In Pennie Ebsen’s wheel-throwing classes at Oak Park and River Forest High School, life lessons came standard.
While working with clay, students learn patience, perseverance and also how to cope with failure, said Ebsen, who has taught beginning, intermediate and advanced wheel-throwing classes in the visual arts department at the high school.
“I believe that clay is a transformational material,” she said. “As you work to transform clay, the clay transforms you. … I think it can transform your heart.”
Ebsen, who initiated and has overseen growth of the popular Empty Bowls fundraising event at the school, has retired after 18 years at OPRFHS, much to the sadness of her students.
“I’m sad that I’m leaving, too, but it’s the right time,” Ebsen said.
Lindy Novotny, chair of the visual arts department, praised Ebsen’s work ethic and dedication. Because Ebsen lives in Oak Park, she’s come over at midnight to turn off a kiln if needed.
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“She probably spends more hours at the school than anybody else I know,” said Novotny, who has worked with Ebsen for 17 of her 18 years at the school.
Novotny said Ebsen has cultivated a community and family among pottery students at the high school that “is magical.”
Ebsen, her father and her grandfather all went to OPRFHS; so did Ebsen’s three children. While at the high school, Ebsen wouldn’t touch clay. She preferred drawing and painting. She said she has no idea why she was so against it then.
While at college, she relented and took a clay class; within a week, she found herself in the pottery room constantly.
“For a lot of people, clay will just sort of bite you, grab you later,” she said, adding that she admires students who aren’t afraid to get involved with it at a young age.
After getting married, staying home with her children and taking a 15-year break from clay, she began teaching pottery at a studio in Oak Park. She received her teaching certification and was hired at OPRFHS.
“I was so surprised to find I liked to teach,” she said.
As Ebsen moved through the ceramics room on a day in late May, stopping to check in with a student completing a piece, she noted the constantly messy state of the room.
“It’s dirt. We’re working with dirt,” she said matter-of-factly.
Ebsen said she doesn’t sit on “a little teacher pedestal” and feels challenged by her students much of the time.
“You have to engage with students where they’re at,” she said.
Her friendly relationship with students is obvious; those who attempted to come into the room and work during a school assembly, Ebsen shooed away with a smile. Senior John Cundari said he spends much of his time in the ceramics room.
“She’s probably one of the best teachers I’ve ever had,” he said. “This is a fun place to be.”
Ebsen excels at teaching life skills within art, he said, and finds a lesson in anything she does. OPRFHS alum Gabe Tetrev said in an email that Ebsen gave him the courage and guidance to become an artist, and the Wheel Throwing Club was his home within the school.
Learning to throw clay is an experience for students, Ebsen said, because it begins awkwardly and it pushes them. If it engages students, they push themselves.
“With clay, in many cases, you’re back to kindergarten,” she said of the learning process. “The amount that you improve depends entirely upon how much extra you put in.”
The key is learning to persevere in the face of failure, which she and Novotny acknowledged is tricky for OPRFHS students often accustomed to success.
“A lot of students here just aren’t used to failing,” Ebsen said.
“The toughest kind of kids are the ones that are going to make it in her class,” Novotny said.
Ebsen said seeing her students get into the process and think beyond the basics is really exciting; she and Novotny noted the students produce work of incredible quality.
Four of Ebsen’s students were accepted to this year’s National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference and were recognized during a national K-12 ceramic exhibition.
“That’s, like, beyond the beyond in my opinion,” she said. “To end on such a high note with a national conference … I felt ecstatic for my students. How fortunate to have those students this particular year.”
Ebsen’s legacy, Empty Bowls — which she started at OPRFHS in 2004 — has students in the Wheel Throwing Club make bowls and serve up soup provided by local restaurants, to benefit the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry and Housing Forward. This year, about 1,000 bowls were made and $15,000 was raised for the local nonprofits.
Ebsen has been pleased to see the event grow, and noted waiting for a bowl of soup offers a glimpse of what a number of Americans encounter frequently.
“That standing in line is really symbolic,” she said.
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Ebsen’s replacement also is a former OPRFHS student who shares her passion for Empty Bowls.
Ebsen said she’ll continue teaching classes at Terra Incognito in Oak Park and spend more time with her family. She’ll miss her committed peers in the visual arts department, who she said nurture students’ creativity and kept her going over the years.
“They fill in my gaps, and I fill in theirs,” she said.