After junior Trevor Burns crafted a giant two-foot tall vase in ceramics, one could say he’s kind of a big deal.
Throughout his high school career, Burns has taken full advantage of the many art classes offered at South, working with 2D mediums such as paint, charcoal and glass as well as with ceramics. Burns has now worked with ceramics for two years—including one and a half years of wheel throwing—and credits his classmates with getting him hooked on this hobby.
“I took Intro to Art and Mixed Media classes as a freshman,” Burns said, “but I also started doing ceramics after a couple of my friends took it and really enjoyed it.”
Burns’ versatility as an artist gains him the admiration of his peers.
“Trevor is a cool artist because he can work on multiple things at once, being in both AP Art and in Ceramics,” junior Tim Newton said. “He does all sorts of different things.”
In specific, Burns enjoys the ease of ceramics in that the malleable clay allows him to alter his ideas and projects while he’s working.
“In ceramics I like how I can easily add or get rid of parts of a sculpture,” Burns said. “What I love generally about art is that through art, I can make whatever I want and I can express myself in many ways.”
Burns also works with his friends to develop his artwork. He likes to build off of his own original designs, but while he cannot label any specific sources which spark his imagination, he takes the input of his fellow South artists into account as he plans his pieces.
“I don’t really get ‘inspired’ because I don’t like to copy things,” Burns said, “but when I have an idea my teachers and friends help me to develop my thoughts.”
However, according to ceramics teacher Karen Sobin-Jonash, Trevor’s own work inspires other students, whom he helps to complete and advance their own projects. Additionally, while Burns notes his collaboration with his fellow artists in the designing of his ceramics pieces, his teacher notes his tendency to plan his projects individually for exorbitant lengths of time before even beginning.
“He likes to plan things to the point that it prevents him from starting,” Sobin-Jonash said. “It’s about his response to the clay and his creative process. Trevor is a typical artist in that he kind of floats around until someone tells him to start, which he will have to learn to do himself in his later life.”
Both with design and execution, Burns loves to take risks in the process of making art. Just as he prides himself with producing original work, he finds satisfaction in working on pieces which are challenging to create.
“My favorite piece is either my large, two-foot tall vase or my face jug. I threw the jug first, and then sculpted a face onto it,” Burns said. “I like them because I spent a lot of time on them, and they were very difficult to make.”
Newton corroborates Burns’ account of his lengthy projects and the time they consumed.
“Trevor has a good work ethic,” Newton said. “He is relaxed as an artist, yet still works hard on his pieces.”
His ceramics teacher agrees.
“Sometimes Trevor stalls,” Sobin-Jonash said, “but he’s thorough. Once he’s in the middle of something, he’s really committed.”
Once high school ends and former students start to carve their own paths as young adults, many leave their old pastimes behind in the halls of Newton South. Burns, however, anticipates that he will never stop making art.
“I know that art will always be a part of my life because I spend so much time on it that I’m sure it will remain one of my hobbies,” he said.
