The president of SEMO’s Clay Club and senior fine art major Alexis Richardson found her love for ceramics while taking her first ceramics class at Cape Central High School as a junior. She continued growing her ceramics skills at SEMO by taking art professor Benji Heu’s ceramics classes.

Richardson has spent most of this fall semester perfecting her skills on the pottery wheel, while also spending time working on sculptures.

Since Richardson works at a veterinary clinic, animals inspire most of her pieces. She said she enjoys being realistic and surreal with her ceramics.

“I am currently working on a tortoiseshell cat made out of different-colored clay, and then I was going to clear glaze it, so that it looked like the clay would show through,'' Richardson said. “I am also currently working on a fox sculpture.”

Drawing, painting and digital art are some of the other art forms Richardson gives her time to. She said being involved in other fields of art can help her with her ceramics projects by using drawings to outline an idea.

“I usually then work through a rough sketch and kind of work out how I’m going to hand build this, how I’m going to build it up and what can I use to support it,” Richardson said.

Ceramics is not always fun and games; according to Richardson, struggles and delays happen when working on clay projects.

“I had a bust blow up in the kiln before, and I glued it back together, and then afterward, I had painted it, and I painted zentangles on it,” Richardson said. “You can always turn it into a mixed media piece afterward. Everything is a happy accident.”

Whether it’s a piece breaking off of a ceramic bowl or a whole sculpture blowing up in the kiln, there is usually a way to piece a project back together and make it anew.

Ceramics professor Benjie Heu has been Richardson’s ceramics professor throughout her time in the department. He said he is very proud of her accomplishments and is excited to see what she does next with ceramics.

Heu knows a career in art can be a struggle for some, but it is not impossible. Because of this, he has his own personal teaching steps to help his students once they graduate.

One of the advantages Heu gives to his students is setting up fairs and showcases so Richardson and his other students can sell their art and get a feel of the lifestyle they are heading into.

At the end of the spring 2023 semester, Richardson and the other ceramics seniors will host an exhibition to showcase their favorite pieces from their time in ceramics classes and the Clay Club at SEMO.

In the future, Richardson would like to either work for a digital art program or own a ceramics shop where she can sell her work. Richardson said her reasoning for having two directions for her future is because ceramics is a difficult career to earn consistent income in.