A Ceramics Sneak-Peek

This Thursday the annual ceramics Art-For-All auction is happening, and this year is set to be one of the biggest auctions the Arts program has ever seen. With three different class periods of Ceramics II, there are a lot of contenders this year. In addition, every year the class partners with Discovery Elementary School, helping elementary students in the process of making their own bowls as well. While most of the time in class is spent designing art pieces for themselves, the auction is an opportunity for students to market their art to others. “It’s the first time they’ve had to design something [for a] foreign audience,” ceramics teacher Jon Holtz said. “They usually just make art for themselves, and now it’s like, ‘look, we want to sell these.’” Given that these pieces are now meant for a bigger audience, we interviewed a few of the artists about their bowls and their designs.

With flowers in full bloom, Adalee Anderson ’26 wanted to encapsulate a springtime theme with her bowl. “I was thinking mostly about the weather,” Anderson said. “People are gonna be in kind of a spring mood, so I made a flower for them.” Anderson emphasized how important the bowls are to their makers, and how much effort was put into them. “[Holtz] told us to put us into the bowl, and we should be mad that we’re giving it away.”

Working with a new medium, Maxwell Lieder ’24 had quite a few changes in his design before the final product. “One of my first ideas was a bowl made of sections of rings with different colored clouds on each section,” Lieder said. “I just thought of a better-looking bowl when sketching, and ended up with a seashell with barnacles held up by rocks.” Lieder has sold art to extended family before, but has little doubt that his bowl is going to be a success at the auction. “I’m pretty confident that it’s going to sell.”

Eden Johnson ’25 was a bit unsure of what design her bowl should have. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do at first, so I was kind of Googling ideas,” Johnson said. “I wanted to do kind of a seascape kind of thing, so I ended up with a big starfish on my bowl. It’s a coral reef design.” She added a few special touches to make her bowl stand out from the others. “I wanted it to look unique. The main attraction with [my bowl] is definitely the starfish.”

Sculpting memories of her youth, Ella Zwart ’24 themed her bowl around her family’s cabin and the memories surrounding it. “Whenever I go to my cabin, it’s always my favorite time to just go on the lake and see the sunset and its reflection,” Zwart said. “I was really excited to make that, and I wanted to make it as close to the memories that I have of [our cabin] as I could.” Zwart was also confident about her piece’s performance at the auction. “The cabin pieces are usually pretty successful, many people have cabins, and it’s just such a cool thing to decorate.”