Artists take their education further in OU's Master's of Ceramics program, which ranks No. 5 in the country.
Nine students are studying in Ohio University's ceramics masters program.
OU has many nationally-ranked features, from the communication school to the sports administration program to the marching band and the party scene. However, the master’s of fine arts in ceramics program is ranked fifth in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Reports. It also attracts students from all over the country and abroad, Alex Hibbitt, an associate professor of ceramics and graduate chair of the school of art and design, said.
It is a three-year long program and each year more than 60 artists apply, but only three students are chosen, Hibbitt said.
Sam Briegel, a first-year student in the program from Tennessee who received her bachelor's at the University of Tennessee, said she finds the program to be very dynamic.
“The faculty make a very different (kind of) work, so as an artist being mentored by them, you kind of have different perspectives, and I find that very useful as an artist,” Briegel said.
Briegel said that lends a sort of freedom to students in the program.
“Within that, everyone is making different work," Briegel said. "We have figurative. We have vessel based. I make functional work and then you have some of us who are not even really working with clay, but the freedom to do what we want is the draw (to the program).”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="7a69ba58-71f1-11e5-a96a-bb437691b22c"}}
Though the ceramics program at OU didn’t start until about the 1970s, Ohio has a history with ceramics dating back to the 19th century that is evident when looking at the paths on College Green, Hibbitt said.
“Think about Ohio," Hibbit said. "This was the center of the United States’ ceramics industry in the end of the 19th century beginning of the 20th century. ... Because there is so much ceramic material in this area, you also had roof tile factories, brick factories. Like if you look at The Ridges, they dug the bricks and fired the bricks actually right where they built The Ridges.”
Danny Crump, a student in his third year and originally from St. George, Utah, said he has valued his time at OU and explained why he thinks the program is ranked highly.
“Even though I’m trained as potter, let’s say, this program has a very interdisciplinary approach to art making,” Crump said. “This program is more of a content-driven program, as opposed to maybe another program that was more material-driven, for instance.”
Hibbitt said the alumni play a hand in the success of the program.
“I think part of why our program is such as strong program and why our students do so well when they get out in the world — which I think is why the rankings are so high — it’s really because of what the alums do," Hibbitt said. "They are out teaching, or running art centers, having their own studio practice, doing all kinds of things."
Hibbitt added that the program takes a more holistic approach to teaching art.
“Part of what makes the program strong is that students are really encouraged to think about what they are doing to challenge themselves very specifically and to look at what’s happening, not only in the world of ceramics or the world of art theory, (but) sort of the world in general,” Hibbitt said.
The studying artists decided to further their education for different reasons.
“I felt like I needed it in my (artistic) development at the time,” Crump said.
Briegel said graduate school helps when searching the job market and when improving her work.
“(If) I would ever want to teach one day, be a professor, I would need that,” Briegel said. “It’s really just a nice time to further develop your work. I think, in undergrad, you just kinda decide what you want to do, you kind of create a style and then this is a place where you can get more feedback and kinda push it forward.”
Though these artists may walk to class on bricks made from clay-molders of the past, their work is new, Hibbitt said.
“We are very current and contemporary as a program and our students are very current and contemporary,” she said. “Being a mirror of what is happening in the world of ceramics is important to us.”
@M_PECKable
mp172114@ohio.edu
