Elizabeth Nebo, at center
These days pottery is in vogue — literally. The bible of all things hip and trendy, Vogue magazine, featured the ancient art in its fall fashion issue and proclaimed “ceramics is having a moment,” though the author of the piece did allow that “a craft that dates back some 20,000 years may have had many moments.” Indeed, many of us are personally familiar with the craft; ceramics classes have been, and continue to be, held in colleges and high schools for decades.
For local adults, there may not be a better place to learn the ancient craft than at Coronado Adult School, where a congenial group of people comes to learn, create and share.
“It’s a nice community of people working together,” Carol Lemei said, who has been taking the class for more than a decade.
The studio itself is state of the art with all the bells and whistles of a professional potterÂ’s studio, wheels, kilns, glazes and wide assortment of tools. Students can shape vessels on a wheel or build them by hand. Many choose to do both.
The ceramics program began 15 years ago, the same year the high school program. Eric Rempe established and taught both. In time, teaching six high school classes a day and staying on to teach adults two nights a week became onerous, Lemei said. Other teachers took over the evening classes. This year the adult class is being taught by one of Rempe’s protégés, Elizabeth Nebo.
Nebo took her first ceramics class at Coronado High School (CHS) in 2006. It started out as a way to meet a graduation requirement, but soon became a passion. She took ceramics classes for two more years at CHS and went on to study it at Grossmont College and San Diego State University where she earned a bachelors in fine arts.
“Rempe got me really excited about art, about ceramics. I felt like I had become an artist, that I had creativity that I didn’t know I had,” Nebo said. She finds her greatest expression as an artist in the ordinary, the everyday, not that her work is mundane, far from it.
“She has a youthful zeal and her own brand of creativity” that combines elements of both wheel-thrown and hand built pottery, Lemei said.
While she occasionally creates off-the-wall sculptural pieces, Nebo is a traditionalist at heart. “I like making things people can use. Everything I use, bowls, cups, plates are made by hand,” she said. For her its a way of sharing.
Elizabeth Nebo holding a cup she made.
Teaching is another way for her to share, though she she didn’t start thinking about teaching seriously until after she took an art for teachers class at SDSU and realized that she was not only an artist, but could teach art. “This I can do this. I can exactly do this,” she said.
Last year she was RempeÂ’s teaching assistant at CHS. That Rempe respected her as an artist was never in doubt. He selected her for a scholarship to attend a summer workshop at Arrowmount, the famed art school in Tennessee, the first year it was offered locally.
He respected her as teacher as well. “She has an excitement and energy for clay and the kids liked her,” he said. He trusted her to take over his classes when he had to leave town for week to attend to a family emergency last spring. She more than proved herself capable in his eyes.
“When I came back the students seemed disappointed to see me,” Rempe said. “Everyone kept asking where Miss Nebo was.”
This summer she took over the adult education class. “I really, really enjoyed it,” she said. She loves the mix of young and old and working with new and experienced potters. This term her students range in age from 15 to 75. The youngest are still in high school and are garnering extra studio time. The oldest had never worked with clay before.
“For a young person to teach people older people, many of whom have been working in clay for decades, has to be intimidating,” said Lemei. Nebo is 24.
Nebo holding one of her sculptural pieces
Learning ceramics can be equally intimidating. The idea of creating a vase, a teapot or a bowl, while appealing to many, comes with a caution. “It’s much more difficult than drawing, with clay youÂ’re working in 3-D,” said Lisa Garn, one of NeboÂ’s students.
To succeed, students need to be both committed and patient. “It’s hands on learning and the processes takes time, years in some cases,” said Nebo.
Originally Nebo wanted to become a high school teacher. “ThatÂ’s where art really started for me,” she said. “I wanted to give that back to others.” But she has no regrets about teaching adults. TheyÂ’re more mature and taking the class because they want to be there, not just to meet a requirement. Some of the differences between age groups Nebo expected, but there was one that she didn’t anticipate.
With adults “it’s an organic back and fourth that I wasn’t expecting. They’re learning from me, but I’m also learning from them,” she said.
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
