The NMMU Ceramic Design

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The NMMU Ceramic Department offers outstanding facilities and a vibrant staff that are constantly involved with current trends and events. The department has a comprehensive Ceramic Design course and a Ceramic Fine Art component.

The Ceramic Design Course is geared to equip learners with the necessary techniques and information for starting their own business once they graduate. The course runs over 3 years, and covers clay hand building, slip casting, press moulding, plaster mould making, jiggering, transfer printing, throwing, glaze and kiln technology. At 3^rd year level, learners are encouraged to experiment with their own concepts and to formulate new designs that may become the start of their signature range.

The course also touches on the business component of running a small ceramic studio. Learners are given instruction on costing wares, product evaluation, marketing and product design. Furthermore, learners are exposed to direct selling to the public through the department’s Red Earth Clay Project initiative, an “earn and learn” project, which facilitates an in-house gallery.

The Ceramic Fine Art component is primarily focused on the conceptual nature of the artwork. The instruction concentrates on the fabrication of the proposed pieces and their installation and purpose.

Ceramic Design

By admin

Earth, water, fire, air…art from the elements of nature.

The translucent glaze on forms of clay and the color and character of glass brought together by hands and firing, feed the mind and soul.

Our ceramic majors develop throwing and hand-built methods of working with clay.  The direction each student’s form takes can evolve to become sculptural, functional,  or architectural.  Experimentation with form and surface is encouraged from the start so our students understand how, together, these attributes produce an art object.  Students can finish their objects in a variety of surface treatments, experiment with numerous firing temperatures, and incorporate other materials such as metal, wood, and glass into their constructions.

Our studio is equipped with electric and gas kilns, electric wheels, a kick wheel, and hand building equipment.  There are also separate spaces for the kilns, clay preperation, and glaze mixing.  Adjacent to the ceramic studio is our glass studio containing fusing and slumping kilns, an electric glass casting kiln, an annealing kiln, a diamond band saw and a glass polisher.

Students in both studios experience creative challenges designed to expand and develop their artistic abilities

Get started and enjoy!