Studio Sessions
Clay +
with Kitty Ross
May 2021
About the Studio Session
Unfired, raw, and wild clay is currently trending as an approach in many ceramic studios. Can we do more to extrapolate the possibilities, language and meaning of this material? Ecology, sustainability and recycling clay materials is now an important consideration in the studio but it also can feed content and form. Raw clay can respond to time, sound, and climate, amongst so much more.
Experimentation and examination of material additions to unfired clay and traditionally fired clay bodies will build weekly experiments determined by the interests of each participant. Examples include bio clay, clay leather, tape casting, additives for strength, additives for flexibility, and additives that can ‘hold’ wet or plastic clay in suspended animation, unable to dry.
Foraging, filling, and adding materials can address how, what, and why something is made. Together, we will investigate new possibilities.
About the Lead Artist
Katherine’s (Kitty’s) ceramic work has always been concerned with the complex relationship we have to this material and the subtle, coded ways it operates within our culture.
Over the years she has utilized ceramics, often combined with video, photography and mixed media, within large-scale installations.
She is Professor Emeritus at the School of the Art Institute and a faculty member since 1981, chairing the Ceramics Department. From 2008 to 2010 she served as the Interim Dean of Graduate Studies at the SAIC, and from 2006 to 2008 served as the Graduate Division Chair.
Katherine’s work is published widely in periodicals and books on ceramic art in the U.S., Great Britain, China, Australia, and Switzerland.
Katherine is an elected member of the International Academy of Ceramics headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland; an invited member of the International Arts & Design Experts Committee of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing; and a member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts.
Logistics
This session took place in May 2021.