Every day after school, dancers, musicians, actors, and visual artists in the Arts Concentration Program (Arts Con) visit their studios, stages, and practice rooms to hone their crafts. This year, ceramists have joined them in their afternoon artistic endeavors.
The ceramics branch in Arts Con was established last year when adviser Mr. Aaron Sober noticed a few students were particularly passionate about ceramics and pottery. His main priority for this new program was to give these students a space in the Paul Mellon Arts Center (PMAC) to work on their art. He also hopes that students “will find a way for art to be a meaningful part of their lives,” as it is “a meaningful tool for communicating and is a lens for understanding themselves in the world.”
The ceramics Arts Con program currently has three students — Beverly Renshaw ’24, Selam Olson ’24, and Jada Dixon ’24, who is also interested in mixed media. They must fulfill the requirements that other visual Arts Con students have. Over their four years at Choate, the students must take a series of studio courses and art history classes.
They also work and create in the PMAC in the afternoons instead of athletics to focus on their artwork. The third floor art studio in the PMAC has now been transformed into a miniature pottery studio. Housed with wheels and clay, the studio was specifically designed for Arts Con students to work in during the afternoon activities block.
Olson stumbled upon pottery at Choate. “My friends were taking the ceramic class in the fall term last year and said, ‘you should come into the open studios on Tuesday nights and just mess around a little bit. We can teach you how to make simple stuff, and it will just be so much fun,’” they explained.
Renshaw, on the other hand, developed her interest in pottery at a small pottery studio in Camp Monterey in June 2021. Upon her return to Choate, she spoke with Mr. Sober about working in the Choate pottery studios, and “it just kept on rolling.”
The ceramics branch in Arts Con has created a new and intensive opportunity for students who love to make pottery. Their work was featured in the winter term visual arts student exhibition.
After a term of exploration, Renshaw presented a combination of big pots and small jars at the exhibition.
One of her works has “mutilated pineneedles” written on it, which was inspired by how her mom described a sidewalk. “A lot of times when I decorate, my pots are based off of experiences I’ve had,” Renshaw said.
Renshaw also wrote a sign by her work that encouraged viewers to touch her work. “I trust the people who are walking in this gallery, and I think it’s an important experience specifically to be able to pick it up,” Renshaw said. “There are things that you can see visually when you look at a pot, but there’s just as much, if not more, that can be discovered about that pot where you could get up and you actually touch it.”
Moving forward, Renshaw is looking to branch out and try new things. “This first term was fairly comfortable — trying to get into systems and understanding how things work — but right now, I’m trying to branch and push my comfortability a little bit,” she said.
Student artists continue their ventures with the support of the Arts Con community. Olson particularly appreciates that students in Arts Con receive individualized focus and personalized feedback on their work. They believe that “there is a community of people who just like art and love talking about it. Seeing everything they can create makes it a wonderful environment.”
