Arts grant helps John Burroughs High teacher shape her students’ appreciation for sculpture
John Burroughs High teacher Lauren Masters works on an electric potter’s wheel, which was purchased with funds provided by the Burbank Arts for All Foundation.
John Burroughs High School did not have a sculpture class when Lauren Masters started teaching art there five years ago. So, she’s created one.
She established the course using a grant from the nonprofit Burbank Arts for All Foundation and Burbank school officials.
She taught her first sculpture class last year with a kiln, clay, tools and glazes they provided.
Most recently, the foundation pitched in funds to provide Masters’ two sculpture classes with an electric pottery wheel, which her roughly 65 students started using at the beginning of this school year.
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
John Burroughs High teacher Lauren Masters demonstrates how to create a piece of pottery using an electric potter’s wheel.
In all, the foundation, which invests in arts education in Burbank schools, pitched in nearly $6,900 for the equipment, while Burbank Unified’s arts education department and Deborah Madrigal, Burroughs’ principal, donated matching funds, according to Trena Pitchford, executive director of the foundation.
“Burbank Arts for All Foundation is proud to invest in teachers like Lauren Masters,” Pitchford said.
Masters has watched students rise above their comfort level during the creative process.
“To watch the kids struggle through it and make something out of nothing and really push and not give up — that’s what every teacher wants,” Masters said. “It shows the kids art isn’t just crayons and a piece of paper.”
In one project, the students combined randomly selected items to create surreal sculptures, such as a shoe merged with a lion.
They’ve also sculpted imaginative houses for classic fairy-tale characters, such as Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”
Using the potter’s wheel, her students have started to learn the basics and have made simple cups and vases.
“Once everyone has gotten on [the wheel] and successfully made something, we’ll move on to more advanced projects. But right now, we’re just making a giant mess and having a ball,” Masters said.
--
Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
