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Ceramics student turning teacherBrooks Rice shares the arts with the next generationBy Christy Blindauer
"Everyone should have a hobby," says Brooks Rice as he wedges some clay on the tabletop -- kneading it to remove any impurities and making it soft so he can throw it on the potter's wheel. "Pottery is so rewarding -- you get to use your hands to create something that turns out to be functional." Brooks will graduate from the University of Oregon with a bachelor's degree in art in spring 2003. He plans to keep ceramics "just a hobby." Throwing pots is his favorite part of ceramics, and he already owns his own wheel. He also wants to buy a kiln and use it in his garage. Even though a kiln is a costly investment, he thinks it's worth having so that he'll stay committed to his hobby. Brooks first fell in love with pottery during his freshman year of high school. He is grateful to his first pottery teacher, Mr. Nash, for teaching ceramics with enthusiasm and sincerity. Nash's influence inspired Brooks to major in art. Though it's been five years since Brooks left Oak Harbor High School in Washington, he still makes a yearly trek to Mr. Nash's pottery classroom every winter. "He gets so excited to see me," says Brooks. "He knows I'm majoring in art largely because of him. Pottery is such a big part of both of our lives." Because of Richard Nash, Brooks believes in a teacher's influence. Hence, he's in the middle of his third term of teaching the basics of ceramics to students in the Lane County School District. For his first two terms, he taught Leia Hart's second-graders at River Road Elementary. But this term Brooks gets to work with Patti Wessman's eighth-graders at Cal Young Middle School. "I like working with eighth grade best partly because that's about the age when I first experienced pottery," says Brooks. "Also, they have the ability to throw on the wheel -- which is what I love to do most -- so it's so fun to watch them throw for their first time." This term is the first that Wessman has had a student from the UO come into her art studio and work with her students. "Having art for these kids is so important," she says. "I just think it's so great. Cal Young requires art for the students -- which is unusual but I just love it." Wessman says that Cal Young is the only school in the district and one of few in state that requires sixth, seventh and eighth graders to have half a semester of art each year.
For many of the kids, the ceramics portion of their art requirement is their favorite. Each week, four students learn how to throw and trim pots with Brooks. The rest of the class participates in a hand-building clay project with Wessman. They all say that they are eager for their week when they learn how to throw for the first time. "I was excited for throwing," says eighth-grader Anthony Newbold. "I hope I get a chance to do it again." Lance Carter has enjoyed pottery too, even though art isn't necessarily his first choice for a hobby. Still, he proudly shows off his first creation on the potter's wheel -- what he dubs his "double-bowl" because, "It kinda looks like a bowl that has another one inside it." Both Anthony and Lance say that Brooks makes throwing look easier than it is.
Carlos Hodgson was looking forward to throwing so he could make his long-awaited "chip bowl." He's already thinking about the pottery wheel he's going to put in his garage when he gets older because he wants to continue with ceramics long after the class. Brooks walks around as the students trim their bowls and notices that many of the boys are spinning the wheel as fast as it will go with the foot pedal. He coaches them gently by saying, "I like to go fast too, but we also need to be sure we have balance so we can hold our tool steady." The way Brooks makes corrections appeals to the boys, and they start asking him how much they should slow down their wheels to achieve "proper balance." Carlos, heeding Brooks' advice, says, "He's right. If you go too fast, then you take off too much clay, which makes the bowl weak."
While the boys adjust the speed of their wheels, Andria Wheatley quietly guides her trimming tool along the base of her bowl -- curling off long, skinny pieces of wet clay that spiral in the air a few times before they break off. "Pottery is really fun," she says quietley. "Brooks is nice too. He showed me how to fix the hole in my bowl by putting my hand over it when it was spinning." A humble yet natural teacher, Brooks continues to offer potter's secrets and tips as he watches the kids work at their wheels. "It's always good for a potter to know when to stop," he reminds them as one student seems to be getting a bit carried away -- trimming off thick pieces of clay from his wobbling bowl. He also uses terms they understand; such as when he instructs Anthony how to create the base of his bowl. "The key for you is that you want the outside rim to be higher than the inside rim," he tells him. As the kids use their trimming tool to carve their name into the base of the bowl before turning it in at the end of the class, Brooks recalls his own first piece of pottery. "I remember being so excited to give it to my mom," he says. "I designed it as a gravy boat, but instead it rests near her kitchen sink and stores her SOS pads." When he inspects the kids' pieces he says, "And these are something they will always keep -- at least their moms will. They may forget about the pieces one day, but then they'll run across them in their parents' kitchen when they come home to visit."
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