Some High School Teachers | Kevin Kowalski & Michael Millam | Episode 247

Kevin Kowalski has always been one to work with his hands since an early age. He had a fascination with the process of how things worked and how things were made and not just the finished product. Kevin started with pottery in his Junior year of High school and fell in love with the clay process. Kevin was finally able to work from start to finish with clay and could learn along the way. Kevin went on to received a BFA in Ceramics and BA in Art education from California State University, Fullerton. He took a year off after Graduation to travel and taught English in Taiwan where he met a local potter and studied with him for 10 weeks. During this time Kevin learned new throwing techniques and began a love for the moon vase form and developed a vast taste of tea. After returning to California Kevin got his teaching credential and landed an art position in the same district he was a student. Two years later Kevin transferred to Esperanza High School where he is currently teaching 5 periods of Ceramics. Kevin works out of his home studio where he has recently been using Periscope to connect with the pottery community. Kevin also uses Instagram and Facebook to help market his artwork and has an Etsy shop where he sells his pottery.

Michael Millam was born and raised in Southern, California and graduated high school in 1999. Michael attended California State University Fullerton, earning a BA in art education in 2006. He then spent his first 6 years teaching traditional black and white and digital photography at Kennedy High School. In 2012 Michael moved to Western High School to teach ceramics. In June of 2015 Michael completed a Masters in Art Education from Boston University. Michael was a presenter at NAEA convention and spoke on the subject of high school students using ceramics to communicate identity. Michael also participated on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) and the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson and served on the California Teaching Performance Assessment (CalTPA) Art Content Expert Panel.