Growing up in an artistic family, Eve Kavookjian ’27 has always been surrounded by art since a young age. From Pottery Club to Tech Crew, Kavookjian constantly immerses herself in art, making it into an essential part of her life. As a leader of Pottery Club and a member of stage crew since eighth grade, Kavookijan hopes to continue finding community in these activities in college.
What attracted you to pottery? What about Tech Crew?
I first started doing pottery in fifth grade, [when] I did a summer camp at a local place where I used to live, and [it] kind of just really spiraled from there. I got to do more classes locally and work on it in school and take three art classes. [As for tech crew], when I first moved here in eighth grade, my friend joined it, and I had interest, and I was like, “all right, why not?” So I [joined] it then, and I was like, “Wow.” I’ve always loved painting and I really enjoyed the painting part of it. And I just got very immersed in that world. It was nice to be in such an artsy environment, and so many people working on this one big project.
Does this unique blend of Pottery Club and Tech Crew affect one club or the other?
Tech Crew definitely has more influence on the function of Pottery Club, because Tech Crew was a system I already walked into. Pottery Club is something that I got to build up and have more influence over, like when we meet and what we do and how that’s handled. So I think my experience with group dynamics in Tech Crew have had an influence on how I run Pottery Club. Just seeing what works and what doesn’t and observing those group dynamics there.
Who do you look up to for inspiration?
A lot of my family is very artistic, and I think that it’s just intrinsic, but also fostered by being surrounded by [art] so much when we were little. Especially getting social media, being able to see all these artists posting in real time and not just seeing works from hundreds of years ago, is really, really cool. I just always had an interest and always loved making things and sort of expressing [myself] with that.[In Tech Crew], there’s two people I very much looked up to, who were the two head painters before me. Pearl and Isabella, they were a senior and a junior when I joined in freshman year, and they were also the old presidents of Pottery Club. ... They were very big idols and still some of my closest friends, which I think is great. They taught me all the things that I now teach all the little freshmen how to do, and they were great guiding figures within Tech Crew and Pottery Club and just high school artsy life.
How would you say Tech Crew and Pottery Club affected your high school experience?
You’re really just who you surround yourself with and the community you curate. And I think I’ve surrounded myself in the Tech Crew community and started to curate this Pottery Club community and just being around so many artsy high schoolers and exploring that with everyone. I think it’s really great and has been a huge part of my life the past few years and I hope it will stay a big part of my life.
What’s a favorite memory from these clubs?
Probably when we unload the kiln and everything’s all finished being fired and people get to see their final products from all the projects they’ve been working on the past couple weeks; getting to hand it to people and watching them be like “Oh my gosh, no way I made this.” Their faces light up. They’re so happy, and so excited. I just think that’s awesome to see people so proud of themselves and realizing what they can do. And similarly, with Tech Crew, just getting to watch after everything has been loaded onto the stage and putting the finishing touches on everything and just looking at this massive product that you’ve spent months working on. ... Just seeing it all together is awesome.
Do you see yourself joining Pottery Club or Tech Crew in college?
Definitely. I think Tech Crew in college might be a whole other level of commitment. But I do want to go to art school and then I do really, really want to continue doing some sort of ceramic stuff in a pottery club ... and definitely still do stage crew or engage with shows. Because it’s been such a big part of my life for so long and it’s hard to lose it after all this time.