ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

LSU Ceramics encompasses an expansive investigation of the ceramic material, its historical precedent, and its contemporary application for visual art. The two-person faculty team of Mikey Walsh and Andy Shaw encourage the pursuit of individual, applicable goals within class projects and demand intensely motivated individual study for BFA, MFA, and Special Students.

The faculty optimize the two-person team within a multi-disciplined curriculum, including wheel throwing, handbuilding, slip-casting, tile making, raw material study, studio practice and methodology development, special topics classes, as well as seminars which enhance critical thinking through writing, presentations, and critiques. Elective courses in other School of Art studios as well as Art History supplement the learning and insist on the integration of ideas across disciplines.

The curriculum for undergraduate and graduate study is sufficient to teach necessary skills within Ceramic Art while broad enough to examine applications of non-ceramic materials and technologies. The integration of Ceramics, Sculpture, and Jewelry/Metalsmithing into a 3D Area is evidence of the shared commitment across the School of Art for substantial 3D studio research. The well staffed and equipped Woodshop, the visiting artist lecture series, and the Professional in Residence series open further opportunities for students to extend their creative interests and to establish connections with artists from a variety of disciplines.

LSU Ceramics seeks to foster strong interpersonal relationships among departmental members and to provide ample opportunity for students to acquire leadership traits within CASA, the Ceramic Art Student Association, and within weekly funded, studio Teaching Assistantships for MFAs.

With the objective of LSU Ceramics to train and to equip students to be self-sustaining professional artists, it is no surprise that alumni and former faculty of LSU include some of the finest Ceramic Artists and teachers currently working in the U.S.