Haydon has been a professor of art specializing in ceramics at UW for 20 years and teaching since 1990. She is retiring at the end of this semester.
“Teaching is a vocation to me. It goes hand in hand with the studiowork I do. For the first year I’m probably just going to chill and feel what it’s like to not work,” Haydon said.
Haydon has plans to continue making art in retirement as well as teaching workshop classes further down the line. Workshops can take place at other schools or venues and are shorter than college classes.
Haydon said she discovered her love of teaching while she was a graduate assistant.
“In the 80’s I had ceramics professors who’d teach and leave and the grad assistants would be at the ceramics outside of class,” Hayden said.
She found she enjoyed the communication aspect of working with other students.
“I’m fulfilled by working with students as well as making work,” Haydon said.
Of the classes she teaches, Haydon said Wheel Throwing and Three Dimensional Design have been her favorite classes to teach. In Wheel Throwing, she said she enjoys seeing the exponential growth students have in their ceramic work that appears over just a short time.
“3D Design allows me to work with new students who are coming in and I get to work with other materials than just ceramic. Variety in teaching is what gives me pleasure. If I had to teach just one ceramics class I don’t think I’d be as content as I am here at UW,” Haydon said.
In the 20 years Haydon has worked at UW, she said the environment the professors have made in the Visual Arts Department is great.
“I had some pretty rough times in the beginning. One of the hardest times was at the college before I came to UW and I had to leave even though I had done so much for the college,” Haydon said. “Since I joined in 2001 it’s been a remarkably collegiate environment. Our department, there’s always been disagreements, but it’s respectful.”
The chair of Visual Arts, Ricki Klages, has motivated Haydon to take a sabbatical and take care of her own needs.
“I’ve had very significant interactions with students, I’ve also had my relationship with the chair [Ricki Klages] has been extremely positive and she’s pushed me to do things for myself that I wouldn’t think of. I feel thankful for her and her knowing what I’m capable of maybe better than I know myself,” Haydon said.
Haydon advises students to learn the value of failing.
“Embrace the directions that don’t work out. They’re just as important as the directions that you do go in. It’s important to learn from it. I think in my time as a teacher I’ve had to undo a lot of conditioning where a lot of students fear failure but that’s where growth is,” Haydon said.
Haydon also advised that finding any discipline will inspire students to do better.
“Find the discipline, whether it’s art or anything else, that inspires you to be persistent and work hard. If you find a field where you’re still dreaming about it, I think you’re in a good place,” Haydon said.
