Returning to BSM this year is a bubbly art teacher and talented ceramic artist: Ivy Mattson. While the part-time art teacher is currently balancing two careers, working odd days at BSM and even days at The Northern Clay Center, she is excited to be back with the BSM community.
With a long-held passion for art, Mattson strives to help students develop their own creativity and self-expression. “I always loved art growing up… I think that I really wanted to share creativity and like self-discovery with other students. And you know, grade school years are kind of tumultuous, and so being able to provide a space for [the] development of creativity, self, identity and expression… was so exciting to me,” Mattson said.
Having majored in both Art Education and Spanish, Mattson began her career at a Spanish immersion school in Moorhead, Minnesota. “It was super fun because… in my first teaching gig, I got to combine [my] two loves and teach in Spanish, so I taught art up there for a couple years,” Mattson said.
In 2022, Mattson first became a part of the art department at BSM while simultaneously beginning her work with The Northern Clay Center. “When my partner decided to go to law school, we moved down here to the city so he could attend the University of Minnesota. Then that year, there was a part-time opening here, actually, and so I was a part-time teacher here. And then I also was a part of a post-baccalaureate program at The Northern Clay Center where I was increasing my my ceramic prowess, if you will. And then I bonked over to the Edina High School. I taught there for a bit, and then now I’m back here,” Mattson said.
Currently, Mattson is teaching Drawing & Painting, AP Art, and many of the eighth-grade art classes. With new ideas for experimental media projects, Mattson is excited to see what her students bring to the table. “I love the excitement and creativity and openness that I feel like the BSM community embraces,” Mattson said.
Outside of her teaching career, Mattson is an accomplished artist, earning the Red Wing Pottery Museum Award in 2024. “My primary medium is ceramics, which is kind of fun because I teach mostly drawing and painting here…. so it’s fun to kind of be a jack of all trades,” Mattson said.
“I’m working on some more sculptural pieces [right now]. I’m really inspired by the Art Nouveau era and references to memory as it pertains to femininity, and so I am creating some slab pieces and carving in some feminine iconography with calligraphic lines and just fun like bisque square things that will then translate to wall panels,” Mattson said.