The NC ceramics class faces its newest task, titled Metamorphosis, calling students to creep out of their cocoons and create strikingly unique pieces. The project calls the teenagers to explore the boundaries of permanence as ideas blend together naturally. Natalie Depietro, one of NC’s fabulous art teachers, guides her third block through the abstract task as students grapple with the boundaries of a physical medium. Individuals hoping for an up-close look at the finished projects may do so at the end of the school year when pieces hit their displays.

Immediately following her explanation of the project, Depietro’s young artists began brainstorming ideas. The process included sketching, writing and soundboarding concepts, a routine that students may find either monotonous or helpful. During brainstorming, students began assessing how their own skills could apply to the scope of their ideas. Junior Gracie Baldwin initially wanted to create a candle girl who appeared to slowly melt, before realizing that her skill set had not yet developed enough to achieve this model. Instead, Baldwin opted to create her “Slow Approach of Death.” 

“I made a snail whose shell is turning into a skull. The point of the project was to make one thing that is turning into another, or it has to be two things at once. Originally, I was going to do a girl, where her head was a candle, and she would be melting. I put so much effort into drawing her before I realized it was going to be too difficult to actually make. But I’m calling the snail ‘The Slow Approach of Death.’ This is honestly probably my favorite project we’ve done so far,” Baldwin said.

As the class delved deeper into the creative process, individuals began stepping outside of their comfort zones to achieve unique and outstanding ceramic models. Another impressive project, created by senior Karen Guzman, modeled the likeness of a strawberry whose stem transformed into a conch shell. The piece holds no official title, but Guzman claims the strawberry-conch will serve as one of her favorite projects for the class. Once glazed, Guzman will choose whether or not to put the project on display. 

Depietro, affectionately known as Ms. D, admires her ceramics students and their hard work in achieving their creative goals. Throughout the semester, the class has conquered a mountain of creative projects, each one furthering their creativity and problem-solving skills. By drawing inspiration from popular artists and famous works, Ceramics students gain opportunities to express themselves in all new ways.

“Augusta Savage [gave me the inspiration to assign this piece]. She’s a ceramics artist, and she made this harmonic sculpture that is life-size. It was people in the shape of a harp, and they were all singing. She’s one of my favorite ceramics artists, and as I was looking at her work, I thought, ‘We could do that, we could change things into other things.’ At first, they [the students] were coming up with ideas, and they were very basic, and then they started transforming them and realizing how the shapes might morph into others,” Depietro said.

Art holds an increasingly important spot within modern-day society; NC’s creative classes allow students to discover this value for themselves. With the rise of social media and an increasingly interconnected global culture, the value of art climbs rapidly. Art students at NC maintain a valuable creative outlet, offered to them through the courses they participate in. The healthy emotional outlet ceramics provide allows students to feel a sense of pride in knowing their work will find its way into appreciation in a display case.

 Though NC offers its wide array of art courses, classes like Ceramics tend to slip through the cracks of recognition. While programs and classes like Band, Journalism, Yearbook and Orchestra find consistent appraisal from this publication and Principal David Bell’s Instagram, art courses silently display their hard work and hold gallery nights that tend to lack coverage. Overall, the NC ceramics class boasts valuable perks and teaches the students important life skills like perseverance, creativity and ingenuity.