on the wheel or hand-built,” Miller said. “I enjoyed her ceramics courses because, although her assignments were structured and centered on a particular technique, she was always very flexible and willing to allow students to add their own creative ideas to the projects.” Miller describes Bishop’s own ceramics as “smooth, refined; very clean and very elegant.” Moreover, Bishop excels at mentoring students. “It meant a lot to me to have her encourage me and tell me I was doing well,” Miller said. “It made me realize I could teach myself. I don’t think everyone can be an art teacher. You have to have an eye for something. She helped me realize I had picked the right major.” Although she always liked art, it wasn’t until Bishop’s undergraduate days at Howard University that she found herself pursuing ceramics. She switched her art focus from graphic design and painting to three-dimensional works in clay. “Growing up in Grenada, I did not have much interest in ceramics mainly because I was not exposed to it and not familiar with the process,” Bishop said. “I became interested in ceramics during my first semester at Howard University, especially the paper-thin, historic pottery of the Kerma people of the Sudan.” After graduating magna cum laude from Howard, Bishop refined her skills as a fine arts graduate student at Syracuse University, where she worked as a teaching assistant. After graduating from Syracuse, Bishop worked at temporary teaching assignments, led workshops and worked in her own studio doing both wholesale and retail sale of her ceramics. “It became apparent to me that I enjoyed teaching above everything else,” she said. “Working in my studio became surprisingly unfulfilling over time.” Bishop said she is careful not to be overbearing with students. She aims to help students develop the style of a piece without dic-
tating the form. “Projects that have guidelines to follow but still leave enough room for individual expression are often self motivating, as it allows for personal artistic development,” she said. Bishop said technology has become an integral part of ceramics education, starting with the mining of clay to the finished products. SRU mixes its own stoneware clay at the studio, obtaining clay sold in dry form. This gives students flexibility to mix a clay body that is free of impurities and has specific qualities and firing temperature. SRU students have the option of using computerized, elec-
and creative “ Creativity problem-solving are directly tied to the progression and development of practically everything we do.
”– Tricia Bishop, SRU art instructor
tronic kilns. Students program the kilns to control the temperature and duration of drying. “The designing and engineering aspects of a piece completely influence each other, particularly in large-scale work,” she said. SRU’s 1,800-square-foot ceramics studio includes a general studio, glaze lab, clay-mixing room and kiln room. The studio is set up for hand building and wheel-throwing projects. SRU offers nine electric wheels and 21 motorized kick wheels, as well as two computerized electric kilns, two gas kilns and portable Raku kilns. www.SRU.edu 25 www.SRU.edu