In Art 502, Ceramics II, students immersed themselves in the unpredictable and expressive nature of clay, crafting unique and deeply personal pieces. The class honed their technical skills while, more importantly, nurturing connections across the studio, transforming the workspace into a place of shared creativity and artistic growth.
Lilly Hall ’26
“For my Ceramics 502 project, I created some pants. I had a decent amount of cracking in mine, so I had to spend a lot of time shoving the pieces back together. [So] when I put the pants into the firing, I was scared because I really didn’t know what it would look like. But when I went in and saw what they looked like, it was so fulfilling, seeing them look so much better than what I expected. My favorite part of this class was the freedom Mr. Zaeder gave us because I really got to pursue what I was interested in and take away what I wanted from the class.”
Meg Stineman ’25
“I took Ceramics 502 last term, and I made a little teapot that’s like the teapots in ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ I started by combining two clay half spheres with each other and then started to add handles and spouts to my teapot. Finally, I added the details and gave the teapot eyes and a smile. For this project, I focused a lot on getting the details right, which required a lot of patience, so it was pretty hard for me to get the smooth corners and edges that I wanted. I had a couple [of] friends in the class, but it ended up being a hodgepodge of people because sometimes you just sit there and work while watching TV or listening to music, but I actually really enjoyed not having my headphones on and chatting with the rest of the class. By the end of the term, I could feel that everyone was comfortable with each other, which was definitely my favorite part.”
Gigi Edsall ’25
“I made a teapot, and we had to add a base, taking two cylindrical-like spheres and putting them together to make a kind of pouch and then cutting out a lid and adding a handle. I wanted to create an almost asymmetrical handle so your hand would form around it comfortably and to make it convenient with the way that your arm already moves. The greatest triumph was successfully attaching that handle and smoothing it out in a way that was perfectly shaped for my hand.”
Julia Song ’26
“My project was a pretty large vase that I wanted to give a flowy and different spin, so I added a ruffled pattern to the edges and little spikes on the sides. The greatest difficulty was building the base just because I coil built it instead of using the wheel. It was hard to make the form symmetrical. My favorite part was seeing the final product since ceramics are so unpredictable—you never really know how it will turn out until it’s done.
