Student Ceramic Creations Come Alive for Philadelphia Museum of Art

On a recent day in the ceramics studio on campus, students in Professor Gregg Moore's Advanced Ceramics course gathered to put the final touches on their semester-long project: designing and creating dinnerware for the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Stir Restaurant.

This is the third year Moore's students have been tasked with creating plateware for the restaurant. This year, their work will be used by guests at the restaurant during the run of the exhibition "Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s."

"The chef puts together a special tasting menu based on the exhibition," Moore explained. "The first year was Korean food, last year was French. This year focuses on the scrappiness, the usefulness of everything in the 1940s. The diners can see the show, then go eat and make those connections."

The process began when the class met with Elisabeth Agro, the Nancy M. McNeil Associate Curator of American Modern and Contemporary Crafts and Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on Zoom to discuss the pieces that will be included in the exhibition. Agro explained not only the look and feel of each piece, but also the philosophy behind them so the students could really understand what the exhibition is about and tap into that philosophy when designing the dinnerware.

"It's been a great experience working with the Philadelphia Museum of Art," Jyothi Ravilla '25, a Computer Science major, said. "I don't think I would get this experience at many other schools, so it's been the experience of a lifetime."

The group also spoke with Alex Vasquez, executive chef at Stir, about what he wanted to see for his restaurant and how he could help make it happen.

" This has been a semester-long project-from learning about what's in the show, researching the pieces, hearing what food the chef is making, and then coming up with form and style," Jess Schrading said. Schrading, a program support specialist in Arcadia's Hybrid Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, is taking the course through the University's tuition remission program.

"Chef Vasquez was great to work with," Charlie Deppen '26, a Studio Art major with a Ceramics concentration, added. "We had group discussions about features we liked, shapes, colors, that kind of thing. After process of elimination and a whole lot of feedback, we decided on these particular shapes. Then he came in and really helped clean some of these with the glazing process, so he was willing to be super hands-on too."

From start to finish, all of the work for this project was done in the ceramic studio. Jenna Hill '25, a Scientific Illustration major, started by developing a prototype for the plate through inspiration from a couple of different places.

"I am very interested in the work produced by Russel Wright in the 1940s," she said. "I love the smooth, clean lines in this work. Also, I was inspired by my parents' dinner plates at home. They have a double foot in them, which I found interesting, and I wanted to try to emulate that in the plate I made for the exhibition."

After the prototype was approved by Vasquez, the students moved on to producing the clay bodies and glazes needed for the project.

"The ceramic studio here at Arcadia is unique in that we're an ingredient space studio," Hollie Byars '25, a Studio Art major with a Ceramics concentration, explained. "So the glazes and the clay bodies that you see for the dinnerware, the students made it."

Madi Lush '25, who will receive her degree in Biology this May, explained the process.

" I'll get the ingredients and start to measure them out," she said. "Then I have to mix them in this perfect way to make sure everything goes well. Usually you have to wear a mask because there's all these random particles that you don't want to breathe. It doesn't usually take that long, but if you need a lot, you have to either keep making it or make a really big batch. You kind of just have to plan for it."

While the dinnerware obviously needed to be usable-the group did balance checks to ensure the pieces were as flat as possible-perfection was not the goal.

" I've personally had a lot of things come out of the kiln not looking anything like I expected them to," Erin Wallace '25, a Psychology major said. "But usually I like them better that way."

Business major Dylan Garber '26 hopes the partnership between Arcadia and the Philadelphia Museum of Art continues for years to come.

 "We're the third group to have this experience, and I'm excited to see if it can continue to be a tradition for the ceramics class," he said. "A fantastic fourth year, fifth year project. I think it'd be a great idea."

"Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s" runs from April 12 to Sept. 1, 2025.