Focus Ceramics - Guus Kusters

It’s special that students are in the fourth year of study when they enter the Focus Ceramics programme. By then, they have been through every step of their education at DAE apart from a Focus programme and graduation. The experience, skills and knowledge they've gained through their Studios is important for the Focus programme, as students start laying their own puzzle. They connect everything they've learned, exploring how it all fits into their practice. That's when things start to fall into place for them.

For example, this semester, we had a student who worked predominantly digitally as this fits her practice. She started off on the throwing wheel, being confronted with the honesty of the clay and the process of throwing. She then decided to go back to the computer to develop video games that use a digital language to get to know the ceramics workshop and the craft of ceramics, exploring glazing, firing and what it means to break something. Through this, she challenged ceramics through the digital realm. By the end of the semester, she returned to the throwing wheel where she found that her skills had improved because she had had the opportunity to explore the craft in the digital realm. Other students might take more traditional perspectives. Sometimes students come into the Focus with an idea and might concentrate on developing a specific technique which they want to turn into a project during their graduation. Within the Focus, students start to acknowledge their own approach, making use of the space that we give them. Our programme is located in a ceramic workshop in Veghel, so outside of the academy building, and is undertaken two days a week.

Within the programme, there first is a series of workshops or master classes around basic techniques, because not everybody has the same experience in the craft. Then, there is a building period, where students are asked to experiment, to really play around. This process is iterative, there's always a new range of experiments, nothing needs to succeed. We then ask the students to continue with one experiment. Even if everything ‘failed’ they will have conclusions which they can continue with. 

"None of the tutors represent or master the full scope of what the project asks for, so the student is fully in charge of the sum of their whole."

We work with six tutors who guide students from their own unique perspectives. Tutors might focus on technique and act as ceramic advisors or give guidance from their artistic perspectives. None of the tutors represent or master the full scope of what the project asks for, so the student is fully in charge of the sum of their whole. I focus on bringing everything together, reflecting on the students’ development. There are separate classes (not all of them are in the ceramic workshop) which explore presentation and provide opportunities to reflect on the semester. During the End Term, the students focus on what the semester meant to them, what they will bring along and what they will leave behind. 

Reflection is an important part of the Focus programme and students always have the option to decide that ceramics is not their cup of tea, which can be a valid conclusion. The most important criterion for somebody to pass the Focus programme is whether they prepared enough to step into the process of graduation. The Focus programme is a particular part of the study, because students get the space to challenge their perspectives on design and explore how to define their practice. Of course, there's the medium and craft of ceramics in the room but students are using it to question their approach.  

Students may come from different backgrounds in design and have different approaches to ceramics. It’s great to see them building relationships and helping each other as they share a space and have joint experiences. It works nicely to be on this island together.