Crafts Council of Ireland - Ceramics Design & Skills Course

This course aims to develop a range of skills to such a level of quality that those who complete it will be able to follow careers in the industry according to their talents, strengths and aspirations. To achieve this, the course combines the sound technical training required by the modern workshop and industry at large, and the trainees’ creative development according to their talents and abilities. As a result, graduates have the ability to respond confidently to changing markets.

Candidates are invited to apply for the 2012 - 2014 course. Interviews and aptitude tests will take place in June 2012 and the course will start in September 2012.

Application Deadline: Friday 25th May 2012
Interviews are scheduled for Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th June 2012
Aptitude Tests are scheduled for Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st June 2012.

CCoI Ceramics Design & Skills enables its trainees to:

• manufacture ceramics to an internationally acknowledged quality standard
appraise what they make objectively in technical, aesthetic, and market terms
• contribute, act independently and take responsibility in the context of a professional production team
• generate innovative technical solutions to defined design problems
• develop innovative work from their own creative research
• support the industry in responding creatively to changing market conditions
• pursue further specialist study/experience in their preferred fields following graduation.

The course, based in Thomastown Co Kilkenny, runs for two years (44-weeks per year). The course will start again in September 2012. Acceptance for the 12 available course places is through interview. Interviews take place in June every 2 years that the course is run. At interview, candidates are expected to show some evidence of visual and manual skills through three-dimensional work, and those shortlisted are given a day-long aptitude test.

Selected Quotes
'Thomastown Pottery Skills Course was essential to me in understanding the requirements to developing visual and practical skills concerning ceramics in its overall context; from associating with local potters to stripping down a thermocouple! This course instilled in me a passion to strive for excellence in all I do. I highly recommend it!’
Robert Lee Ceramics, Course Graduate 1999

‘The Pottery Skills Course’s unique facilities and one-to-one teaching enabled me to develop the essential skills of throwing, glazing and firing ceramics, while the course’s emphasis on design provided me with the opportunity to develop new and original work in an exciting and dynamic environment.

'Events like the Graduation Exhibition at the National Craft Gallery have led to further opportunities and commissions since leaving the course and provided me with the impetus to set up my own ceramics studio’.
James Hake, Course Graduate 2004

‘The course at Thomastown is highly regarded outside Ireland where it is seen as a valuable resource, giving talented individuals a grounding in the essential skills and ideas which they will need to make their way as professionals in a vibrant and changing art form’. Jack Doherty, Chairman of the Craft Potters Association, UK