Starting with the installation of 14 new pottery wheels, longtime art teacher Karen Lemmon is trying to ensure everything is in order before she retires after 20 years at Fossil Ridge High School.

“I didn’t want to leave behind things that didn’t work,” she said. “I wanted it to be nice for whoever comes in next so they could be set up now for at least 10 years, if not longer.”

Lemmon said the new wheels were purchased using a donation from the family of a late alumnus. The family reached out several years ago hoping to help Fossil’s art program.

“[The student] was very involved in the art department and in the pottery studio. He continued to do art after high school on his own,” said Lemmon. “When he passed away, he had over 150 paintings and pottery pieces that he had done. It was a surprise, but it was an extremely generous gift.”

The past couple of years, Lemmon has been trying to figure out how to spend the money.

“We needed something that would last a long time,” she said. “Something that wouldn’t just get consumed and used and forgotten, but something that would be here, and something he would have used a lot. So we settled on the wheels.”

The differences between these wheels and the old ones have been apparent.

“There’s more pressure in the speed of the wheels,” said junior Alaina Dietrich, a student in Advanced Pottery this semester. “They don’t break or spray everywhere either.”

“[The new wheels] don’t squeal like a cat,” said Lemmon. “They don’t stop mid-spin or never stop at all. I used to have wires propped up with flower pots to make [the wires] have a connection.”

Pottery students are saddened by Lemmon’s retirement but grateful for the experiences and connections made in her classes.

“I’m taking pottery twice this year, actually, purely because she’s leaving,” said Dietrich. “She just does it so well. I couldn’t ask for a better way to run classes.”

Senior Michelle Landwehr echoed Dietrich’s enthusiasm.

“My favorite thing about pottery is probably just the conversations that you have with people on the wheel,” said Landwehr. “Those conversations when someone’s super focused, or when you can just have fun with friends and gossip, can be so amazing.”

Landwehr encourages students to try pottery, even if they are apprehensive.

“I have never loved a class so much, even though it’s something that’s the complete opposite direction of where I would be going,” she said. “It’s made me appreciate so much more about what goes into art.”