ABSTRACT
Teaching ceramics in the 21st century means dealing with a medium/discipline that is ecologically toxic and unsustainable. Standard ceramic courses need redesigning to acknowledge and minimize the environmental implications for the biosphere of the materials and processes. Lisa Hammond (2018), the founder of Clay College Stoke-on-Trent, insists, “We’ve got to make the next generation aware of these issues, so they think about how they practice in the future.” Most concerning are the mining of clay and metal colorants, nonrenewable materials, and the fuels used in all aspects of ceramic practice. Within each of these three categories are issues related to human rights and social injustice that are often unknown or barely discussed. This chapter examines the social injustices surrounding the use of electricity in Manitoba in ceramic practice.
