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large number of diverse and beautiful options for high- temperature kilning. Within ceramics there are various sectors or specialities: utilitarian, decorative, applied architectural, artistic or new technology ceramics (for example, electric and spatial ceramics, as well as specialised medical ceramics used for prosthesis). The work of the artistic or artisan ceramicist created the pictorial field with sculptural and technical aspects, as it is one of the most demanding trades because of the skills required. The ceramicist works with earth, fire and water, and is an expert on the physical and chemical changes the material and reactions undergoes during kilning. The basic element of the ceramicist is clay, a natural material made up of small particles from the disintegration of feldspar, and is mainly made up of hydrated aluminium silicates. The two main elements of clay, silica and alumina, make up approximately 75% of the Earth’s crust, and as such appears as a common, universal material of expression, engineering and construction for many civilisations, including now. One of clay’s key characteristics is its plasticity. When it is wet –and as such contains the correct quantity of water– it tends to retain any shape we give it. The other main characteristic is the hardness it takes on after firing; it becomes completely dehydrated and irretreivably loses its capacity to become soft, even if treated with water. It becomes as hard as a rock as soon as it attains the optimum point of the kilning. For the ceramicist, clay is the base onto which to apply ceramic enamels, engobes, oxide patinas and colourants. Combining different clays or other materials such as degreasers and flux creates different ceramic pastes. These mixtures can be modified by the ceramicist to create colour changes, different fusion points, plasticity, hardness, resistance to thermic shock or adaptability whether they are used as an engobe on other pastes or clay, or in liquid form in castings on moulds using deflocculants. These come in various forms, kilning temperatures and qualities, such as red clay, china, stoneware, porcelain, refractory clay, and so on. The ceramicist can work the surface of the clay using different techniques, cutting, texturisation, fretwork, impressions, polishing, faceting, and so on. In the later process of decorating the pieces engobes, enamels, colours and metallic oxides can be used. Many techniques exist to this end: bathing, pouring, powder-coating, brush painting, using stencils, reliefs, and so on. It is also possible to work using photographic resources such as printing screens, copies or digital ceramic printing. There are many technical possibilities for decorating ceramic pieces, since having a tool like fire enables the creation of reduction atmospheres to change the look of both the enamels and the ceramic paste (usually we work with oxidation or reduction atmospheres). Even after the ceramic enamel is kilned we can finish the piece off with other decorations: lustres, metal oxides or third-fire enamels at a lower kilning temperatures. It is a good idea for the ceramicist to be able to formulate and know how to calculate enamels (Seger). They can also use frit (baked, milled enamels) to resolve two important problems: the first of which is dealing with some elements like borax and the alkaline elements which are water-soluble and difficult to apply if they are not ‘fritted’ (molecularly joined to other elements); the second is minimising toxicity in handling traditional ceramic flux, which is mainly lead. Many of the great artists throughout time have taken an interest in ceramics: modern and contemporary exponents are Gauguin, Picasso, Miró and Barceló, to name a few. It is an art that is closely linked to nature because of the use it makes of all its elements, combined and transformed at the whim and skill of the artist. The magic of ceramics is linked to the mysticism of fire. It is its capacity to control the changes in the material, the properties of the enamels, the kilning temperature, the totality of the process from the earth to the finished work will the intermediary of fire as a unifying element. In many countries, such as Japan and the United States, ceramics is held in high esteem and prestige: in Spain at the moment there is a higher education diploma in ceramics in Castellón that offers two paths: Artistic Ceramics and Ceramics Science and Technology. The subject is also taught in art and design degrees in various art schools. Since 2012-13, the Masters degree Ceramics: Art and Function has been taught in the Basque Country. Begonya Campius Jordi de Moya Fina Casaus Fine Arts Graduates 71