This month's featured artist.........

Chris Plummer

Park District of Highland Park’s West Ridge Center

 

The Park District of Highland Park, located about 20 miles north of Chicago, offers an extensive range of recreational activities for local residents and the surrounding communities. Since the early 1980s, ceramics classes have been part of the offerings.  Located at West Ridge Center, the ceramics program is headed by Chris Plummer, a clay artist, sculptor, and teacher who has served as coordinator of the Ceramics Program since 2007. 

 

Plummer was a clay major at Southern Illinois University and went on to earn his MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia.  “I drifted away from clay for awhile, finding interest in sculpture.  I had some shows, and then was offered a part-time job teaching at Lillstreet in Chicago,” he recalls, “which brought me back to clay.”  After several years teaching clay classes at Lillstreet, he was hired to be the Studio Coordinator for the Evanston Art Center’s clay program and then started a similar program at Stirling Hall Art Center in Lake Forest.  He currently works in both clay and sculpture.  “I love pottery and I love art in general.  I do both functional and sculptural work.”

 

At West Ridge Center, Plummer teaches both adults and children.  During the school year, afternoon classes are offered for children.  The adult program offers 10-12 week sessions, both during the day and in the evenings, which cover a wide range of techniques.  Plummer says, “I’ll do 7 or 8 demonstrations throughout the course of the semester, including hand building, slab work, and various wheel throwing techniques.”  Plummer’s adult students form a “clay community,” encouraging each other in their work.  West Ridge offers its students a wide range of “open studio” hours. Only students enrolled in a class may use the facilities during open times.  Plummer says that this policy creates a real sense of community among the potters.  “Everyone pitches in and helps clean up when we are finished,” he says, pointing out that about 75% of his students repeat the courses.  The returnees welcome the new students and help them develop their skills.  About 30 to 35 adult students are enrolled in classes throughout the year.

West Ridge’s children’s program follows the same model as the adult program during the school year.  About 20 children are enrolled after-school.  Plummer prepares an assignment for each class, covering hand-building, some extruding, and high- and low-fire projects.  He starts students on the wheel no earlier than age 10.  “I find that children any younger can’t persist through the frustration of learning the technique.  But, throwing is very appealing to my young students.”

 

Plummer’s commitment to arts education extends beyond his work in Highland Park.  He also serves as the Director of the Skokie North Shore Sculptural Park.  Built over large drainage tunnels on land owned by the local water district, the park reclaimed a weedy and trash-strewn cityscape, offering a free art experience, combining recreational features with an outstanding exhibition of over 60 large-scale contemporary sculptures.  Plummer works with the organization’s Sculpture in the Classroom program, which offers an in-class slide presentation, an on-site visit of the sculptural park, and a follow-up creative project that inspires the students to use what they have seen.

 

See Chris Plummer’s work at Terra Incognito’s
“Coffee, Tea, or… ?” through April 11, at 246 Chicago Avenue in Oak Park.  Call (708) 383-6228 or visit www.terraincognitostudios.com for more information.  For more information about the Ceramics offerings at the Park District of Highland Park’s West Ridge Center, visit http://www.pdhp.org/index.aspx?page=252  

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