WVCSD Artist of the Week: McKenzie Decker

The Warwick Valley Central School District recently shared its first Artist of the Week nomination: McKenzie Decker, a junior at Warwick Valley High School. According to the district she is passionate and driven in the world of ceramics and shows it by often spending her lunch time and study period in the ceramics room working on her projects.

Decker completed about 13 projects in Ceramics I and II during her sophomore year. The district said she’s created everything from a sunflower bowl to Santa Claus and even a bear sitting on a box of honey.

“McKenzie showed a lot of interest in ceramics beyond class time,” said Nicole Sisco, Decker’s art teacher. “She set a goal for herself every time and said, ‘Okay, this is what I want to create, now I have to put in the work to get there.’”

She says she gains inspiration from Pinterest. “I have a whole board of things I want to do,” she said. “I would just do whichever one I thought was cool.”

One common design in her art is the use of sunflowers. They are her favorite flower. She says they often have a recurrence in her pieces, but she tries to branch out and try something different every time.

“My favorite part of the process would definitely be making the pieces with clay,” Decker said. “I love working with it and making it into a piece.”

Often, McKenzie begins her process by sketching what her piece will look like. One of her more difficult pieces was a bowl covered in tiny balls where she used the “score and slip” method to attach each individual ball. Scoring and slipping is a technique using water and clay where you “score” or scratch marks on the surface of the clay, and then add water, known as slipping, to help the pieces adhere to one another.

“I would score the bowl and then slip with water and clay,” Decker said. “And then I’d stick the balls on. Then you’d have to smooth the edges, and then add the next one.”

Most of her pieces incorporate the use of hand building, which Decker tends to prefer over using the wheel.

“3D art is special because it’s unique, decorative, and functional,” said Sisco. “There are some students who gravitate towards the wheel but McKenzie happens to be a hand builder and she’s done some really unique pieces with that.”

As Decker learned and grew her techniques, she reflected on why she chose ceramics.

“It honestly came out of nowhere but I love doing it,” she said. “Which is why I’m in Sculpture I this year, because I knew there was going to be some element of ceramics in it.”

Sculpture I is a new course at WVHS this year and both Decker and Sisco are looking forward to what Decker will create throughout the class.

“McKenzie always pushes the boundaries a little bit and I admire students like that,” Sisco said. “I like when they think outside the box and experiment with what they can create on their own.”

While art may just be a hobby for now, Decker is still exploring her passions and interests and is thinking about pursuing a career in the medical field. But, for now, she’s taking it one step at a time and seeing what the future holds.

“I think that McKenzie will continue to be a creative person and create and be passionate and driven in everything,” Sisco said. “She’ll appreciate art and look at things differently because that’s what ceramics does. It makes you open your eyes to things that are hand built or thrown on the wheel and it makes you appreciate that in a whole new lens.”