Potter Elementary students just got an upgrade — from playdough to clay — for their latest art projects. The opportunity stemmed from a parent-teacher collaboration between professional artist Seth Rainville and art teacher Beth Nato.

Following Neto’s pottery unit, Rainville — who has a kindergartner in the school — gave a school-wide presentation on January 6. He covered the ancient history and techniques behind creating pottery, and brought his pottery wheel along for a live demonstration.

“The kids were mesmerized by the demonstration,” Neto said. “It was so cool to see students entranced by it, and how pottery really comes alive.”

After the presentation, Rainville visited each of Neto’s 19 art classes, walking students through basic pottery techniques and helping students build their own pottery creations.

Each student started out with a hollow, egg-shaped lump of clay that Neto and Rainville had created earlier in the day. From there, each student was given free reign. Some students created faces, while others designed entire characters with their mounds of clay.

Neto had started the pottery unit just a few days earlier. Without the necessary equipment, the unit usually includes pottery-inspired projects using materials like playdough.

Rainville took students’ creations back to his studio, and is now working to heat each work into a solid piece before returning them to their creators.