Andrew Maglathlin is a visual arts teacher.
What classes do you teach?
I teach all of the ceramics classes. So Ceramics I, II, III and IV.
How do the levels vary? What happens between levels in each class?
At the moment I have three Ceramics I courses and one that’s Ceramics II, III and IV combined. In the Ceramics I class we really cover the basics of how to form pieces, so it’s different hand techniques and then eventually starting to learn how to use the pottery wheel. In the advanced classes, the assignments are a little bit more open and students are able to use whatever form and technique they find suitable for their form or concept. I’ve been teaching ceramics actually at a number of different universities and colleges.
How long have you been doing ceramics?
I started ceramics back in high school, and I’m not sure I want to tell you how long ago that was. I started ceramics in high school and immediately was drawn to it. I had a really great teacher, and I went to college for something else, but I always found myself going to the ceramics room. And it didn’t take long before I essentially switched my major to art and focused on ceramics and continued to study.
Do you make or sell your own ceramics?
Yeah, I make my own ceramics. I’m more concerned with getting it into shows and getting some sort of recognition than selling it. So I’ve had my work shown nationally from coast to coast in different shows.
Which is a piece that is your favorite? Which of these pieces are you most proud of?
That changes. The goal is to be getting better. There are a few pieces that I’ve held onto over the years. It might be a bowl that really sort of captured a group of work that I’ve made. It can also be a piece that really stuck out to me.
Do you have any sort of styles that you stick with?
It’s changed, it’s evolved. I would say at the moment I am more interested in sculpturing or the sculptural aspects of pieces than the function. But I do make functional stuff as well. I’m also interested in using the surface as a canvas. I do enjoy drawing and painting and there have been times where I’ve focused on that instead of ceramics. But right now I’m sort of bringing together sculpture, sometimes function and then painting and drawing.
Have you experimented with other types of form of sculpture?
I’ve experimented a bit with using plaster, a little bit with wood, but a lot of the time the wood ends up becoming a base for something else. But I’ve used a lot of different materials. I would say the one I’ve investigated the most would be plaster, and that was essentially to make larger sculptures. Working with clay can be very difficult to get a large piece. It’s a bit of an engineering feat, and then also it’s finding a kiln big enough to fire the piece in.
How long does it take to make a really masterful piece?
There’s not a time limit for creating a master work. But it does take years and years of work and practice and studying and looking at other artists. It takes a long time. Sometimes it can happen in a day, sometimes it can take months, sometimes it can take years.
How have your experiences with sculpting lead you to teaching?
They actually go hand in hand. Being a teacher and being an artist are very similar. You have to constantly be willing to evolve and learn new things, you have to be able to assess yourself and they are so similar in the ways you would approach them, that sometimes my work will sometimes inform my teaching and sometimes my teaching will actually inform my work. So depending on what I’m teaching I may learn things from the students or the subject matter that I’m teaching.
What have the students taught you?
Students might try something I’ve never thought of, or students might question something I’ve never really thought to question. But one of the classes that I’ve learned the most from [was] the first time I had to teach hand building. I have spent most of my career as an artist working on the wheel. All of a sudden I had to teach someone how to coil build and how to build with slabs. I had to basically prepare myself to teach this class. And after preparing and practicing I started to realize all the ways I could start to use that in my own work and I really hadn’t thought about using it or investigated using it. There have been a number of instances where teaching has gone back to my work.
Do you have any hobbies outside of teaching in ceramics?
Sometimes I’ll play soccer in adult leagues. I’d have to say I don’t have a ton of hobbies, between teaching and the trying to get my work made, it takes up a lot of time. It sounds pretty boring, but I enjoy both of them tremendously, so it’s not boring to me.
Do you have any hopes yet for the future? At all for teaching or for your personal collections.
My hope as a teacher is to continually evolve and get better and to find new ways to get students excited and interested in ceramics. My goals as an artist are to continue to pursue professional status in the art world and hopefully show my work more and get more gallery representation.
Tyler Knight can be contacted at [email protected].
