excited kids at an arts and crafts fair. That is, to say, I could tell they deeply enjoyed themselves, and I’m certain that it was a painlessly enlightening activity for them. If only every Harvard lecture could be as lively and fun as this two-hour experience.

Photos courtesy Shawn Panepinto.

By guest blogger Melissa Armstrong

When making small talk, someone inevitably asks what I do, and I find I’ve gotten into the habit of saying, “I’m an artist …” (dramatic pause) … “which means I work at a bakery.“ Everybody gets a good laugh, and we move on to other topics, safely avoiding any further explanation. What they don’t realize is that working at a bakery is a fascinating and eye opening experience about ceramics. This is why I have found that balancing my work at Harvard Ceramics and my work at Flour Bakery and Cafe is  surprisingly rewarding. I have found connections between baking and ceramics that I never would have otherwise found. These images show the similarities.

First, there is the science of making the dough or clay body from scratch

We both use the exact same tools... scales, strainers and mixers

Tools for shaping: funny how pvc, which you might expect to see in a studio is used at the bakery, and rolling pins are key in ceramics...

The exact same wheel is used for trimming and decorating cakes and pots

Same tiny nozzled squeeze bottles and pastry bags for adding fine detailed decorations

Both are OCD about collecting containers of all shapes and sizes

Bakers racks are treasured finds at the ceramic studio

The real magic happens here, in our respective ovens where chemical transformations turn unusable dough into functional objects

And what comes out seems to have no relationship to what went in! Both are now functional and ready for consumption

And the relationship between the two end products could make for an entirely other conversation

 Both professions start with a malleable simple medium, both are shaped by hand, both go through radical transformations upon being baked or fired, and both provide endless possibilities and variation in the end result. Both are art forms in their own right, can give great pleasure to their end users, and have extremely strong, small, and tight knit communities that I have been blessed to be a part of. Next time you’re baking cookies at home, or throwing a pot on the wheel, think about the connections between baking and making. Maybe it will change the way you do each; I know it has changed both for me.

Finished Work

The new wood kiln, Green Fire, has proved to be even more efficient then we originally anticipated!  The first three firings have produced otherworldly effects: whether they are ash glazed; green gloss, yellow melt, red flash, and blue-gray matte or raku; oil slick rainbows, crackly whites, deep charcoal.  Don’t know what all that means?  It means BEAUTIFUL.  Not only that, but the stoking crew, in charge of keeping the fire alive, has been enjoying gourmet dinners out of the built-in wood-fire pizza oven.

In fact, with the kiln reaching temperature, a whopping 2400F, in only 7 hours, we’ve added another firing this weekend! It will be an intense, 10 hour firing, starting on Sunday morning and kiln builder extraordinaire, Kusakabe, will meet with participants and curious bystanders to discuss the transformations that have occured with their work.  Can’t wait to see what comes out of the kiln next!  Can you?

Kusakabe at Work

Tucked away in the basement of a long, light-green building at the end of North Harvard Street is the ceramics studio, a warm hub of three-dimensional creativity.

A thin layer of clay dust covers the wall, shelves, floor, evoking a time long past. But of course, the ceramics studio is now. Laughter and voices mingle with the whir of the spinning pottery wheels, occasionally interrupted by the instructor’s advice: “Now pull gently…use the rib…Keep your hands at 3:34…”. It seems like a secret ceramics code, but after a few minutes of observation, I know that “pulling” means developing the bowl from the bottom center inside out, the “rib” is a curved piece of plastic for smoothing and shaping the surface, and the time references direct the positioning of the hands.

Shawn Panepinto, our instructor for the evening, takes the wheel to demonstrate throwing a plate. (“Throwing” doesn’t denote any sort of violent hurling; it is the official term for crafting something on a spinning, circular plate.) With the wheel spinning, the amorphous ball of clay gradually and effortlessly takes form within her hands. More gentle pushes and pulls. The clay melts and molds, the sides oscillate with the slight quiver of her fingertips. The long cylinder spinning in front of her finally breathes and pulsates into a vase.

It’s no wonder the famous sensual scene in “Ghost” involved claymaking (Patrick Swayze, rest in peace). The intimacy with which Demi Moore caresses and massages that hunk of clay is obviously much more sexualized, but it’s not far from the gracefulness of working with clay in the Harvard ceramics studio. There weren’t any attractive, half-clad lovers involved (though I did learn about a technique of firing called the naked raku) or making out over the wheel, but that same sense of intimacy surrounds each potter at his or her wheel. There’s something mesmerizing about seeing a solid form taking shape, gradually changing and responding to the artist’s slightest touch.
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I made a short video of Jack Cen ‘11, a fellow Quincy House resident who teaches lessons in Quincy’s ceramics studio from 8-10pm on Tuesdays. He was also involved in planning the Clay All Night program which attracted a huge crowd of the curious, the clay enthusiasts, and everyone in between.

One of the occupational hazard are temporarily stained jeans, as you can see here!

Christopher Adams’ spacious (but overflowing!) studio space at the Ceramics Program is inhabited by a collection of rare goldfish and cacti in addition to the enormous amount of ceramic work covering the walls and tables. When asked about his sculptures he says, “they are all members of an arbitrarily designed family of creatures, each with the same number of appendages attached in the same order on the same basic internal framework, each having evolved to fill a particular niche — in this case, ones that are purely aesthetic.”

A resident artist at the Office for the Arts Ceramics Program, Christopher has been a regular at the studio for many years.  Known for being completely fearless in both the construction and glazing of his wildly biological pieces, he is also instantly recognized by something he himself once said; “if you see 100 of something, I probably did it.”

After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College in organismic and evolutionary biology, he moved on to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Christopher just finished a three-year residency in dermatology at Stony Brook Hospital and is now back in Boston, happy to get back into the swing of creatively making things. (photo cred: Teresa Lattanzio)

From Jazz to Dance, from Ceramics to Theater, the Arts Spectrum covers it all. Arts Spectrum is a newsletter published twice-a-year by the Office for the Arts at Harvard focusing on a wide range of issues, people, and events in the arts both on and off campus. Information on OFA programs and features about student performers and exhibitions appear regularly.

Ceramics and Visual Arts

Dance

Grants, Subsidies and Fellowships

Jazz

Learning From Performers

Music

Theater

Download the entire Year-end 2008-09 Arts Spectrum (2.6MB)

OFA Director Jack Megan joined other Harvard administrators like Tanya Iatrides and Jackie O’Neill disco dancing in front of Dudley House this afternoon at the kick-off of the Common Spaces Initiative.



Diane Paulus, Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater, invited him to dance the Bus Stop with her and the cast of The Donkey Show, which opens tomorrow night.



The event attracted lots of passersby who stopped to enjoy the performance and boogied down.



For more information on the Common Spaces Initiative and scheduled performances in Harvard Yard click here.

Celebrating its 40th year, the Ceramics Program, known internationally for its leadership in the field, provides a creative studio and laboratory study environment for Harvard students, staff, and faculty, as well as designers, artists, scholars, and scientists from the greater Boston, national and international arenas. The Studio was founded by Harvard College undergraduates in 1969 and became a Radcliffe College Program in 1973. It was integrated into the FAS in 1999 when Harvard and Radcliffe merged. Today Harvard faculty from 10 FAS Departments and 4 other Tubs serve the Program as Advisors. Program core strengths are its excellent courses and instructors, innovative interdisciplinary symposia, and expansive, well-equipped facility. The Program is based at Barry’s Corner in Allston, serving as a keystone cultural offering in Harvard’s expansion, and also oversees a satellite studio in Quincy House. It offers three semesters each year of courses at all levels, as well as master classes and workshops by visiting artists.

Are you interested in making some art this semester? Registration for OFA courses begins soon!

Registration for Ceramics Courses has begun! Learn the art of throwing on the wheel, clay sculpture, tile making and painting, and much more! Courses available at all levels. Classes start on September 7. Open to Harvard Students, Staff, Faculty, and the General Public.

Registration for Dance Courses: September 8-9, 1-5pm. In person ONLY at the Harvard Dance Center, 60 Garden St. Ballet, Modern, Hip hop, Jazz, Tap and Theater Dance and more offered this semester. Courses available at all levels. Open to Harvard Students, Staff, and Faculty.

Registration for the very popular Figure Drawing class will be on September 10-11, and  14, 10 am-5 pm, in person only at the Office for the Arts, 74 Mt. Auburn Street. Come early if you want a spot! But don’t worry if you can’t make it in this semester: the course if offered every semester. Open to 12 Harvard undergraduates and 3 Harvard Graduate students. 

Visit our registration page for forms, fees and information.

Also, if you’re a Harvard undergraduate, you can audition for every Fall ‘09 theater production during Common Casting, run by the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club. Info session on September 7.