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Photos by Chris Wright
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Angela Lenhardt (left) and Barbara Boyce use a potter's wheel to make bowls. Both women will teach an adult pottery class later this month at Milan High School.
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Looking around the pottery studio at Milan High School, there are plenty of neat things to see.
Among them, there are three potter's wheels. Think Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in "Ghost."
Also, there is an industrial-size clay extruder. Think Play-Doh Fun Factory.
"That's what it's like," said Barbara Boyce, the recently-retired Milan High School art teacher who, along with her studio assistant Angela Lenhardt, will be teaching an adult pottery class starting later this month at the high school.
The eight-week adult studio pottery class is set to start Sept. 17 and runs 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Nov. 5. Those interested in enrolling should call Milan Community Education at 439-5272.
The cost of the class, which includes materials, is $125. An optional tool kit will be sold for an additional $10. The class size will be limited to 12 or 14 people so the instructors can give more one-on-one attention to class members, Lenhardt said.
Experience isn't necessary, both teachers said.
Whether students haven't touched pottery clay since elementary school or if they have a good bit of experience, both teachers say they have something to contribute to the educational process.
"Both of us are pretty experienced, so we can teach just about anybody," Boyce said.
Weekly lessons will include hand-building, use of the wheel, glazing and other forms of decorating. The instructors also say that at least one of them will be available during an open studio night to help students wishing to work for an additional few hours.
Most of all, the instructors want to tailor the class to suit the interests of the students.
"We want it to be good for them and us," Lenhardt said. "We want people to walk away having had a good experience."
Boyce agreed.
"We're flexible — whatever people want to make," she said.
With clay pottery, builders can make projects that are functional, such as bowls and plates, or structural, like statues, or a combination of both. Students will be encouraged to be as creative as they want to be, the instructors said, using tools and machinery or using just their fingers and thumbs.
From their experiences, both instructors say that the potter's wheel is very popular among new students, but, Boyce said, hand-building can be every bit as rewarding.
"You can be so creative building by hand," she said. "There are tons of things you can do with clay."
The high school studio is equipped with three electric-powered potter's wheels. From their experiences, the instructors said that students feel a sense of accomplishment once they've learned the basics about sculpting on a wheel.
"This is one of those showy things," Lenhardt said as she placed a mound of wet clay on the wheel.
"It's quick gratification," Boyce added. "If I can't think of anything else to do, I'll sit down at the wheel."
The facilities at the studio are quite advanced for a high school pottery room, Boyce said.
The studio is equipped with a slab roller. The roller, which looks a bit like an old printing press, is capable of rolling up to 50 pounds of clay flat with variable thickness. There is also a large extruder. Clay is pressed into the top and then squished through various molds on the bottom to extrude clay in a variety of shapes.
Also, the studio has two electric kilns. One is used to heat the unfinished pottery to a temperature of up to 1,800 degrees. After that's accomplished and the clay is hard, potters can dip their projects into one of many colored glazes available at the studio.
Glazed pottery is placed into the second kiln and fired up to as much as 2,300 degrees to finish the work.
It's the two-fire process that gives clay art its strength, Boyce said. Before the clay is fired, it's completely recyclable, she added.
"That's the beauty of it," she said. "You can make mistakes and start over if you need to."
Boyce, who retired June 30 after 13 years of teaching art at Milan High School, said she believes this is the first time an adult pottery class has been offered at the high school.
Lenhardt added that it's nice that school officials let them use the space. Lenhardt, a substitute teacher and soccer coach in Milan, earned a degree in fine arts, more specifically, clay art, from the University of Michigan. She has been volunteering, once a week for the last four years, helping Boyce teach her art classes.
Perhaps it's their shared love of art, or maybe it's that they're both red-heads, but Boyce and Lenhardt seem to have great chemistry together, often finishing each other's sentences.
Said Boyce: "We think of ourselves..."
"As catalysts for creative expression," finished Lenhardt.
"That's right," Boyce concurred.
If enough people show interest in the class, both instructors said they would like to continue and expand the scope of the class, perhaps in subsequent terms breaking instruction up into two classes, one for beginners and one for more experienced potters.
The cost of the class, $125 for eight weeks, is considerably less than comparable courses around the Ann Arbor area, Boyce said.
The instructors said they want to make the class affordable for area residents.
They said they don't necessarily have a profit motive for teaching the course, otherwise class size would be much larger and that would sacrifice the one-on-one attention that they strive to give.
"We're really excited to start it," Boyce said. "We'll keep going with this as long as people are interested. It should be a fun experience."
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