Senior Gabby Heintzelman is a talented and skillful young artist, who has found a passion for ceramics. For those who have seen Gabby in action, it seems as though she has studied ceramics for years, when in reality, this is only her second year.
“I decided to take it my junior year for fun, but I ended up really liking it and signed up for both semesters,” Heintzelman said.
Gabby is capable of throwing around 4-5 pieces per 40-minute class period, and she has created 60-70 pieces so far this semester. Last year, she made around 50 pieces total. To put that in perspective, the average ceramics student throws about 2-4 pieces per week, creating a total of around 7-10 pieces by the end of the semester.
Heintzelman says she comes into the ceramics studio anytime she can, as she pushes herself to the next level.
“Since around second semester last year, I’ve been coming in every morning at 7:45. This year I’m in the ceramics room quite a lot,” Heintzelman said. “I TA for first period, helping around the classroom. I then have my AP class fourth period, and I go in during my free periods. Sometimes I’m in the room during lunch too if I want to throw or work on other projects.”
As a result of the amount of time and effort, art teachers Melissa Doucette and Jennifer Thomas decided that Heintzelman deserved to be placed in AP ceramics her senior year.
“Her skill level is incredibly high due to passion, perseverance, and dedication to improvement,” Mrs. Doucette said. “Gabby is known for masterfully creating intricate, elegant, and complex forms.”
Her eye for design is especially impressive. She carries a unique artistry with her that is difficult to match.
Her hard work has paid off as she has already won the “North Shore Art Conference Best in Show” for this bowl she created. She also won an award from the Deer Path Art League last year.
“She welcomes feedback and even seeks out feedback from others because she understands that getting other points of view can make her work better,”Mrs. Thomas said. “On top of that, Gabby is just an incredibly kind, thoughtful, and responsible person.”
Currently, Gabby is in AP3D Art. The class allows students to create a variety of mediums in 3D, but Gabby decided to stick with ceramics.
“For my AP Project, I’m doing my sustained investigation about architecture. This idea came from early in the year when I had gotten a bunch of pieces out of the kiln and they were all sitting on my shelf,”Heintzelman said. “My AP teacher, Mrs. Doucette, said something about them looking like a city; they looked even better all together as a set—that’s where the idea sparked from.”
Heintzelman chose eight cities that she says all have “interesting and distinct architecture.” These cities are: Tokyo, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Barcelona, Shanghai, Dubai, San Francisco, and Lahore. She then creates around 7-9 pieces per city.
“My portfolio is centered mainly around architecture, but I’m also focusing on painting the pieces in the style of the city as well. For Stockholm for example, I took inspiration from buildings, traditional painting styles, and color palettes of the city,” Heintzelman said.
She has finished the city of Stockholm, and she is currently working on painting two others: Tokyo and St. Petersburg (Russia).
She has an Instagram page tracking her progress, @gabart556, where she shares time lapse videos of herself physically making each piece, pictures of her six foot shelf that carry her 60-70 pieces, her thought process with detailed notes, and so much more.
“Ceramics is definitely something I want to continue into college. I’ve been looking at schools with strong programs for ceramics so that I can continue to practice, also because I want to major in art education,” Heintzelman said.
