Against the wintry frozen campus, a collection of blazing ceramic pieces reside within Shoreline Community College’s Building 1000. Pieces made by advanced, intermediate and beginner potters will continue to be displayed until Feb. 8 2024. This would not only increase the ceramics program visibility but also encourage aspiring potters around the Shoreline community.
The young potters of SCC gathered during the Artist Reception from 4-6 p.m on Jan. 23. Students and community visitors were perplexed by the unique creations, leading us to question “What was the artist saying as they form mounds of clay?” Gary Georger, a ceramic professor in SCC who is also a professional artist outside of his campus job, described working with clay as “the best teacher in the world”. During his demo with three other students, he continued to explain how clay “teaches us patience, it teaches us to look inside ourselves, slow down and connect ourselves.” Students who are a part of the Gallery Assistant Program also participated in the demo with three kinds of clay which consisted of coil, pinch and slab while Professor Georger demonstrated using the Wheel.
Zach Mazur, the gallery director, applauded the student acknowledging that all the work was done by students. “I coached the students in setting up the layout of the space… but everything you see is student organized, student curated and student demo’d, which was also completely their idea.”
Although not every brilliant artist was present during the reception, several spotlights should be applauded for their courage to experiment with advanced techniques. There were also in depth stories behind their works that were encouraged by the classes these students were a part of.
Wendi Hawley, displayed three pots made by varying techniques: pit fired, wood fired and a high fired birch canister clay pot. “The reason why I am still in Shoreline after 8 years is because I find it very inspiring to be in a shared studio with other artists… I originally started as a beginning potter, the community was definitely what inspired me to stay.”
Christine Rodríguez Kareus’ Piña con flores (Pineapple with flowers) is a jar inspired by Carlos Hernandez’s pieces. The Pineapple is a symbol of hospitality in many cultures, Kareus commemorates such roots into this piece adding on flowers as her artistic twist to an already culturally rich work of art. “I modeled the name the way Hernandez modeled his Piña, like Piña con Concha that looks like a shell.” Kareus explains how Piña means pine in Spanish, so it was traditionally shaped as pine-cone-like. However, pineapples attract more tourists and it serves more purpose as the Pineapple Jars store fermented pineapple juice. “I feel like the clay had a lot to teach me… how one has to work with the clay and not against the clay. It has its own time.” She finds the whole process of allowing other students to choose which pieces she should put out as enlightening, “It allows me to see those pieces in a different way,”
Ava Bort, who is in her second quarter in SCC, displayed two ceramic animals expressing the idea of Multiple Personality Disorder entitled Battling Identity and Watery Foes. “The tiger and the lion are battling for control over itself, just like the hippo and the crocodile.” It took her 12 and 4 hours for the greenware process of Battling Identity and Watery Foes. “Depending on the clay in the kiln the clay turned out differently…, like this one (the tiger in Battling Identity) wasn’t as red as I wanted it to be… but maybe that’s how it was supposed to end up to be.” Which is definitely the spirit of how art should be approached.
“None of the pieces here have the same style.” Kareus noted. This exhibition allows growing artists to be inspired by different works that they may integrate into their own personal niche for their future pieces. “It lights the fire within them in order to create their best work.” Mazur expressed.
“We’re looking at possibly doing this around the fall quarter as we’d already have the students in the fall quarter knowing that they’re going to be working towards an exhibition,” he continued.
The visitors lingered until 6:00 p.m chattering over ceramics. An art student from SCC, Ivey Katlein Maya, expressed how she loved the ambience music, “I love the different pieces here. It’s bringing up a whole different perspective of Ceramics to me… I love attending stuff like this as I get to meet other artists.” Her friend, Doralia Sanchez, also expressed positive reviews about the surroundings, “The demo was a nice surprise… I like the amount of ceramics, but I feel like they could add more on the walls and fill up more on the walls.” Sanchez said.