Ceramics club vies for adequate facilities

Author: Grace Close

Imagine a blustery mid-January morning. The temperature is 10 degrees, the wind chill is negative 20. You strap on your rubber boots and wool hat to make your daily one mile trek through the stinging snow to Frog Hollow. Despite how unappealing this scenario sounds, it is currently the only means by which a member of the Middlebury community can create ceramic pieces.

Few students are aware, however, that there are several accomplished potters who are students at the college, among them the three presidents of the Middlebury College Ceramics Club. Ben Winter '10.5 is a certified ceramics teaching assistant and professional potter's apprentice, Jason Sanford '10 was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts for his pottery and Ben Kunofsky '09.5 exhibited his works at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. What do these students have in common? They are all passionate artists lacking the means to pursue their craft.

The main requirements for creating pottery are clay, a wheel and a kiln. Unfortunately, there is neither a wheel nor a kiln on Middlebury's campus. Furthermore, there are no pottery programs offered in the course catalog during the fall or spring semesters. In fact, the only option available to College students wishing to "throw clay" is to sign up for a Winter Term course at Frog Hollow, in which spots are both highly coveted and very expensive.

"There is nothing that offers any real throwing opportunity," Winter lamented.

Despite widespread student support for the amelioration of the studio art facilities, no change has been enacted at this point. However, through the initiatives of its three presidents, the Middlebury College Ceramics Club is hoping to change that.

"As good as the facilities that we have for athletics are≠ - we have everything from a hockey rink to a golf course - we don't really have adequate art facilities," Kunofsky said.

Currently, the Middlebury College Ceramics Club has over 400 interested students on its mailing list. Nevertheless, the club has met with much adversity in creating a more substantial ceramics program.

"Ceramics has a large startup cost, between wheels, kilns, glazes and ventilation," Kunofsky said. "The number of interested students speaks to the vast need for the expansion of the program."

"You would think that the school could devote funds to that sort of program," Sanford said. "The real obstacle is space. It's at such a premium." For Winter, it is the creative process of throwing the clay that he wishes to impart unto others. "You have a lump of clay and try to visualize how it would form into something that has beauty but also function," Winter said. Sanford is equally passionate. "You must work within the limitations, but the amount of creativity that you put into those limits is endless," he said. "There's a certain degree of spontaneity, in that you can only control so much of the art and after that it takes on its own shape."

The Middlebury College Ceramics Club's ultimate goal is to create an open ceramics studio right here on campus.

"We would want to have facilities so that people attracted to ceramics could learn and people who already have the interest could pursue it further," Kunofsky said.

Winter stressed the importance that the club be situated away from potential distractions. "That way, you don't have to worry about anything else except throwing the clay," he said.