Faculty Feature
Wheel of Fortune By John Wall
Feats of Clay Inspire Artistic Teaching Career
Photography: J.D. Cavrich
T
o some, the wheel is a symbol of mobility, ever searching for the right situation. To the prophet Ezekiel, the wheel was a symbol of faith, and to Buddhists, the wheel is a means to follow the Noble Eightfold path to self-awakening.
Juniata
To Bethany Benson, assistant professor of art, the wheel means all of that and more, although she’s hardly mystical about it. To the longtime ceramic artist, the wheel is both tool and muse. In the context of her current career as the artist in charge of Juniata’s celebrated ceramics program, the wheel is the lab and classroom where she encourages students to strive for art. “I knew I loved the wheel,” she says of her first exposure to creating objects from clay. “I found it interesting and inspiring. Whether I was doing it or watching other people do things, I just loved the wheel.” The ceramics wheel uses centrifugal force to shape and lift a lump of clay into a bowl, a cup or a work of art. Benson felt the force of making art early in her childhood in Foxborough, Mass. Searching for an experience that would get her out of the house in the summer, the 12-year-old Bethany found a Clay Camp at the local high school. “I still have the first thing I made—an ostrich that stands like a flamingo,” she says with a laugh. “I took all kinds of art classes—drawing and painting—but I was drawn to clay.” Although she loved any kind of hands-on course, including typing and shop, Bethany also excelled at math, something that gave her concerned parents hope that she wouldn’t end up as a starving artist. They offered to pay for college if she pursued a “more lucrative career,” Bethany recalls. They visited many campuses and many programs (“There was one college where I wouldn’t get out of the car,” she says). She even considered ceramic engineering (“I could have gone the NASA route”) until settling on art therapy at the College of New Rochelle. 52