Bringing art home

By Jacob Doran / Bigfork Eagle

Amber Britt is not your typical artist in that you won't find her work hanging in local galleries and, while you may find it hanging in people's houses, it is not likely to be framed or even bear her signature.

These days, Britt works in ceramics, making custom tiles for people's homes. Not only are the tiles in demand, they are becoming more and more popular, which gives her the opportunity to both do what she loves and have a hand in making other people's houses a real work of art.

However, Britt is best known not for her ceramic tiles but as a teacher in the Bigfork School District, where for the past seven years she has inspired the next generation of artists and art lovers, bringing new life to her Art Education classes. She finds that her own passion for art easily reproduces in her students and that should come as no surprise, because her love of art is quite literally contagious.

What does come as a surprise is that she did not become active in art until she went to college, at age 18. She had always loved art as a child but found that there were no art programs in her school or community to help her develop that interest.

Growing up in Noxon, between Thompson Falls and the Idaho border, Britt said there weren't many offerings in the way of art education or the arts in general. She graduated with a class of 30 and couldn't wait to take some art classes in college.

She ended up loving art so much, once she saw what art had to offer, that she wanted to know how she could continue to work with art and make a living at the same time. In short order, she determined to learn everything she could learn about art and become an art teacher. Consequently, she switched her major from nursing to art and art education (K-12) and managed 22 credits per semester for the next four years.

She originally studied ceramics, but later included a variety of painting, drawing, sculpting, welding, architecture and more, learning to see art in all aspects of the world around her and to find inspiration in almost everything. She was even drawn to the intricacies of historic buildings and Romanesque architecture.

After graduating, she applied for a teaching position in Bigfork but spent a year substitute teaching in the areas of special education and math. Although it wasn't art, she was grateful for the chance to gain some experience in other areas, which ultimately made her a better teacher. She was hired on at Bigfork a year later, in 2001, and was able to start teaching art to Bigfork K-8 students without further delay.

Britt always knew that she wanted to work with children, so teaching came natural to her. To her students and fellow teachers, it was obvious that she was doing what she loved, and that made her students want to learn. In fact, with the kind of excitement that Britt brought to her job, her students became quick learners.

"I loved every minute of it," she said. "I didn't expect the job to be as rewarding as it was. The best part was watching the children get so excited and feel a sense of confidence when they really caught on. I knew that it was what I wanted to do, but I didn't expect it to feel that good.

"It is incredibly satisfying when a kid says, 'Mrs. Britt, I want to be an art teacher just like you.' Those little moments are what keep teachers going."

Perhaps her biggest disappointment, however, was in finding how few families took on a supportive role in their children's education. She estimated that as many as 70 percent of parents do not take an active role in their children's education. That support, she said, is important if each child is to reach his or her full potential.

As for herself, Britt learned to be supportive of her students by being open to deviating from her lesson plans enough to tailor her classes to the individual needs of her students.

"The biggest thing I've learned is to go with the flow," she said. "You have to let the class teach itself. If you're not willing to let go and let that happen, it's not going to be a good lesson. Each child learns differently, and you have to be able to adapt your teaching style to what works best for different students."

For Britt, teaching and art are both passions that, once they getting into a person, can't be put on a shelf. Thus, when she went on maternity leave one year ago, she decided she needed to do something that kept her working with her hands, expressing herself and teaching others to do the same.

When a couple of individuals approached her about designing tiles for a fireplace, she realized there was a demand for such work. She began doing small jobs in October of last year and has continued to expand, even designing tiles for the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky.

Various designers, including Nancy O's Interiors, Pearson Design Group, the Fantasia showroom in Bozeman and even an interior designer from New York, have recently taken an interest in her work, and now she has to decide how big she wants her business to become.

In addition, Britt has purchased the necessary equipment to convert part of her studio into a classroom for teaching the basics of pottery, which includes wheel throwing and hand building each piece. Initially, she is offering two classes—one for adults and one for children ages 9-16—from now until October. While the children's classes feature more guided lessons, she still encourages her younger students to explore and discover as they work with the clay.

She doesn't anticipate the class becoming a big money-maker, and that, she said, was never her intention. Rather, it allows her to continue her passion for teaching and helping others to discover the joy of creating something that is completely theirs. However, her classes serve another purpose as well.

"I started the classes to bring back part of the artist community that's missing, in Bigfork," she said. "People used to be able to take pottery classes at the cultural center, but there haven't been any classes for about ten years, ever since I moved here. Those kinds of classes used to be a part of the artist community, and I want to help people in the Bigfork area get back to those roots.

"As an art teacher, I got to hear from a lot of parents, and they all said there are not enough art things to do in Bigfork. When they asked about classes, I had to send them to Kalispell, so I see this as a way to give back to the community and get more art in the community."

While there is certainly no shortage of galleries in Bigfork, Britt said she would like to see art brought down to a level where those who are not artists can discover art as a way to express themselves.

"Art is therapeutic. It's just great therapy for people. It's great all around, for everybody, because there's such satisfaction that comes from completing a project and succeeding.

"When I do art, I'm able to express a little piece of me—a little piece of Amber. I always leave room, when I teach, for adults and kids to express themselves and then have some kind of presentation to show off what they've completed and been able to do. It's very fulfilling, because it's a piece of them, and that's what art is."