Megan Cooper, Arts Teacher and History and Social Sciences Teacher, has added ceramics to the courses she is teaching at Forman this year. Cooper is teaching two ceramics courses called Blaze Your Way in Clay and Throwing on the Wheel. In addition, she is also teaching a course called Japan's Rise to Power. 

Cooper earned her B.A. in Art History and Human Geography from the University of New Hampshire. There, she also completed a minor in ceramics. 

“I had done ceramics in high school. I went to a boarding school about half the size of Forman, and we also had a pretty amazing arts program. I’ve always been interested in the arts and had a connection with the arts growing up. When other kids were playing soccer when they were eight years old, I was in a drawing class,” she says. “In college, I took some ceramics classes, and by my junior and senior years, I had space to take enough classes to finish up to have a minor in it.” 

Cooper, who considers herself a craftsman, says as she was learning about art history in college, she was surrounded by beautiful artwork all the time. With ceramics, she says she found her identity in the arts. 

“I really love that ceramics is a skill that you can see steady and gradual improvement with,” she adds. 

In the ceramics studio at Forman, Cooper hopes it is a space where students feel comfortable and put any previous negative school experiences behind them. 

“I think that just giving the students the outlet to express themselves, discover what works for them, what doesn't work for them, in an isolated, less-pressured setting [that] gives them the ability to do something in that bubble and apply it more to their lives,” she says. 

She emphasizes that ceramics is all about building a foundation of skills. 

“I want students to get a point where they have tons of creativity and can go wild, but before that, we have to learn certain skills,” she says. “Once we learn how to build a nice supportive wall of whatever vessel you're creating, and we work through that process and build that skill, there is room for creativity.”

Outside of the classroom, Cooper enjoys sculpting with slabs of clay. She also likes to make collages.