From the Kiln to the Breakfast Table: Ceramics at Hopkins

From the classic Greek vases depicting mythology to the delicate Ming dynasty pottery, ceramics have earned their place in society over hundreds of years. At Hopkins, Ceramics is a class that provides students with new methods of problem-solving, forcing students to turn a lump of clay into a pinch pot or an inedible baked good. Students practice wheel and hand-building techniques, experiment with different colored glazes, and follow the steps required to prepare and fire their work. 

Jackie  Labelle-Young, who teaches the two ceramics classes, majored in ceramics at the University of Connecticut. As a production potter out of college, she “made a lot of functional ware and tried to sell it” although she found she wasn’t the best salesperson, she recalls. Eventually, Labelle-Young “realized that she really liked to teach ceramics while working at the Rusty Kiln,” a company that sells goods for creating pottery and offers lessons. At Hopkins, “the smaller class sizes are much more manageable” than those of other places Labelle-Young has taught pottery at, and she has found that “it’s much more rewarding to connect with and work with students on an individual basis.” 

The ceramics class offers a different pathway to connect with art for many students. Rebecca Spiewak ’27 said that she “isn’t very good with painting or drawing” and ceramics was a lot more “abstract, so the results didn’t have to be as perfect” as finished sketches or paintings would have to be. Ceramics also seemed a lot more functional to Spiewak: “you get to go home with an actual bowl.” However for Victoria Fan ’27, who “really likes art and does a lot of painting and sketching in [her] free time,” ceramics was a “new way to work on [her] art skills,” so she decided to “sign up and see what it was like.” Since then, Fan has noticed that it’s a lot different from other visual arts, as “[ceramics] gives you a lot more freedom, because you can shape [the clay] into anything you want instead of working on a flat canvas.” This freedom comes with what students choose to make, and how they plan to make them. “You have a lot more freedom with the tools you can use and the things you can make,” Jack Beauclair ’27 added. The tactile experience of working with and learning from clay has also drawn students in. Molly Calderone ’27 noted that ceramics has been “a lot more hands on; it’s about making mistakes first, and then taking the time to correct them and learn from your experience.” 

The ceramics course has also evolved over time. Labelle-Young began working at Hopkins nineteen years ago, and has learned that as a teacher, “you can’t really do a lot of projects in one semester,” because in ceramics, “once you finish a project it has to dry, then it has to be fired in a kiln, then glazed, then fired again,” which makes timing projects trickier. In recent years, Labelle-Young has “paid more attention to glazing, which has really paid off” and is more focused on “quality over quantity” when it comes to producing pieces. Spiewak has noticed that Labelle-Young does a good job of “instructing [students] on what to do, but then taking a step back and [letting] them work by themselves.” Labelle-Young, in Beauclair’s opinion, “is wonderful because she lets you make mistakes and work on your own, but she’s always there to help out if you need any advice.” Beauclair said that, if necessary, she’s always open to “letting you change aspects of your project to suit your individual idea.”

In Labelle-Young’s view, how much a student is challenged by ceramics depends on their background with art: “If a student is used to working with their hands” regardless of medium “they tend to have an inherent understanding of ceramics.” Fan believed that although students have more freedom when working with clay, it’s different from painting because “when you’re painting you can be messy and cover things up, but with ceramics if you’re messy you could mess up your entire piece” so having the patience is essential. “You can’t do the pretty detailing part until you have the structure completed,” Spiewak added. While Calderone’s favorite part of the course is glazing her pieces, because “she likes to paint and mix the glazes to try new things and get different results,” she finds it frustrating “watching [her] piece go in one color and come out another.” Ceramics is also a lot more physical than other art forms. Calderone said,: “When you’re throwing, you have to use your abs,” and often small things that “don’t usually hurt your artwork in other mediums do in ceramics,” like fingernails. Beauclair has noticed while taking the course that “Ceramics is very tactical and time-sensitive, making it more difficult to get a finished product in the time frame” students have to work with..

The ceramics course offers students a new way to challenge and build upon foundational art skills. The experiences of working with their hands and taking the time to analyze their work as it dries encourages a broader understanding of the relationship between art and daily life. Vece concluded: “It is really something I always look forward to because it is always calms me down. I love getting enraptured into my work.”