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“One of the things we wanted with the mug project is that students would see other students using their mug,” said Major. “We will be able to see the mugs pop up and be used around campus.”

Like all ceramics classes, the project is a part of the Ceramics faculty’s collective aim to provide opportunities for students to use the College’s resources, develop technical proficiency, and investigate materials even as they explore their own creative impulses alongside historical and contemporary contexts. In this case, the class also reflects Bennington’s overall intention to engage students in cross-disciplinary dialog and with ideas at the intersection of personal expression, public action, and community.

��dz�’s Cafe

��dz�’s, Bennington’s student-operated cafe, is a typical coffee spot in many ways. It’s where the campus community goes to meet up and find fresh-baked pastries, coffee, specialty espresso beverages, and snacks.

It’s unusual for a cafe in one way in particular: there is very little waste. Baristas serve drinks exclusively in reusable mugs and sell snacks in glass jars. There are no plastic or paper cups and no plastic lids. Paper bags and waxed paper are used to carry out pastries. 

“The cafe serves as a visible, operating testament to the possibility of a plastic-free future,” said Judith Enck, president of , a groundbreaking environmental organization based within 51��������’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington. “We are not talking about a different world; we are making ����.”&�Բ�����;

Being a low-waste cafe is easier than it seems. People bring their own mug. Others donate mugs to an ever-changing supply available to borrow. Patrons take a mug from a community shelf to use at the cafe. Often they use it again and again, and then return it to cafe, which then cleans it and returns it to the community shelf. The low-waste policy makes a cleaner world, but it also makes a more interesting and more connected one. 

The Firing

Jump back in time to the chilly fall day when Ceramics faculty member Anina Major gathered students around a kiln. “Guys, if you’re curious about what glaze looks like when it is melting, this is as close as you will ever see it in real life,” she said. “During other types of firings you don’t get to see the glaze melt, because the kiln is closed.” 

While making work is central to any ceramics study, practicing low-temperature firing techniques is the topic of this class. Students learn to operate the kilns used for the initial bisque firing. They glaze and fire again using an array of experimental methods. The class covers raku, reduction firing, pit firing, and Saggar firing. 

“So during the beginning part of the term, we make a lot of stuff that students are going to test fire in different ways,” said Major. “Today is raku day.”

Raku is a type of atmospheric firing. Students open the kiln when the glazes look melted and shiny, “like molasses,” Major said. They use long-handled tongs to lift each piece from the kiln. A second student opens the lid of a metal bin with sawdust in the bottom. They put the piece into the bin, cover it with hay, and quickly close the lid while the hay combusts. Once the bins are fully loaded with work, they are allowed to cool. 

Unlike wood firing, which can take as long as five days, Major explained, “[Raku firing] is immediately satisfying because the things that we glaze and fire today will be ready shortly after we are done firing.” 

In the time between when the pieces are placed into bins and when they can be removed, the class waits. They have just enough time to watch The Great Pottery Throw Down “Raku Episode” and eat a homemade cobbler that they cooked in the hand-built outdoor pizza oven nearby. 

“Anina’s class is amazing,” said Nico Migdal ’25, who studies dance, animation, and ceramics. “You get exposed to a lot of new things. Ceramic spaces and materials are so hard to access once you’re not in a school environment. Having access to all of the equipment, all of the techniques is really special.”