TOWAMENCIN- Life doesn’t always have one set path, and for North Penn’s newest ceramics teacher, Mx. Maggie Horvath, this proved to be especially true. With plans to go to school for environmental science, Horvath’s career took an unexpected turn when admitted on the spot to three different art schools.
“When MICA, Tyler, and Brown came to the school, they were doing an open portfolio day and my ceramics teacher was like ‘Just show them your stuff’ and I was like ‘I didn’t prepare a portfolio, I’m going to school for science’ and he was like ‘Show them your stuff’ and I got accepted on the spot to all three art schools,” Horvath recounted.
After getting accepted to the art schools, Horvath changed her path, going to study at Tyler School of Art and later transferring to Kutztown after getting into art education. She’s since been in the teaching game for eight years now.
“I got a job at Hatboro Horsham and I was there for a year teaching ceramics and jewelry. Then I got hired at Campbell University, which is in central North Carolina, and I taught there for four years, I was their head of program for two years,” Horvath explained. “
After four years there I got offered my dream job at the Perkiomen School in Pennsburg and I was the director of their design institute. So I started their design program and, unfortunately, after a year they ran out of funding for the program. So then last year I was down at SCAD teaching foundations in Savanna, Georgia. But, my family’s from up here, I went to Souderton, I grew up around here so I was so excited to be home,” Horvath said.
Horvath, as well as many others, defies the stereotype that one can’t make a career out of art and continue to prove it with every class and section that they teach.
“I was scared to go into art because I was like, this is a thing I love but you can’t make a job out of this, can’t be a career, and that’s what everyone’s telling you. But you can, you have to work for it, you know, this is my eighth year teaching before I got the job I really wanted. But now that I’m here, I’m really loving it,” Horvath beamed.
With ceramics being such a free form of art where really anyone can do it and anyone can learn it, Horvath shows great enthusiasm over helping students be able to create cool pieces that they are truly proud of.
“[Ceramics] class is just so different then all [of students] other classes. To actually physically touch things and make things with your hands uses a different part of you that you don’t get to use anywhere else. Even though we’re making things and there’s still homework it’s like such a relaxing class because it’s so different,” Horvath explained.
She recalls how they have been making art since she was young and how they always had easy access to art supplies. When she was bored, Horvath would create art. Ultimately causing her to take various art classes throughout high school.
“My grandmother ran a pottery studio, kind of like a paint-your-own-pot sort of situation. So we grew up, after she had closed it, but, surrounded by all the pottery and all the work. And my grandfather was a painter, so I was surrounded by art all the time,” Horvath revealed.
Out of everything that art manifests, embracing the freedom and growth through the different pieces and projects seems to be a key take-away that Horvath wants students to experience.
“Don’t be afraid to go for it. Like that little thing in the back of your head that’s like ‘maybe, maybe, maybe’, indulge that little voice. I would be in environmental science right now had I not had that one teacher push me,” Horvath said.