Studio Details and Use:

Lockers:
Please sign up for a locker to be used to store tools and personal belongings. The list will be circulated in class and then handed in to the teaching lab specialist. Lockers must be cleaned out and locks removed by the end of finals week, or the contents will be considered abandoned.

Please leave the studio clean. Regardless of the condition you find it in, you are requested to leave it clean for the next person. Leave the work tables clear and clean. This is a group studio, and we all need to pitch in to keep it a safe and healthy functioning work environment.

Firings:
Ceramic work is fragile. Studio accidents or kiln issues may cause work to break. While all due care will be exercised, I must have finished work to assign a grade for a project. Work that blows up or is broken before completion will require re-making for grading. If your work is destroyed in progress, please show this to me and we will discuss what must be done to achieve a finished project for grading. In the case of involved projects where the loss is not the student’s fault, abridged project parameters may be negotiated and due dates adjusted.

Recycling Clay:
All students are welcome to recycle clay out of the reclaim buckets. Stiff clay may be reclaimed by cutting into slabs, alternating with layers of soft clay or slurry from the reclaim bin, then wedging to an even consistency. Clay too stiff to wedge should be broken into small lumps so that water will penetrate, and slaked down covered by water in a bucket or the reclaim barrel. If you desire, the resulting slurry can be put onto the plaster drying slabs in Studio, turned periodically until dried to a soft clay consistency, and wedged up for use.

Bone dry clay should be slaked down as above. Wet clay can be dried on plaster bats or slabs until some moisture is removed, and wedged for use, or powdered fire clay or stoneware clay (ask your instructor) or grog may be wedged in. Wedging itself also tends to dry clay out. Clay slurry remaining in your bucket after working or clean up should be put in reclaim.

DO NOT POUR SLURRY OR SLIP IN THE SINK; USE THE RECLAIM BARREL. Place contaminated clay in the trash. Thick liquids not going to reclaim should be put in the trash. Keeping studio areas clean of clay helps reduce the dust level and is healthier for all.

Studio:
Each student is responsible for ensuring that his/her projects and materials are safely stored, displayed, installed, and removed from the classroom and critique space. Projects must be set up and removed from the critique space at the times and spaces designated for each project.

The instructor, the School of Art and Art History, and the Ceramics Department are not responsible for student work left in workspaces, installation spaces, the critique space, the shops, or the classrooms. Projects/materials are not to be stored in the group working space.

Please address any concerns, problems, and questions regarding this class to me as they arise. I will be available during office hours, and for appointments for a special meeting time.

Always be open-minded when considering new ideas and constructive criticism. Critique ideas; not people.