Visual arts faculty member explores traditional pottery methods
Mike Hillman says pottery is an art form that has been around forever. "It is basically unchanged, and it probably won't ever change," the Citrus College visual arts instructor explains.
This timeless nature creates endless opportunities for creative exploration. In fact, Hillman took a sabbatical last fall to delve deeper into the art of traditional Maiolica pottery, which is tin-glazed earthenware. He shared his experiences, discoveries and plans to enhance the college's ceramics curriculum during a special forum on March 19.
As part of his sabbatical, Hillman conducted research, practiced in the studio and visited museums throughout Italy. His goal was to learn more about the techniques used to make the refined pottery, which was first introduced by the Assyrians and later created extensively during the Italian Renaissance. He then used this knowledge to develop cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary activities to expand the depth and breadth of techniques, styles and offerings in the college's visual arts program.
"Each ceramics class I teach will now practice making Maiolica, each Canvas course will now have a full module on Maiolica, and all painting and introduction to art classes will provide students with the opportunity to use Maiolica techniques," Hillman explained.
Next fall, Hillman will return to Italy to teach study abroad classes. He says he plans on incorporating a Maiolica section in the humanities course he will be teaching. In addition, Hillman's introduction to art class will work in the Florence art studio where he practiced during his sabbatical, his art history class will include Maiolica crafts and his public art course will include a walking tour of Della Robbia sculptures in Florence.
"I am grateful to Citrus College for allowing faculty to have sabbaticals," he said. "It really is a fantastic opportunity to learn something that we maybe don't know too much about, but would like to share with our students."
This article originally appeared in the April 2025 edition of the Citrus View.