Asia AndersonNorth Carolina Central University is well-known for its contribution to art from music, to street art, to literature. Another art form gaining popularity among NCCU students is more hands-on: ceramics.
Ceramics I and II are offered in both the fall and spring semesters to all interested students regardless of their major. Within the classroom, students are able to delve deep into their creative minds and produce a variety of work under the guidance of adjunct art professor Myongsin Choi.
Choi lives and breathes ceramics on and off NCCU’s campus and has the credentials to prove it. She has two master’s degrees in art: one from Hong Ik University in her native South Korea and another from New York University in New York. Along with teaching here, Choi has shared her talents with students at Rutgers University in New Jersey and UNC-Chapel Hill and at one point served as an artist-in-residence at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Edgecombe, Maine.
In class, students are taught about the tools necessary to bring their works to life and how to achieve particular looks using them. Execution methods include pinching, coiling and slab, with each one allowing the artist to produce almost anything their mind desires, even at a introductory level. Students this semester have created pinch pots, containers, shoe replicas and “self-reflective” pieces where students were asked to create artwork that they felt represented themselves.
Working under Professor Choi is an opportunity that few NCCU students have had the chance to take advantage of, but is one that they absolutely should. If you want to tap into your highest artistic self or simply want to try something new, a ceramics course will do the job.
