Pottery & Art Department

by Clay Cunningham

January 09, 2008

As the pottery teacher here at Lewis Central High School, I’m very proud of the achievement of our students, the abundance of our facilities and the support of our administration. The pottery and art department is a great place to see all three of these.

We are quite lucky here in the Lewis Central Pottery Department. Where most schools, if they have a pottery department at all, they have a few wheels and a kiln or two. Our school happily hosts eight potter’s wheels, including a 1600’s style treadle wheel, build as a class project by two of our alumni. We are also blessed with four indoor electric kilns, an outdoor Raku kiln and a recently built outdoor Japanese style Anagama wood-fired kiln. This kiln was built during a Summer student workshop and is fired every Spring. It takes three to four days to fire by students signed up in shifts and can hold up to 400 pots. Our administration was gracious to grant us the opportunity to learn about the building, loading and firing of such a rare kiln.

Students are given the opportunity to take their intangible creative ideas from scratch and make beautiful functional pottery and inventive sculpture. This not only develops brainstorming abilities and focus, but also problem solving and critical thinking. To put it in real world terms, this is good ol’ R&D, research and development. I have never been more proud of my students than I have this year. Encouraged to keep sketchbooks and to not be afraid to fill them, my students have begun pushing themselves and not worrying so much about why they can’t, but how they could. Every day, the pottery and art rooms come alive with students building various projects at the worktables and another group turning pots on the potter’s wheels (or at least trying).

For those especially eager students is the opportunity to learn about the making of clay and glazes, loading and firing kilns and a variety of finishing ideas for their work. In the art room students can experiment with different drawing materials, paints and printmaking techniques. A large group of advanced students from the art department recently went to an art unveiling and lecture, ending with students eager to get back to the ‘studio’ to work on their creations.

One of the achievements I am proud to show off is our students’ participation and success in jurored art shows. Students are able and encouraged to enter their work in various contests, including a contest that has allowed a few of our student’s the honor of having work on display in the Joslyn Art Museum. It is always great to see rewards for virtuous behavior.

I realize many of my students will not choose the arts as a lifetime occupation. That’s probably a smart decision. However, they develop creativity and problem-solving skills, learn devotion and perseverance and certainly have some fun. That couldn’t make me happier.

Check out the slideshow of our students and their work. Pottery Department