End of the Year Reflections

This past Friday marked the conclusion of my fifth year of teaching, and my third year at Boyertown. Instead of focusing on all of the exciting things I hope to accomplish this summer my mind has been consumed with thoughts about the past. I have been reflecting upon the last three years at Boyertown. I have been thinking about how I have grown as an educator, artist, and person. Thinking about how much my daughter has grown, as she is on the cusp of becoming a woman. Thinking about the connections I have forged with some of my students, and how much I enjoy teaching.
My reflections began with asking myself some general questions like: What went well this past school year? What didn’t go well? How can I grow as a teacher? How can I make my lessons more effective? How can I make my classroom run more efficiently? What can I do to better connect with my students? Was it a smart decision to remove the splash pans from all of the potter’s wheels? Should I have my students focus less on skill development and more on the development of ideas? How can I better integrate my students using their sketchbooks in class? What do I need to do to keep all of my seniors excited, motivated, and still creating during the months of May, and June? (IF ANYONE HAS THE ANSWER TO THIS LAST QUESTION PLEASE TELL ME!!!)
Then while wondering if I am making a difference at all in the lives of my students I received the following email from one of my seniors that just graduated:

I have to thank you for this year. Before I walked into your room in the beginning of the year I had no ambitions to do anything in my life art was just a hobby and I didn't expect to see myself going to college. But you saw potential in me and you not only help me become a better artist but you helped me become a better person. I cannot thank you for all that you have done for me this year. You criticized me and you told me the truth while others just said it wasn't bad. You also got me an apprenticeship with Steve, which I never thought would happen. You have influenced me to become a teacher just like the ceramics teacher you had when you were my age. Finally like your slogan what do I want and what I am doing actually matches.

Thank you for everything

Teddy

Elephant's Eye Studio Tour

This past Friday, 40 of my students participated in the Elephant’s Eye Studio Tour Education Day. My students visited the studios of Lisa Naples, Ken Vavrek, and Steve Tobin. Although Steve wasn’t officially part of the Elephant’s Eye Studio Tour this year, he was still gracious enough to allow my students to visit.

Our first stop was to Lisa Naples' studio. Lisa is a renowned ceramic artist that specializes in both functional and sculptural ceramics. Gloria Kosco and Holli Hollingsworth were guest artists at Lisa’s studio. Each gave a 30-minute demonstration and discussion about how they work in clay and why they work in clay.

Here Gloria is demonstrating a wax slip technique that she developed to decorate her pots.

Lisa is giving a throwing demonstration on the potter’s wheel. Lisa is a terrific teacher. She had an amazing ability to maintain a dialogue with my students while she is throwing.

Lisa spent time explaining to my students the importance of finding something in life that you truly love to do, and then spending the rest of your life doing just that. In the picture above Lisa is reading an inspirational quote by John Cage to my students. The quote was:

"When you start working, everybody is in your studio,

the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and

above all, your own ideas. But as you continue they

start leaving one by one and you're left completely

alone. And if you're lucky, even you leave."

This is one of the many sculptures that are throughout Lisa’s garden.

Our second stop was to the studio of Ken Vavrek. Ken spoke to my students about the creative engineering he has had to develop to create these incredibly complex ceramic wall sculptures. Pictured above, Ken is explaining how he uses a slump mold to begin forming one of his sculptures.

Our third and final stop was to Steve Tobin’s studio. Steve works in clay, glass, and metal. Steve took my students throughout his studio sharing everything, from his monumental size steel sculptures to his modest tea bowls.

You can see in this picture the massive scale of some of Steve’s ceramic sculptures. Some of these pieces were created with more than 4,000 lbs. of clay. To put things into perspective, I told my students that at our school we order 12,000 lbs. of clay expecting it to last an entire school year. To watch a video of how Steve creates these pieces click here.

Here Steve is talking with my students in great detail about some of his recent works and how he is continually looking at nature as a source for inspiration in his work.

This is a very small room filled with ceramic hands. As you walk into the room the hands are touching you all over. Theses hands are an excellent example of the glaze palette that Steve works with.

For more information about the Elephant’s Eye Studio tour please click here.

For more information about Lisa Naples please click here.

For more information about Ken Vavrek please click here.

For more information about Steve Tobin please click here.

celebrating the end

With just over 20 days left of the school year, I am beginning to produce artworks to celebrate the end of the end of the school year. Two years ago I began a tradition of giving artwork to all of my graduating seniors on the last day of the school year. Because I have so many seniors, I would normally make simple things like mugs, pendants, or earrings. This year I am going to attempt to have a little more fun. Pictured below are some trophies I am working on. I stole this idea from my Visual Communications teacher from high school Mr. Walchesky. His class was tons of fun. At the end of every school year he would give gag gifts and ridiculous awards to all of the students.

More Student Artwork-Coil Pots

These coil pots were created by some of my Introduction to Ceramics students. This is the first assignment students create in Intro to Ceramics. The students created these using the East Asian Wedge Coil technique, taught to me by my professor Joyce Michaud. The requirements for this project were: minimum height of 18", even wall thickness, and use of sgraffito and/or mishima techniques to decorate the surface.

More Student Artwork-Masks

These masks were created by some of my Intermediate Ceramics students.

More Student Artwork-Functional

Pictured below are some functional pieces created this semester by some of my Advanced Ceramics students.

Productive Weekend in the Studio

I had quite a week. To start the week my computer's hard drive died. Then, while traveling across the state, my car died. After being stranded for almost two days, I was relieved to finally get back home to my daughter. To release my stress I spent most of my weekend in the studio. Today, I threw a dozen plates and finished carving the vase pictured below. The carving took me about about ten hours to finish.

passing the time while testing

At my school, the entire month of April is going to be effected by PSSA testing. My coworkers and I often refer to the month of April as the “lost month”. Unfortunately most of my classroom lessons and my students’ projects will come to a grinding halt for the next three weeks. I will have to proctor tests for 2-3 hours on some days. Furthermore my ceramics classroom has been deemed unconducive for testing, so I will have to proctor tests in different classrooms throughout my school. I will need to be attentive to the needs of the students testing, but I also need to come up with an activity to occupy my time. So, during testing I will bring with me 1-2 pounds of clay and sculpt small critters like this alligator:

Student Artwork

Here are some pictures of my students' artwork.

Pinching with Priscilla

This past weekend I also took a 2-day ceramics workshop with Priscilla Mouritzen at Hood College. Priscilla is from Denmark and considers herself to be a "production pinch potter". I spent the weekend creating pinch pots, something I haven't done in almost eight years.
You can learn more about Priscilla and her work at: http://pinchpots.blogspot.com/

Here Priscilla is working on one of her larger pinch pots.

Here are some of Priscilla's pots with one of her sketch books in the foreground.

This is one of my pinched cups decorated with pigeons pulled from one my sketchbooks.

On this small pinched vase I engraved one of my favorite poems. I think I might decorate one of my larger vase forms like this later in the week.

This is a pinched cup that I carved a journal entry directly into. The subject of the journal entry was "Why Pinching?". When I first started working with clay, pinching was the technique that allowed me to spend as much time as possible on each pot. I first fell in love with clay while making pinch pots.