Visiting professional artist Mackenzie Ryan, owner of Lake House Pottery in Patton, guides Cambria Heights senior Kendra Karabinos as she throws clay on the pottery wheel. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

PATTON — Cambria Heights High School students enrolled in a new art class this year are working hands-on with a local professional artist to create functional pieces and memories that will last a lifetime.

Students in Kady Manifest’s ceramics II class are learning how to throw clay on a pottery wheel and design functional pieces — mugs and vases — with Mackenzie Ryan, owner of Lake House Pottery in Patton.

Ryan volunteered her time at the district last week and is returning to the art classroom for three days this week to work with the students on a personal level in groups of two.

Ryan, a Cambria Heights alumna who graduated from the district in 1998, said she first fell in love with pottery in 2004 while taking classes at a shop near a bus stop in Washington, D.C., while she was working as a government auditor.

At first, Ryan said it was challenging to center a ball of clay on a pottery wheel, but she polished her skills at various studios in California and Pittsburgh before returning to Cambria County and later opening her business in 2021.

“To be able to come here to the place where I graduated from and help students with the opportunities that I never had, it’s pretty awesome. It means a lot to me,” Ryan said, adding pottery is not for the faint of heart.

“You have to have that internal drive and be the kind of person that thrives on challenges. Pottery is a long, humbling process and experience,” she said.

The process begins with a design and wedging activity before throwing clay on the wheel to make the piece, Ryan said. From there, the clay has to be dried to a “leatherhard” state before it can be trimmed, decorated.

Once the clay is “bone dry,” it’s ready to be fired in a kiln and later glazed, sanded and sold for distribution, Ryan said.

The students are designing pieces that will be on display throughout the school temporarily before they take their work home and use the pieces in their everyday lives, Manifest said.

According to Manifest, Cambria Heights started its own ceramics program last year, but the 2024-25 school year is the first year for the ceramics II course, which has approximately eight students enrolled.

The course was only available to senior students this year, but it will be opened up to junior students as well in future years, Manifest said, noting there are more than 20 students in the introductory course this year, with many of the students expressing interest in the advanced class.

Riley Hall, a senior in the ceramics II class, said she took Manifest’s intermediate art class as a freshman out of necessity to fulfill a credit requirement. After taking the class, she quickly fell in love with art, Hall said.

Hall was one of two students who got to throw on the pottery wheel under Manifest’s and Ryan’s guidance Friday.

“I wasn’t looking forward to throwing on this. But the more practice I’m getting with this, the more I’m starting to like this,” Hall said, her hands covered in clay.

Kendra Karabinos, the other senior student who threw clay on the pottery wheel Friday, broke her clay after applying too much pressure, attempting to tone the bottom section of the piece with her hands.

“This is harder than it looks,” Karabinos said, with her classmates and instructors looking on.

Manifest said she hoped having the students work directly with Ryan would keep them engaged and excited to improve their skills.

“Working directly with a professional artist helps them build confidence,” Manifest said.

Senior Julia Eckenrode said throwing on the pottery wheel helped boost her self-confidence after she realized she could do the challenging task.

Many of her pieces, including a hand-built project for which Eckenrode turned a clay gingerbread house into a barn, are already on display in the school.

Last year, Eckenrode said she had to engrave an image into a plate she made in Manifest’s class. A member of 4H, Eckenrode chose to engrave an image of one of her goats into the plate — something she took great pride in.

Eckenrode said the opportunity to work with Ryan “means a lot” to her because she was supposed to use a pottery wheel as a seventh grader in middle school, but the opportunity was taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic when schools were forced to adjust to virtual class instruction.

“This gave me the opportunity to still be allowed to do that,” Eckenrode said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.