From April 4 to May 13, chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine is holding his first professional art exhibition themed “Origins” at the Fibre Arts Design Studio in Palo Alto.

Irvine was invited to participate in the group show by the gallery curator, who took interest in his artwork displayed at the Black Bean Ceramic Art Studio in the fall.

“[Hosting a formal art exhibition] was a new experience for me, challenging in that I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do other than stand there and look pretty and talk about my artwork,” he said. “I just tried to stay calm and not get too nervous. At the end of the day, I had a fun time.”

Irvine’s passion for ceramics has always been a significant part of his life alongside his interest in chemistry. He first began working with clay in 1994 as a freshman in high school.

“I always loved art; I always had that creative edge,” he said. “In high school, meanwhile I’m doing sports and science, art was just kind of like my therapy.”

While majoring in chemistry at Brown University, Irvine continued his exploration of art through ceramics classes at Rhode Island School of Design. In 2003, he graduated from Brown with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts.

“[At college,] I used to be known for playing with chemistry in the context of ceramic arts, specifically glazes—making new glazes and playing with colors, getting weird chemicals and mixing my glazes to see what would happen,” he said.

Out of all the different kinds of artistic media, ceramics attracted him the most because of its freedom and versatility.

“Ceramics allowed me to make my own reality. There was nothing to compare it against and I liked that three-dimensional character,” he said.

Since studying ceramics at the collegiate level, Irvine has continued producing artwork and recently became a member of an artist ceramics studio at Black Beans, a move he describes as the next stage in his “evolution as an artist.”

In addition, for the past four years, Irvine has been teaching pottery to middle school students in summer school. He reveals that he initially had difficulty conveying ceramic techniques to his students.

“It was challenging in that [I had] to apply structure to things that maybe [I] as a person or as an artist just know intuitively or can do intuitively,” he said.

However, as he began interacting with a small group of students on a daily basis, Irvine was able to help them build the techniques he was looking for. One of his former art students, Sahithya Prakash (10), who now takes his chemistry course, still remembers attaining interesting skills in ceramics.

“I wasn’t that great of an artist then, [but] learning those cool techniques was still really, really fun,” she said. “When I found out I had him [for chemistry] in sophomore year, I was really psyched because […] I knew that he would be a really good teacher. Even in chemistry [class], he still shares his love for art.”

Although Irvine possesses an extensive background in ceramics, he does not wish to work as a full-time artist, in accordance with his parents’ beliefs.

“It’s better not to have my art as a sole means of supporting myself. Then I get to preserve it as a hobby, passion, and just a piece of who I am,” he said.

“Having to adapt to the market and constantly produce [artwork] would change the relationship between the art and the artist.”

In the future, Irvine hopes to further combine his knowledge of chemistry and ceramics by exploring new projects such as adding uranium to glazes and using silver metal from chemical waste in his work.