“An Artist Who Also Has A Gift for Teaching” | Alexandria Medenciy | Episode 720

Alexandria Medenciy | Episode 720

Alexandria Medenciy is a potter and high school ceramics teacher located in the Quad Cities. Alexandria is a firm believer in being a teaching artist, and works to inspire and engage her students using clay. Alexandria’s work (Gemini Pottery) focuses on the juxtaposition of black and white sgraffito with loose and expressive color behind it.

SPONSORS

You can help support the show!

GRPotteryForms.com

diamondcoretools.com

Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com

For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com

Do you see yourself as an artist teaching or as an art teacher?

Wow, that is a tough one. I see myself as an artist who also has the gift of teaching.

What does that mean?

I would say that I am an artist first because that is so much tied into my identity and how I move throughout the world, but I don’t diminish the impact that I may have with my students being their teacher.

I have heard of many art teachers sort of reaching rock star status. Have you experienced at school where you are one of the favs?

(Laughter) Well, I was actually having this conversation with a few of my students the other day because we are 100 percent in person right now and so since their schedule is pretty much a normal school day, some of them may have a study hall or we have something called a resource which is during out eighth period, which is kind of like a free period for students. And so I will have probably ten kids show up in my room and they will just get their stuff out and start working. So the student that I was having the conversation with was like, Yeah, when I am in your room I don’t really feel like I am at school because it is such a nice place to be. I can come in and I can work on my art and we can talk about life and things that maybe I am struggling with or celebrations that I am having. So yeah, I would say I do know how much I am loved by my students.

Have you found that you have had to speak up as an advocate for the art department?

Yeah, so I am actually the department head. Granted, I do have one other colleague who is fantastic but I guess I am sort of the team captain of our little art gang. So while administrators and other teachers obviously have similar experiences to us they don’t always fully get it and being an advocate for not only our department but more importantly our students. You know we have students who without art would have fallen through the cracks. Because we are a pretty large school with fifteen hundred students and so without our art rooms I don’t think they would have realized what direction they need to go in.

Do you ever feel underappreciated?

Yeah, and I think it really has to do with just a lack of understanding. I think we just live in this world where we compare our problems to others and just say, Well, that’s not that bad because I have to do this. When really everybody deals with these things and has problems or issues that aren’t necessarily comparable or shouldn’t be compared. Because yes, we are all struggling with something right? Granted, I don’t have to go home and grade 75 essays but I have to grade 75 clay projects that are all scaffolded at different levels and trying to help every single student execute their specific vision for their project. We are not just banging out a coffee mug that looks exactly the same for everybody.

Schools are very scheduled. Do you ever find it difficult to put your department into a routine?

Yeah, our class periods are only 45 minutes long and so we are very much regimented in the fact that when there is ten minutes left in class you must start cleaning up because you can’t be late to your next class. Like, Oh I was throwing something on the wheel. They are not going to be, Oh that’s fine. Come when you can. They are like, Don’t be late to my class again. There was once when I had a senior student and it was one of the first art classes he had taken and he was throwing on the wheel and he was trying to make a jug for a project so I knew he was going to be late because he was so close to getting it. I said, I will send an email to your teacher. It will be fine. So I sent an email, This student is throwing a jug, he has to clean up before he comes to your class. And the teacher responds, Well, did you give him a detention? Because she thought he threw a jug across the room of paint or something.

What is one of the best things about being the art teacher among your peers?

Man, art teachers are just great. I know that sounds really lame but the energy and the excitement, and especially art teachers, have with students and being creative and self expression and just always wanting students to discover something, whether that is a skill or a new medium or even just something about themselves. I think that is what is so invigorating.

What is your favorite teacher-student story?

Oh my, well, I think I will tell my story that my AP kids, my seniors especially know about. I had them swear that they would never tell anyone. And I would deny it if they ever said it. So last year I had a student who was experimenting with glass and clay and so of course I went through the whole thing of it has to be a sculptural thing, it can’t be where you are going to touch it because of the shrinkage rate and will it stick and all that stuff. So she brought in marbles and was like, I want to put these marbles in my project but I think they need to be in smaller pieces. So I said, Oh yeah, that’s fine. We can figure that out. We can crush a marble. I am on the second floor and below me is French and so obviously we can’t be banging around up here because it’s just going to be disruptive. So I said, Let’s go into the hallway. So we go into the hallway and I have this really large metal mallet. Something that you could bust down a door with. There was concrete under the carpet an I said, We should be able to tap the marble with the mallet and it will break. Would you believe that marble did not break and put a hole in the carpet and it is still out there. And we tried for thirty minutes to break this little marble and of course it never happened and put holes in the carpet outside. So I have a rug and I just pulled the rug over it. And we ended up never breaking the marble and all the students in the class where like, Medenciy put a hole in the floor!