April 25th and 26th marked the seventeenth year of Skyline College ceramics students’ participation in the annual California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art in Davis. The conference, hosted by the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts, provided 38 colleges and art schools with spaces to showcase their students’ ceramic artwork. Each school is provided a space in downtown Davis to transform into a gallery for the weekend. Skyline College was in a large exhibition hall with many other institutions, including Sacramento City College, Foothill College, and Butte College.
As a capstone project for intermediate-level ceramics classes, participating students shared their conceptual inspirations, ideas, and techniques with visitors. The wide variety of school exhibitions offered a valuable opportunity for students to connect with instructors and current students from potential transfer colleges. Skyline’s Student Ceramics Exhibition featured clay pottery and sculpture, representing our students’ vast creative and technical span. At this year’s conference, jurors selected eight awards from all the student shows. Skyline student Sarah Gates received a conference-wide honorable mention award for her mixed-media ceramic sculpture “What’s Happening to the Balance?”.
In addition to the student shows, several local galleries hosted national ceramics exhibitions featuring a diverse range of artwork from professionals in the ceramics field. These shows foster an inspiring atmosphere for exploring the creative potential of clay.
The student exhibition was collaboratively co-curated by Tiffany Schmierer, Art Professor, Ash Asaro, Studio Art Lab Coordinator, and the ceramics students. Ash also exhibited his sculpture in the Skyline College show, and Tiffany’s sculpture was on display at the John Natsoulas Gallery.
Photos and Article by: Ash Asaro and Tiffany Schmierer
