Glazed with Love

Since the Ceramics Program’s founding over 55 years ago, it has served as Harvard University’s dedicated ceramics center, giving Harvard’s community pottery enthusiasts a space to explore their passions. As its popularity has grown, the University has expanded its offerings by building ceramics studios across campus, developing curricula for students, and bringing in experts such as ceramicists Kyungmin Park and Chenlu Hou to teach students.

Jim Rippe ’69 founded the Ceramics Program in the basement of a Radcliffe dorm in 1969. The first studio started in an abandoned kitchen. “One thing that made it different was that where it was in Cambridge, they were very welcoming to non-Harvard affiliates, people who just lived in the neighborhood,” Director of the Ceramics Program Kathy King said in an interview with the “Harvard Independent.” “I always joke, ‘Well, it was the ’60s. Of course you’re gonna invite everybody over to make pottery.’”

Two years later, it expanded into a larger studio in Radcliffe College, and in 1973, the program joined the Office for Arts, a University center dedicated to promoting creativity across campus. “It wasn’t really part of a House. It was taking [on] a life of its own, and it was a combination of community and Harvard staff and Harvard students,” King said. “So they put us under the umbrella of the Office for the Arts under the College, and since then, that is where we’ve been.”

The program then moved to Allston as one of the first projects in the area’s Harvard Development Program, King explained. In 2013, the Ceramics Program moved to what used to be the Harvard Recycling Center. “It was just a big, old, spooky cinder block building, and they turned it into this beautiful studio space,” she said.

When building the new Allston studio, Harvard University helped buy some of the expensive machinery, such as kilns, but the program had to cover the rest of the furnishings. “The program just didn’t have the money, so we went to Harvard Recycling, and we just looked for everything that we could DIY,” she continued. “We have carts that are next to all the pottery wheels, and those used to hold books for students in dorms … Our work tables are from the Harvard libraries. So we just took everything, we painted them, we sanded them, we put new polyurethane on them.”

Currently, the Ceramics Program offers 20 classes for students at varying skill levels, none of which students can take for credit, King explained. Classes in the studio’s main space are capped at 20 students, while those in smaller classrooms are capped at 15. The classes teach techniques from wheel throwing and sculpture to digital clay printing and glaze chemistry. Today, classes continue to welcome both Harvard affiliates and members of the Allston community.

The Allston ceramics studio has endured due to a sustained community effort, King said. The Ceramics Program receives 85% of its funding from registration fees, with the remaining 15% coming from the OFA. Because undergraduate students pay $150 for the 10-week program while other students pay $1200, the program balances the types of students registered to cover the costs of materials and classes for everyone, she said.

The Ceramics Program also hosts two fundraisers per year, with about 100 artists selling their pieces and over 1,000 guests coming through, King explained. As a part of the event, the program asks all artists who display their work during the fundraiser to make a mug, which they sell to fund undergraduate scholarships. “This semester we were able to give like 17 to 20 scholarships for people to come in, and we always try to help any undergrad that applies to our scholarships,” she said.

In addition to its Allston studio, the Ceramics Program oversees ceramics studios in Quincy, Cabot, and Mather Houses. Each house determines its own policy for who can use the space and runs both classes and open sessions.

Kirkland, Quincy, Cabot, and Mather all host weekly classes, ranging from five to 10 weeks, with capacity to accommodate up to seven students.

During her senior year of high school, Grace Rhee ’29 discovered a passion for ceramics. Although her course focused only on hand-building, Rhee spent extra time in the studio to practice other techniques. “I would come in early, and my teacher let me use the wheel and taught me how to throw,” she explained.

When she came to campus in the fall, she began looking for studios in the Boston area where she could work. “I needed some time alone,” she said. “I wanted to feel grounded in a space that felt familiar.”

However, she quickly realized these studios were out of reach because of steep membership prices, with places in the Greater Boston area like Feet of Clay starting at $185 per month and The Potters Shop and School starting at $160.

Rhee discovered the University’s ceramics resources in upperclassmen Houses after a friend told her about a display case showcasing pieces made in the Mather ceramics studio. She emailed Resident Tutor Daniel Garces, who oversaw the studio, to ask if she could participate. “They were super welcoming, and that’s where I started to find a space where I could continue my love of ceramics.”

Sam Chung ’27, on the other hand, took his first ceramics class last summer, when he was on campus working on research. He took a beginner’s ceramics course on wheel-throwing called Basics and Challenges with instructor Katie Fee for nine weeks, at the Ceramics Program’s building in Allston.

Through the class, Chung also realized his love of ceramics, even going to the studio outside class time. “I really enjoyed it because you lose track of time. It’s a very tactile experience, and it’s a good way to take a break from anything more academic,” he noted.

As an engineering student, Chung also finds that ceramics gives him an outlet to explore his creativity. “I played a lot of music in high school, but I haven’t played since,” he said. “So I feel like it’s filling that gap for me.”

Rhee, too, appreciates ceramics for the physical experience of throwing. “You have to use your strength, and [I love] when you kind of realize that you’ve maybe progressed a bit, and you are more confident in [for example] centering, which is where you make it consistently symmetrical.”

According to King, one of the Ceramics Program’s main goals is to find the intersection between ceramics and different disciplines. She’s worked with departments ranging from anthropology to engineering. “It’s amazing how many different places, from art history to anthropology, that ceramics is part of. And what we can provide is that hands-on interaction,” she explained. “We want students to understand materiality, to understand what the material is and why it acts the way it does.”

Over the years, the Ceramics Program has increased from hosting 180 to 350 students per semester since first moving into its new space in Allston. In addition, the program includes a 38-person staff, 19 of whom are instructors.

While the Ceramics Program has grown steadily since its founding, the pandemic marked an inflection point in its popularity. At first, the studio had to adapt to teaching ceramics online, King said. One way the program did so was by working with curators at the Harvard Art Museum to introduce and recreate ceramic objects. “There was this incredible conversation. So we gained a lot of international attention through those classes.”

When students returned to campus, demand for ceramics classes had drastically increased, King said. Around 700 students attempted to enroll, crashing the website and forcing HUIT to implement a lottery system. Now, in order to enter the lottery for classes, students must rank their top four choices, and from there they are placed into a class.

King believes this renewed enthusiasm came from students wanting a break from their screens, she explained. “I think people were just really hungry to work with their hands.” Since then, the excitement has slightly diminished, but the current waiting list for ceramics classes sits at about 600 students.

The house studios, however, experience lower participation numbers. At the beginning of the year, Rhee noticed that a couple of students would come to the studio’s open session, but as the weather grew colder, she was often alone. At its peak in the spring, attendance increased to 10 students at a time, she noted.

During her time at the studio last year, Rhee made four pieces, all of which she gifted to her mother. “I am [proud], and I also think the glazes are so beautiful,” she said. “I think I’m growing and the progression I can see.”

Over the next few years, King hopes to offer ceramics courses for credit, in partnership with other Harvard departments. She has already created an academic model for how the University might approach this process, drawing on her experience at Georgia State University. “I would love to see students … whether it’s engineering or anthropology or art history, that they might be able to do something here and have that count towards their studies.”

Julia Bouchut ’29 (julia_bouchut@college.harvard.edu) is Associate News Editor for the “Harvard Independent.”