Roberta12

My ceramics education was not formal. It consisted of informal recreational classes, plus some excellent workshops, lots of reading, plus the most important element which is years and years of hands-on experience and practice. It can be done, but it certainly takes a lot longer than 4 years. And you need to put together your own "curriculum" so to speak, and research where to get the training you want. Even advanced topics like kiln-building and fuel firing can be learned this way, if you search for it. On the plus side, it's a lot cheaper than college tuition. You can also be working full-time while you do it. 
I recently gave a throwing demo at a local community college. The classroom and facilities were beautiful! I was a little envious, and wished I could have learned in a setting like that. But at the same time, Mark mentioned this above too, if you get a college ceramics education, you are still short of the years and years of hands-on experience and practice that it takes to realize your goals. So condensing all the education into 4 years doesn't get you there any faster. 
I have a college degree in design, and I would not trade that educational experience for anything. It transformed me from a talented but naive/immature high-schooler into an adult who could navigate the professional world. This is not something you can teach yourself. It takes role models and a lot of guidance. 

I was lucky enough to get into a special pilot school in Seattle when I was a wee lad.  It was a school that focused on the arts instead of academics and I got a very thorough exposure to every art form you could dream of.  We had a giant ceramics studio as part of the school and that's where I started my obsession.  Was able to stay in that school for 7 years, did everything from candle making to screen printing, wood carving, performance art, painting, etc etc.  
We moved away when I was in 8th grade and my family decided to go the home school route after I had a difficult time adjusting to a traditional school.  I ended up going to college through an early entry program and took ceramics courses every quarter for two years. Loved it, volunteered all the time, had a key to the studio and covered dang near every aspect.  I really wish I had continued in that direction but I dropped out of school once I ran out of free credits.  
Fast forward 20 years and I went back to school for my computer science bachelor's, graduated last year.  I will say I use the knowledge and experience I gained in elementary and community college a whole lot more than I use the science I learned for my bachelor's.  Maybe my unstructured schooling as a child was totally different than traditional art classes but I wouldn't trade that hands on learning for anything.  I am a dental laboratory technician now, making dentures, and using those ingrained skills every day.  
Just early this year I was able to afford the space, time and money to get a wheel and build a kiln.  Back at it and it was like riding a bike.  So the value of education on ceramics?  Well, I have to say it is invaluable in my life. 
As far as calculus and organic chemistry are concerned, they're there because there is some minimum standard of knowledge by which an institution must adhere in order to issue credible certifications.  There isn't a specific degree for every possible field, so while I may not ever use calculus as a web developer, someone else with my degree who designs computer components may indeed use it.  I didn't mind learning new things, even if I was never going to use them again in my life.  I guess I am just curious enough to be a sucker for learning haha.
I don't understand animus towards schooling.  We have the luxuries we have today by building on the progress of the people before us, most of who are dead.  To not take advantage of that in one specific area (such as ceramics or design) out of some kind of personal principle seems like such a strange stance. And just because you have a solid foundation on which to start, doesn't mean you have some rule book you must adhere to.  Why be ignorant by nature when you can be ignorant on purpose!

espresso cups or tooth pick holder.

soap dishes, Christmas ornaments, buttons, wine bottle coasters, ring dishes (which look a lot like wine bottle coasters) wind chime pieces, spoonrests…..

I was the Spotter for Modernage Labs in NYC in the late '60s, spotting high quality mural prints for the museums and lottsa other cool stuff (& silver prints).  Still have some discarded (or so they thought LOL) prints of historic photos of  subjects like Jack Johnson (boxer), pics by "Weegee", right after he died, and the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. The night crew was me, my x-hubby--he was a developer/printer extrordinaire--and a United Nations assortment of Chinese, Armenians, Polish, Germans, etc. Lemme tell ya---the bring-a-dish parties on the 4-12 shift were awesome! So was the bootleg Chinese whiskey, at 200 proof.  My "ex" ended up losing a quarter of a lung due in part to the formaldehyde (and the insane amount of roach spray we were subject to in our little downtown NY apartments).  Wow--Johnny-did you spark some memories! 

Yappystudent recently asked in the Question Pool for the QotW: Show of hands, pictures of potters hands. Really isn't a question, just a request so I made it into a question. . . What do your hands  look like?
So here are my hands, older, yet still in use!

Good peasant stock hands of a middling age and size. Actually a dishwashing job years ago ruined my hands but at least it got them ready for clay. 

Not so easy to take pics of your own hands! My 4th of July glitter polish looks OK tho. 
 
 

One typically bruised hand holding 530 pages of detailed notes, research, testing, and references on clay formulation: better known as " The Clay Codes." 

Ok here are my hands. They are dirty this morning from yardwork, not pottery. Gnarly cuticles, bulging veins, and I’m always nursing some cuts and scrapes. 

50+  years of working in clay.Just back from Italy and a wood firing at La meridiana, installed an installation and exhibited our work in Faenza plus presented talks at the Carlos Zuali museum. I find the clay in Italy to work like a softener. My hands don't usually look this good when working in porcelain.
 

Well, my fingers have always been too short to be called graceful. My nails are soft and don’t really grow long anyways. So I am glad they are strong, skilled hands. 
 
(Also, given the weird things I had to do to take this shot, how did everyone with both hands in the shot get theirs?)

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Speaking of hands, has anyone else here ever had to be fingerprinted? I had to give fingerprints when I was hired to teach at a community center. The person doing it had a terrible time getting prints from my worn down fingertips. I have a potter friend who has a high security job. Her company is trying to install electronic fingerprint readers in their office, and she’s having a tough time using them.
Just think of the crimes we potters could get away with. 

This is my favorite and most important scheduling tool: a wall calendar that displays the entire year at a glance, and can be written on with a dry erase pen. I plan out about 2 months worth of days in advance, then stick to my plan as close as possible. It takes an emergency to make me ignore my plan. If I don’t stick to it, I will arrive at shows feeling underprepared, and I hate that! The shorthand you see (1a thru 1d, 2a thru 2d) refers to to-do lists that I keep in a notebook. Each to-do list produces about $1250 worth of pots. So when I apply for and get accepted into a show, before I commit to it I will make sure I have enough days to produce the necessary amount of inventory. If yes, then I will commit to the show and schedule the days of production. This way, I am always fully stocked. But I avoid overstocking myself which I consider wasted energy.
As you can see, I give myself regular days off, usually two in a row but sometimes three. I need these days out of the studio to let my sore muscles recover. Often, one of those off days will be spent working, just not in the studio. This is when I get my computer stuff done (bookkeeping, bill paying, writing blog posts, writing email campaigns, making hang tags, photographing my work, website updates, etc.) So that means I get one day “off” but that’s enough. 

Today 6/26 which is a day off. Tomorrow I start another round of glazing. And then I reach the end of my currently scheduled days. I have a completely unscheduled week 7/1 thru 7/7. Weird feeling! I will probably schedule those days as “video days” because I don’t need more pots for the three shows coming up in July. When I get near the end of my July shows, I will plan out all the days until my three October shows. Then follow the plan. 

I have to organize my organizers, making sure they match:  a studio calendar for clay stuff, an electronic calendar that includes the studio  stuff plus the rest of daily living events, a studio white board with certain contents that "should" (never do) match the wall calendar, a set of electronic folders and files, and the inevitable bright sticky notes scattered throughout, directing me to do my thing before I forget. 
The first  screen shot is a folder with web-ready pics of my catchalls, ready for online insertion. All my photos are in folders by type, with subfiles for web-ready; the second screen shot is my file system. Too bad the file lists can't be read-I was hoping the titles would be helpful. The folders listed far left are my Art Biz, and the subfolder shown is Office and Operations; then the Master Inventory  tracker on the right is a file within that.
Works for me! The photo file name is also  the inventory code which is also the website product or item number, and is written on a piece of tape on the back of the piece. The drawers or bins the pieces are stored in are labled as well.  And, I also save certain CAD pdfs and "how to and tips" from this forum.  It's not OCD, it is organizational survival!!  The only way I can function is by having "A place for everything and everything in it's place", as my dad taught me. That, and the Blessing of the Day that I write on my whiteboard (from various sources). 
If anyone is interesested in the folder names--the categories of information and resource materials for Art Biz-- that I am using to develop my hobby biz, just msg. me.
 
 
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Mea, I just love those ears!!!  
r.

On my workbench today ... an experimental bowl with an exaggerated footring/pedestal. How the heck do I fire this thing, on a waster cookie?

Well, I didn't always have a pot belly.

Thanks for posting my question Pres. 
hanging planters for succulents

 

Mea, I just love those ears!!!  
r.