Developing and modernizing a college ceramics studio and glaze lab for student success is a big undertaking, but worth it for the resulting excitement around a formerly mysterious and dreaded process.
Throughout the summer of 2023, I took it upon myself as an incoming graduate student to help update the ceramics studios at Minnesota State University, Mankato. With some assistance from Professor of Art Todd Shanafelt over the summer, we completely redesigned the space. There were two main categories of work that I performed: making the ceramics process more appealing to students through developing new glazes, slips, underglazes, and overglazes, while also modifying existing recipes and studio procedures to address health/safety concerns; and creating diagrams, alongside other educational information, to demonstrate potential hazards and proper personal protective equipment (PPE) usage to students.
Samples and Diagrams
The majority of our students have never taken an art class before, let alone a ceramics class. A large part of this process was making sure students were able to understand all of the glazes and materials in our studio without an instructor being present to explain things to them. The sample boards were designed with this in mind—a layering wall of glaze options for cone 5 and cone 10 was created alongside a diagram explaining how to read it. More technical diagrams showcase clay properties across low- to high-fire temperatures and demonstrate shrinkage and absorption through percentages. To solidify how students perceive the studio materials and how to demonstrate what is what, I decided to create a color-coordinated design for the studio. Yellow was used for greenware and unfired clays/slips, blue for low fire (bisque and glaze), white for mid-range oxidation glaze, red for high-fire reduction glaze, and purple for specialty studio items that spanned multiple firing ranges, such as underglaze and overglaze.
Further emphasis was placed on demonstrating potential dangers and the required PPE for certain materials beyond respiratory-related concerns. We have a ventilation system in place as a primary means of extracting dust and require dust masks for any use of dry raw materials. We had further concerns about some of our wet materials, like some of our low-fire glazes with high levels of lithium (>40%). While some research suggests lithium is not able to permeate through skin, with such high amounts, we wanted to require an extra layer of protection between skin and the glaze, so we implemented stickers that indicate gloves are required for using certain glazes. While gloves are not foolproof, we did err on the side of caution as our students work in a variety of media where small cuts, scrapes, and other miscellaneous skin injuries are rather common on their hands; therefore, we felt gloves would provide an extra layer of protection. Similarly, other dry chemicals in our glaze lab were given a glove requirement sticker, such as manganese, cobalt, chrome, nickel, and lithium (and other raw materials that contain those elements, like Mason stains).
Developing New Materials for Students
Part of the process involved sending out a survey to all previously enrolled students to discuss their thoughts and feelings about the current studio design. Many students disliked the color palette and firing options that we had to offer in the department; others completely avoided glazing their work because of how much they disliked it. So, how do we go about fixing it? Well, I asked the students in the survey to describe a range of colors and textures they wanted if any changes were to be made, taking the most common answers and looking at what was possible both financially and technically.
Other materials were explored, such as underglazes and overglazes. Underglazes were developed as a means to help reduce costs for the department. Depending on the stains used, the cost of creating one pint of studio underglaze was around $2–4, compared to commercial prices at $20+, making it well worth the time investment. Not only did we save on underglazes, but the students actually enjoyed them more than some of the commercial products we had. The studio underglazes allowed for more variations and nuance in the colors we offered. Additionally, the studio overglazes proved to be popular with students who wanted to explore drawing and painting on their pieces. We developed our overglazes to be applied on top of an unfired glazed surface, similar to majolica. This allowed us to offer an overglaze effect without having to coordinate the extra firings a traditional overglaze would require.
Since the studio had, over the years, moved toward electric/ oxidation firing, the colors of glazes we were left with were primarily cool-toned blues and greens, along with various shades of beige and brown. Many students pressed for warmer-toned colors like reds, oranges, and yellows; so the decision was made to reintroduce gas-reduction firing. The studio still maintained the gas kilns for independently driven students to use, so there was no financial cost there. Based on the student feedback, copper red, yellow salt, matte purple, and matte white glazes were added to the studio’s cone-10 offerings. The cone-5-oxidation line was modified to remove glazes that were no longer firing properly (likely due to changes in material availability), as well as to address some safety concerns with some matte-appearing glazes. Six of the original twelve glazes were removed due to these issues, as well as to retire some glazes that were simply just unpopular with the students. A pastel purple, transparent teal, amber celadon, iron kaki red, oil-spot black, and a rutile yellow/ orange were added to replace the previous glazes.
Lastly, a seasonal line of glazes was introduced to get students into the process of glaze development. Each academic year, a new line of seasonal glazes is introduced. Once a glaze runs out, it is not replaced. A new seasonal recipe will be developed to take its place. This has created an encouraging learning environment for students to be involved with the processes going on behind the scenes. After two years of the seasonal glaze lines being implemented, students petitioned for one of our seasonal red glazes to become permanent, replacing a lesser-used glaze in our cone-5-oxidation line. This system has allowed us to adapt our glaze offerings more frequently, keeping the studio’s glaze palette more in line with the needs and wants of our students.
Overall, the feedback received from students the following semester was incredible. There was a complete change in glazing perspective among students; from what used to be a dreaded process, students now get extremely excited and look forward to what their work can look like.
the author Riley Rist is an artist and anthropologist working in ceramics. Rist’s studio work is primarily focused on topics of gender expression, while maintaining a strong passion for ceramics material science, and encouraging proper studio PPE/safety within higher education. To learn more, follow Rist on Instagram at @rist.art.
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Developing and modernizing a college ceramics studio and glaze lab for student success is a big undertaking, but worth it for the resulting excitement around a formerly mysterious and dreaded process.
Throughout the summer of 2023, I took it upon myself as an incoming graduate student to help update the ceramics studios at Minnesota State University, Mankato. With some assistance from Professor of Art Todd Shanafelt over the summer, we completely redesigned the space. There were two main categories of work that I performed: making the ceramics process more appealing to students through developing new glazes, slips, underglazes, and overglazes, while also modifying existing recipes and studio procedures to address health/safety concerns; and creating diagrams, alongside other educational information, to demonstrate potential hazards and proper personal protective equipment (PPE) usage to students.
Samples and Diagrams
The majority of our students have never taken an art class before, let alone a ceramics class. A large part of this process was making sure students were able to understand all of the glazes and materials in our studio without an instructor being present to explain things to them. The sample boards were designed with this in mind—a layering wall of glaze options for cone 5 and cone 10 was created alongside a diagram explaining how to read it. More technical diagrams showcase clay properties across low- to high-fire temperatures and demonstrate shrinkage and absorption through percentages. To solidify how students perceive the studio materials and how to demonstrate what is what, I decided to create a color-coordinated design for the studio. Yellow was used for greenware and unfired clays/slips, blue for low fire (bisque and glaze), white for mid-range oxidation glaze, red for high-fire reduction glaze, and purple for specialty studio items that spanned multiple firing ranges, such as underglaze and overglaze.
Further emphasis was placed on demonstrating potential dangers and the required PPE for certain materials beyond respiratory-related concerns. We have a ventilation system in place as a primary means of extracting dust and require dust masks for any use of dry raw materials. We had further concerns about some of our wet materials, like some of our low-fire glazes with high levels of lithium (>40%). While some research suggests lithium is not able to permeate through skin, with such high amounts, we wanted to require an extra layer of protection between skin and the glaze, so we implemented stickers that indicate gloves are required for using certain glazes. While gloves are not foolproof, we did err on the side of caution as our students work in a variety of media where small cuts, scrapes, and other miscellaneous skin injuries are rather common on their hands; therefore, we felt gloves would provide an extra layer of protection. Similarly, other dry chemicals in our glaze lab were given a glove requirement sticker, such as manganese, cobalt, chrome, nickel, and lithium (and other raw materials that contain those elements, like Mason stains).
Developing New Materials for Students
Part of the process involved sending out a survey to all previously enrolled students to discuss their thoughts and feelings about the current studio design. Many students disliked the color palette and firing options that we had to offer in the department; others completely avoided glazing their work because of how much they disliked it. So, how do we go about fixing it? Well, I asked the students in the survey to describe a range of colors and textures they wanted if any changes were to be made, taking the most common answers and looking at what was possible both financially and technically.
Other materials were explored, such as underglazes and overglazes. Underglazes were developed as a means to help reduce costs for the department. Depending on the stains used, the cost of creating one pint of studio underglaze was around $2–4, compared to commercial prices at $20+, making it well worth the time investment. Not only did we save on underglazes, but the students actually enjoyed them more than some of the commercial products we had. The studio underglazes allowed for more variations and nuance in the colors we offered. Additionally, the studio overglazes proved to be popular with students who wanted to explore drawing and painting on their pieces. We developed our overglazes to be applied on top of an unfired glazed surface, similar to majolica. This allowed us to offer an overglaze effect without having to coordinate the extra firings a traditional overglaze would require.
Since the studio had, over the years, moved toward electric/ oxidation firing, the colors of glazes we were left with were primarily cool-toned blues and greens, along with various shades of beige and brown. Many students pressed for warmer-toned colors like reds, oranges, and yellows; so the decision was made to reintroduce gas-reduction firing. The studio still maintained the gas kilns for independently driven students to use, so there was no financial cost there. Based on the student feedback, copper red, yellow salt, matte purple, and matte white glazes were added to the studio’s cone-10 offerings. The cone-5-oxidation line was modified to remove glazes that were no longer firing properly (likely due to changes in material availability), as well as to address some safety concerns with some matte-appearing glazes. Six of the original twelve glazes were removed due to these issues, as well as to retire some glazes that were simply just unpopular with the students. A pastel purple, transparent teal, amber celadon, iron kaki red, oil-spot black, and a rutile yellow/ orange were added to replace the previous glazes.
Lastly, a seasonal line of glazes was introduced to get students into the process of glaze development. Each academic year, a new line of seasonal glazes is introduced. Once a glaze runs out, it is not replaced. A new seasonal recipe will be developed to take its place. This has created an encouraging learning environment for students to be involved with the processes going on behind the scenes. After two years of the seasonal glaze lines being implemented, students petitioned for one of our seasonal red glazes to become permanent, replacing a lesser-used glaze in our cone-5-oxidation line. This system has allowed us to adapt our glaze offerings more frequently, keeping the studio’s glaze palette more in line with the needs and wants of our students.
Overall, the feedback received from students the following semester was incredible. There was a complete change in glazing perspective among students; from what used to be a dreaded process, students now get extremely excited and look forward to what their work can look like.
the author Riley Rist is an artist and anthropologist working in ceramics. Rist’s studio work is primarily focused on topics of gender expression, while maintaining a strong passion for ceramics material science, and encouraging proper studio PPE/safety within higher education. To learn more, follow Rist on Instagram at @rist.art.
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