by KP | Dec 26, 2014 | Ceramics, Education, Social Issues
Holidays challenge me. In my role as a teacher, one of the hardest parts of a holiday is accepting gifts from my students. Post-Santa, I was raised to understand that celebratory gifts are, conceptually, an exchange – you give a gift, you get a gift, with some...
by KP | Nov 20, 2014 | Ceramics, Education
In the forming of the pot, it is the pushing from within that shapes the pot’s exterior. So too in our existence do our inner doubts and dreams shape the lives we live. -Chris Staley, The Hegemonic Eye During the thirty minutes I have for lunch, I am up to my elbows...
by KP | Oct 16, 2014 | Ceramics, Education
During my second year of teaching at a small-town high school in New Jersey, I met Shannon. Â She came to my classroom by way of a few other art courses, and at first we were a little cautious of each other. Â She was clearly talented in ceramics and meticulous about...
by KP | Aug 21, 2014 | Ceramics, Random
This summer took me me from seven challenging weeks in Michigan through a few troubling days in Pennsylvania to an August perch on an island in Maine. Here I’m a student, trying to figure out whether I am still supposed to make things. Â I have been living out a...
by KP | Jul 23, 2014 | Ceramics, Education
It’s a beautiful July night in northern Michigan.  I’m settled into an outdoor amphitheater seat next to a comfortable friend, listening to the tuning chatter of a high school orchestra.  Windows on the back wall amplify sparkles from the backstage lake.  The students...
