NEW ZEALAND DIPLOMA IN ARTS AND DESIGN - CERAMICS (Level 5 and 6)
"We've got amazing tutors and the online course work feeds into it"
- Victoria Kerry, current Diploma student
The Waikato Society of Potters alongside Otago Polytechnic deliver the New Zealand Diploma in Arts and Design - Ceramics programme at levels 5 and 6.
We are one of only 7 studios in New Zealand where you can earn this qualification extramurally, away from Otago.
The program is 2 years full-time study or 4 years part-time study. The theory courses, including glaze technology and art history, are delivered online and the practical part of the course is delivered through the studio at WSP.
The programme has an emphasis on exploration and experimentation. You will develop individual projects which study ceramics as a medium with its own formal language, skills and history, within a broader context of fine arts and crafts. Successful completion of this programme could lead to you becoming a practicing artist, with the skills and ability to understand and use your creativity to contribute significantly to your community.
The transferable skills you gain during this programme will also be highly valued in a variety of fields in the art, education and design sectors.
If you would like more information about the diploma please email manager@waikatopotters.co.nz or phone us on 07 838 1950. We would be happy to show you around the studio and introduce you to the tutors, and can even arrange for you to chat with current and past students.
Level 5 Courses
This programme is made up of four studio-specific courses and complementary courses that add to the students' understanding of the history and theory of art making, as well as drawing, specific technical glaze methods and research methods.
Studio Methods 1 and Studio Methods 2
Be introduced to the core skills needed in the development of art work in this medium. Through a variety of studio techniques, you will learn how to transfer ideas into clay. Technical research and exploration of material in response to a given brief is key to this part of the course.
Ceramic Arts 1 and Ceramic Arts 2
Explore and extend your technical skills and knowledge about ceramics practice. Make objects and artefacts that develop a personal concept of the medium in both functional and non-functional applications.
Visual Language 1
Become familiar with the language of art and design. Formal art/design elements will be considered alongside key theoretical ideas which inform contemporary practices of visual and oral culture. You will be required to evaluate and critique visual culture, research theoretical texts and apply your research to write an academic essay and craft an oral presentation.
Drawing 1
Gain the technical skills and a variety of media which are vital to the production of works in drawing and design while broadening your understanding of the visual arts. You will be introduced to analytical aspects of observational drawing and, under direction, you will develop and complete a series of specific technical drawing exercises.
Art/Craft Theory and History 1
Enjoy being introduced to a variety of ways of thinking and writing about the visual arts in a historical context. This course also tracks the significance of art throughout history in relation to different cultural and social structures, including local indigenous culture.
Glaze Practical 1
Through online learning and studio technical research, you will be introduced to the specifics of glaze formula and recipe. You will make, test and evaluate glaze finishing methods in studio outcomes.
Level 6 Courses
Studio Methods 3 and Studio Methods 4
Be introduced to the core skills needed in the development of art work in this medium. Through a variety of studio techniques, you will learn how to transfer ideas into clay. Technical research and exploration of material in response to a given brief is key to this part of the course.
Studio Arts 1 and Studio Arts 2
Explore and extend your technical skills and knowledge about ceramics practice. Make objects and artefacts that develop a personal concept of the medium in both functional and non-functional applications.
Visual Language 2
Develop your knowledge of the language of ceramic practices. You’ll research and present theoretical material relevant to studio practices and production, and analyse and evaluate the content of visual images and objects. You’ll continue to develop a personal visual language in support of your studio work.
Drawing 2
Extend fundamental drawing skills while applying a range of technical and conceptual drawing approaches to the production of independent work. Use drawing as a tool for problem-solving in the studio.
Context and Professional Practice
Develop a contextual framework for discussing studio work in a historical and cultural context. You’ll use examples from a wide range of places and situations and contextualise these within the histories of visual culture in Aotearoa.
Ceramic Finishing
Develop, extend, and document your studio ceramic methods and processes, including research and reflection of glaze, application methods, and alternative technologies.
Studio Methods 3
Develop your individual ceramic studio practice and methodology. Experiment with and evaluate ceramic studio glaze and finishing processes, and learn about sustainable practice in both materials and studio contexts, including Maori considerations of ahi ka.
Studio Methods 4
Identify and utilise specific studio methods relevant to your independent practice and produce a connected collection of experimental studio works.
Studio Arts 1
Explore a range of processes for construction, glaze/finishing and firing of ceramic objects. Learn how to present studio work in a workbook and critique key materials, finishes, processes and historical relationships.
Studio Arts 2
Analyse and present a collection of independent work for exhibition.
Student work from the 2024 assessment exhibition
Your tutors
Your in-studio practical learning is guided and supported by two dedicated tutors, Yasmin Davis-Franzmayr and Elisabeth Wernli. Each term you will also have the opportunity to learn with visiting ceramicists from across Aotearoa, who come to the Waikato Society of Potters to teach workshops in a wide variety of skills and techniques.
Yasmin Davis-Franzmayr
Yasmin is an exhibiting ceramic artist, and has been a potter in Hamilton/Tamahere for 14 years now. She grew up in Germany and immigrated with her family to New Zealand in 1987.
Creativity in many forms has been a constant throughout Yasmin's life and a never-ending source of inspiration.
Moving to Waikato in 2010 and living rurally for the last 12 years has impacted her ceramic art practice further. Yasmin has a joyful thirst for learning new surface decorating techniques, particularly those that she can use to incorporate a her love of NZ's native birds and plants.
Yasmin studied the Diploma of Ceramic Arts for 4 years (2012-2015) at the Waikato Society of Potters. During that time, she started tutoring general classes and workshops at WSP as well, and began teaching the Diploma modules in 2022.
Yasmin is an enthusiastic and welcoming tutor who has a wealth of knowledge in a wide range of pottery making and decorating and shares her skills generously.
Elisabeth Wernli
Elisabeth's (Lis) first significant encounters with clay were as a student of Brian Gartside in the 1970s at North Shore Teachers College. But she really got going with clay when she was farming in Galatea. Lis attended numerous summer schools eager to learn as much as she could. She experimented with pit firing, made a raku drum kiln and purchased a gas fired kiln.
Lis taught what was then called Manual Classes in Clay at Rangitahi College. And initiated projects at the local primary school and in the community.
After a solo exhibition at the Rotorua Museum in 1999 Lis moved to Cambridge and completed a Bachelor of Media Arts at Wintec followed by another year of teacher training. Lis intermittently taught in schools and then eventually set up her own ‘school’ teaching children's after-school classes and adult workshops.
In 2018-2019 Lis completed the NZ Diploma in Arts and Design – Ceramics here at the Waikato Society of Potters. In 2023 she took a break from clay and completed a Masters in painting at Wintec.
At the start of 2024 Lis accepted the post as co-tutor of the Otago Ceramics Diploma, a new and rewarding role.
Student profiles
Take a look at what some of our current and past students have been doing with the knowledge and experiences they've gained while studying this qualification.
Trish Seddon, Diploma graduate
"The diploma took my creativity to a whole other level and when I look back at my work prior to and after completing the diploma I can certainly appreciate the degree of development I underwent as an artist.
"I have always worked in clay as a hobby, never as a fulltime job, but I do supply several galleries now and enjoy the satisfaction of making and selling my work.
"I also continue to submit work for exhibitions around the country and although I am not always successful in being selected I understand the selection process is very subjective and have learnt not to allow the process to govern my self esteem as an artist."
Victoria Kerry, current student
"I didn’t realize that something like a bowl could have an idea behind it until I started. Once you start thinking about all the different steps from choosing the clay, making, finishing, glazing, surfaces, firing techniques - there are so many more steps that I hadn’t thought about properly."
"I was nervous that I didn’t have enough experience but very quickly, once those techniques are taught I realized how much further you can expand what you’re doing."
Student work
View examples handcrafted by our students
