While Xavier offers a variety of electives ranging from Criminal Law to weight training, the four different levels of ceramics are all considered to be some of the most popular electives.
According to Carol Ann Michaelson and Stacy DiStefano, director and assistant to director of student records, the ceramics classes started at Xavier in the 2002-2003 school year, and since then, have been the most consistently full.
“I decided to take ceramics because I thought it would be fun to try out an art form that I wasn’t too familiar with. I wanted an elective that would be a little bit of an escape from the rest of my schedule,” said Meredith Scott ‘25, who has taken Beginning Ceramics and Intermediate Ceramics: Wheel Throwing, and has been a teaching assistant for Beginning Ceramics.
Many people sign up for ceramics for similar reasons, along with the fact that it is highly recommended by upperclasswomen, which is one of the reasons Reagan Perez ‘25 decided to take the class. Perez has now taken all four levels of ceramics.
The ceramics department at Xavier is currently run by Zach Carlson, who has been teaching at Xavier for five years now. Prior to his job at Xavier he attended Arizona State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in arts education with a focus in ceramics, a bachelor’s degree in art history, and a master’s degree in education. Then he went on to work as a student teacher at Sunnyslope High School for 2D Art. He is currently working on earning his master’s degree in art history.
Carlson is not only a ceramics teacher in the fine arts – studio arts department, but he has many other prominent roles inside the Xavier community.
These roles include social media coordinator, WAX Club moderator, PUBlicity Club moderator, Stark Gallery moderator, International Travel moderator – Lourdes, and athletic office associate.
Currently, the ceramics classes include five main courses: Beginning Ceramics, Intermediate Ceramics: Hand Building Clay, Intermediate Ceramics: Wheel Throwing, Advanced Ceramics, and Independent Study. Students can also take a course titled Ceramics Teacher Assistant.
While Carlson introduces several projects in each class, his favorites to see are the Kiln Buddy project in Beginning Ceramics, the Teapot Project in Hand Building, and the Bowls in Wheel Throwing.
Natalie Weatherwax ‘25, who has taken Beginning and Intermediate: Hand Building, is in agreement that the Teapot Project is her favorite.
She also favors the class as a whole saying, “My favorite part of taking ceramics is that I can have creative liberties with my art. Though there are certain projects assigned, you can really do anything you want within the parameters.”
Perhaps Carlson has the best insight on why his classes are so popular: “Because many of our students are very academically and athletically- inclined, I think people enjoy having that artistic escape from those AP classes, the varsity team, whatever it may be, and to be able to flex their artistic talents. Plus, it’s lower stakes, we learn from our mistakes, and we are not being punished for our mistakes.”
While ceramics may seem like simply an artistic escape, it also opens doors for many other opportunities, like pursuing the Arizona State Seal of Arts Proficiency.
According to Perez, who is currently pursuing this seal, she must have four credits, meet the GPA requirement for the fine art, have 80 extracurricular hours, create a piece, document her progress, and write about it.
“I am very grateful to Mr. Carlson for his guidance in these classes and for encouraging me to pursue the Fine Arts Proficiency Seal. He believed in me and gave me motivation when I thought I was making no progress and felt defeated. He encourages my silly and sometimes bizarre project ideas, and helps me to think of solutions when I am stumped. I always look forward to going to this class, and I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to take it,” she said.
Carlson says, “The joke I tell all my friends is that I skipped work every day. I love teaching ceramics. It’s a fun subject where I get to get messy every day and make things. When I got this job, I told people I won the lottery, because this is the best job ever.”
The ceramics department continues to grow, as new classes will be introduced next year. Instead of having one Advanced Ceramics class, it will be split into Hand Building Clay and Wheel Throwing.
