“So, with spouts, you sort of have to just throw it tall first and then narrow it in,” said Peyton Lawler, visiting ceramics professor at North Lake Campus.

Inviting visiting artists to share their experiences brings new perspectives to students and helps connect them with the wider art community.

“Pottery is just the way for me to make art. I’ve always made art and I like being able to use my work, just having those two combined, the function of it as well as being creative with it,” Lawler said.

Art can mean many things to both teacher and students and in the world of ceramics, both meaning and function often work together.

“I’d always been kind of intimidated by ceramics. It’s permanent. You make it and capturing how it’s made is what makes it unique,” said Nathan Steinmetz, a ceramics student at North Lake.

Peyton encourages beginning artists at Dallas College to learn different methods and research new inspirations to convey what’s important to them through their work.

“Her approach is so precise and so exact and it contrasts with Alex. Our professor is very organic. Very motion-based things,” said Steinmetz.

“It’s one thing for me to, you know, talk to students every day. But it’s so important to be part of the world outside of just the classroom,” said Alex Ferrante, North Lake ceramics professor.

“These relationships last a lifetime and these people have been with me this whole time and it’s pretty amazing,” Lawler said. “I just want to help people and the way I can do that is through clay. And so, I just chose to put those two together.”