The teacher that inspired me the most would have to be Mrs. Pitt, my elementary school art teacher. She was the art teacher that first piqued my interest in art, particularly ceramics. Before Mrs. Pitt, art was just part of the mandatory curriculum, but after one momentous assignment, everything changed.
The assignment was to make a pinch pot. A pinch pot consists of a ball of clay formed with the thumbs and fingers until it reaches the status of a pot. Everything about making the pinch pot was great to me, from wedging the clay to get all of the air bubbles out so that it would not explode when fired in the kiln to the glazing of the pot after it was fired. Mrs. Pitt walked us through all the processes a pot must go through to be finished, she taught us the terminology of pottery, and she inspired me to become an artist, with my concentration being ceramics and handbuilding.
Mrs. Pitt is the reason I became an artist. In fact, she is the reason I decided to become an art teacher. I realized how wonderful it would be to open the world of art to children, just like Mrs. Pitt did for me.
-- M. Cristina Sierra, Florida Atlantic University