This week for our Slowfire teacher spotlight is Ms. Alice! Ms. Alice helped develop and expand Slowfire with Ms. Noelle starting in 2020.
Ms. Alice is the manager of Slowfire and first met Ms. Noelle while studying sculpture and art history at Dominican University. Ms. Alice and Ms. Noelle began working closely together when Ms. Alice started working as a student worker in the Art department. During the pandemic, Ms. Noelle started teaching private students from her home studio and brought Ms. Alice on after she graduated from Dominican in 2020. Since then, they have continued running classes out of Ms. Noelle’s home studio and expanded Slowfire to the Lombard studio.
Ms. Alice teaches wheel throwing classes Monday through Saturday and is a favorite teacher among our teenage students. When teaching classes, Ms. Alice tries to be as thorough as possible the first class to give her students all the information they need to develop a strong foundation. She will also demonstrate on the wheel to show her students different techniques so they can try what will work best for them.
One of Ms. Alice’s favorite things about teaching is the out of the box ideas that her students think of and bring to class. When her students aren’t working on new techniques, she encourages them to bring their ideas to her so they can troubleshoot and see if there’s a way to make their creations. The art making process pushes Ms. Alice and her students to find new ways to create pieces. Whether that means trying and failing to make art or deconstructing something to see how it’s made.
This is how Ms. Alice approaches her own work and never creates the same thing twice. She tends to create a couple art pieces at once and moves between them as her next idea comes to keep things fresh.
When Ms. Alice isn’t teaching, she likes to go on walks to the park or the beach with her dog Bella. Bella is a Pomeranian and Chihuahua mix. Hanging out with Bella allows Ms. Alice to relax and decompress after a long day.
To see availability for Ms. Alice’s classes, click here.
Bella, Ms. Alice's Pomeranian and Chihuahua mix dog.
