Buxton School - Williamstown, Massachusetts

(one semester)
This is a structured class where the group will travel together through each of the projects. Due to how the clay works in relation to hand building, there will need to be some time outside of classes dedicated to working on the projects. Students will learn how to build with coils and slabs of clay, to sculpt faces, make functional work like platters and dishes, and build purely non-functional pieces of art that can be unexpectedly tall, textural, physical, and funky. We will also do group sculptures as well. There will be a lot of opportunity for the students to make their own unique mark on the clay and find their own freedom of expression through the material.

This course is offered in two parts. These two sections can be taken together as a year-long course or individually as a single semester. In both parts, students can expect to be well acquainted with the rudimentary skills of video production by working hands-on with video cameras and video editing software (Final Cut Pro).

Fall: The first semester will focus primarily on the tradition of documentary filmmaking and specifically how new technologies have factored into the development of this field. We will watch documentaries and non-fiction films spanning from the Lumiere “actualities” to the work of Les Blank, Werner Herzog, and Errol Morris. Students will be assigned short documentary video experiments at first. These will become more and more involved over the course of the term and eventually the class work will culminate in a substantial independent project of the student’s choosing.
Winter/Spring: The second semester will focus on the tradition of experimental and avant-garde film and video. We will look at the work of many seminal artists from Stan Brakhage to Nam June Paik to Bill Viola, as well as artists who are currently developing their practices such as Trecartin, Barney, and many others. Our focus this term will be on developing a “personal practice” and students are encouraged to identify and peruse a specific question or goal in their video work. As in the fall, initially students will be assigned short video experiments and will gradually break-off into more independently motivated work over the course of the term.

For students who are not enrolled in art classes, we encourage them to explore the studios. Students may come in for single free periods during their academic day, outside of their assigned class time, or after school and on weekends. Much of the art created at Buxton is made during time outside of formal class periods. For an expanded description of the art possibilities at Buxton, please see Arts in the course section.

(one semester)
This class is geared towards students who feel comfortable centering and throwing four to five pounds of clay and are invested in spending at least two hours outside of class in the studio each week. The group will have regular in-class assignments and all trimming and glazing should be done outside of class. This way we can focus on our throwing technique and move quickly through many different shapes. Students will learn to throw vases, bottles, platters, plates, large serving bowls, pitchers, closed pieces, handles, lugs, lips, lids, and many other thrown and altered shapes.

(2 semesters)
This class will focus on welding. We will also learn to use torches to shape metal pieces. In addition, the course will explore metal finishes such as patinas, brushed, distressed, painted, and found finishes. Students will work primarily with found metal. We will explore different sources like the town dump and auto shops with unusable parts.

(2 semesters)
This class explores the potential of the combination of written language and photographic images. The presupposition is that they each have the ability to communicate things that the other cannot; that each is apprehended by a different part or faculty of the viewer-reader. When they are combined, the whole must be interpreted in an entirely new way. We will be looking chiefly at the combination of the two as fine art. The main subject of investigation is the photograph accompanied by text, with material drawn from web comics, contemporary mixed-media photographers, newspaper headlines, collage artists, graphic novels, and new media. A large assignment will be the creation and assembly of a small book of words combined with images. The physical art of bookmaking will be part of this elective.

(full year)
This course explores the possibilities of black-and-white photography through regular assignments, labs, slide lectures, museum visits, visiting artists, and critiques. Dealing with a wide range of subject matter, the course introduces students to the capabilities of the manual 35mm camera. Students also learn a variety of developing and printing techniques, which offers them the opportunity to discover the possibilities of photography as a means of personal artistic expression. Advanced students have the option to explore manipulation processes as well as the realm of digital photography using a Canon EOS-30 digital camera and Adobe Photoshop image-editing software.

(full year)
This course introduces students to the various aspects of clay and the related disciplines of ceramics through demonstrations and experimentation during class time. As beginners, students learn to prepare clay for either throwing pieces on the potter’s wheel or hand building. Students then choose projects that interest them and work in the studio, both in and outside of class time. Students are encouraged to read about contemporary potters, sculptors, and artists in other media in order to gain a context for their personal work. Ultimately, students learn to articulate and refine their own ideas in clay.

(full year)
Through exploration in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, fabrics, found objects, and mixed media, students can begin to articulate their artistic visions. Projects are defined through individual discussion. Students are encouraged and introduced to use a broad range of materials. What inspires the student determines which methods of working, materials, and ideas are explored. Throughout, students begin to relate their daily experience to the process of making art.

Students can take structured art classes that offer formal skill sets in drawing, painting and printmaking with an emphasis on balancing direct, observational skills with expressive, independent work. There also is the opportunity to take ‘open studio’ classes where students can work independently on any idea with almost any medium; instruction is available and responsive to individual projects.