Classical Ceramics
In my final semester of coursework at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I enrolled in an undergraduate, introductory ceramics course—the first art class I had taken since 7th grade. I knew that I wanted to incorporate Greek and Roman pottery into my dissertation, so I thought it would be useful to understand how the material worked myself. I made a lot of hideous, poorly glazed things. But our final assignment—to work some aspect of our own identities into a historically-inflected object was in my wheel house: I created a series of “VanHisedic figurines.” Named after their findspot, the 18 story, asbestos-filled monstrosity that houses all the language programs at Madison, the figurines are a mash up of Cycladic figurines and grad student postures. The four figurines, glazed in a metallic bronze are a long-nosed, bespectacled me in four poses—sitting next to a table piled high with books, in a seated fetal position, clutching a book, and holding my head.
Once I started writing my dissertation, I abandoned ceramics for close to a decade and only picked it up again after I got tenure a couple years ago. I’ve finally learned how to throw on the wheel and occasionally I make classical forms that I use on campus. I decorated the first pot that I managed to give both a belly and a lip with an Athenian owl—it is now my “Pandora’s Jar” I use for the Reacting to the Past Athens game, On the Threshold of Democracy. Last spring, I led a study tour of Greece that included a pottery workshop—I carried 30lbs of leftover clay home in my backpack (not recommended!) and used it to make votive ears for the students, a number of planters, and game pieces for the Athens game(alpha and omega voting ballots and dice). My students love that I make stuff and I’m planning an afternoon at the studio for them later this year, since we have no fine arts spaces on campus.
