Ceramics
Channel yourself through your hands and explore what you can build with clay. Glaze materials, figurative ceramics, mold-making and casting, and more, the possibilities with ceramics provide plenty for your hands and creativity to work with.
Overview
From a deep historic foundation, the ceramic medium consistently evolves and returns. At the University of South Florida, we approach clay with broad explorative research ranging from ancient craft histories to contemporary critical dialogs. We are a conservatory program allowing students the freedom to develop singular research to realize their ideas, whether clay is a specific practice or part of wider material decisions. We’re interested in the role of the hand as well as ways to utilize cutting-edge technologies in order to explore, exploit, and expand the formal and conceptual boundaries of clay within contemporary art.
Undergraduate Program
Beginning ceramics courses focus on fundamental forming techniques with attention to the specific craft each student brings to their work. There is a rotation of subjects within the Intermediate courses. These can include Mold-making & Casting, Glaze & Surface, Large-Scale Building, and Figurative Ceramics. By the advanced levels, undergraduates will develop their own specific lines of inquiry, guided by the area’s faculty and technical staff.
Graduate Program
Our nationally ranked Master of Fine Arts degree is an idea-centered program encouraging broad media exploration, in-depth projects and engagement with theoretical and cultural issues.
The program encourages our graduate students to take advantage of excellent private studio space, technical facilities and the opportunity to teach. Graduate students receive focused, individual attention in their studio work from professionally active research and teaching faculty. In their first year, graduate students work closely with faculty as graduate assistants, often helping in their courses and gain experience to teach independently. In their studio work and pedagogy, students are integral to the area’s mission for delivering contemporaneous content.
Degrees / Ways to Study
To study ceramics at USF, students can pursue the following undergraduate and graduate studio art degrees at the School of Art & Art History.
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Studio Art
- Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Studio Art
- Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Studio Art
- Minor in Studio Art
Area Faculty
John Byrd, Associate Professor in Ceramics
Phone: 813.974.2360 | Email: byrd@usf.edu
BFA Ceramics Curriculum
Explore the details of the curriculum and example eight-semester plan for the BFA in Studio Art with a Ceramics Specialization.
Apply for Admission
Get information on how to apply and list of requirements for admission to the University of South Florida and the School of Art & Art History.
Request Information
Students and families can also request more information about the School of Art & Art History’s programs by filling out the USF College of The Arts online form.