Veronica Brelsford

Fields

Languages
Literature

Education

A.B. Pembroke College, 1956
Certificat de Langue et de Litterature Francaise, Ecole Superieure de Perfectionnement des Professeurs de Francais a l’Etranger, Paris, 1958
M.A., Middlebury College (program in France), 1960
Universita degli Studi, Sienna, fall 1983
Universite de Grenoble, 1984
All language programs, Dartmouth College, summer, 1987

At Marlboro Since

1965

Headshot of “Pottery is both very tangible and abstract,” Michael says. “It also relates to basic human needs and experiences. Like any serious craft, studying pottery brings you up against yourself and provides opportunities to see and to grow.” Whether a student was aiming toward a career in ceramics, incorporating ceramics into a broader Plan, or taking a single course, Michael approached his discipline in a consistent way. “The fundamental knowledge of materials, techniques, and form was established in small introductory classes. Ongoing development in the visual arts is a personal process; therefore further instruction becomes increasingly specialized and individualized, while still maintaining the benefits of group interaction.” Michael Boylen Education A.B., Yale University, 1958 M.S. University of Wisconsin, 1963 M.F.A., University of Wisconsin, 1966 At Marlboro since 1980 Email mboylen@marlboro.edu Edit my profile Teaching Philosophy Michael’s first concern was that his students “understand visual form and the process of ceramics, both as personal experience and in relation to the history of culture and technology.” Scholarly Activities Michael has worked, lectured, and given workshops in Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, and Scandinavia. A contributing editor of Studio Potter magazine, he has written for American Craft and Ceramics Monthly magazines as well. He has served as president of the Vermont Council on the Arts.

Born in Austria of German parents, Veronica encountered her first foreign language, English, at the age of 5. She learned it “almost unconsciously; certainly more easily than an older person who would be inclined to reason things out. Language is not very reasonable,” she adds. “Nor is it purely utilitarian, for communication at all levels has elements of culture and poetry.”

Teaching Philosophy

Veronica spent several semesters in Italy with groups of students, including a semester in 1989 on the island of Salina in the Aoelian group. Following one such semester at Casa Campardi in Italy, she spent a term on sabbatical as a student at the University of Grenoble. “It’s important for a teacher to get back into the classroom as a student,” she says. “I loved tackling some areas I hadn’t had time to explore in depth. The challenge of translation, for instance. I think that people need to be aware that much of the literature they read is somebody’s interpretation of what’s been said, not the original.” Veronica’s translation workshops seeked to sensitize the student to this issue and to seek “an ever-better understanding of the text.”

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