SOLD OUT Summer Teacher Institute: Celebrating Communities through the Art of Roberto Lugo

Every day except Monday, from Tuesday, July 18, 2023 to Thursday, July 20, 2023 from 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m.

Registration is currently full for all 3 days.

Registration for all three days: $75 Members; $150 General Registration; $50 College Students. 
Additional registration for one graduate credit through Ashland University.

The goal of the Summer Teacher Institute is to empower educators to try new concepts and recharge their creative energy before the new school year begins. By attending this program, teachers will receive a CEU certificate for 18 contact hours. Teachers must attend all three days to receive their CEUs. One graduate credit is available through Ashland University for an additional fee. The program runs from Tuesday, July 18, through Thursday, July 20, 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. each day. All registered teachers will receive an email with the agenda for each day. Please provide an email address you check during the summer. Registration is limited to 30.

Teachers of all grade levels and disciplines, homeschool teachers, art advocates, art appreciation volunteers, pre-service education majors and teaching artists, as well as community and museum educators, are encouraged to attend. The program investigates diverse teaching strategies for object-based learning as well as STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art, Math) connections for Pre-K through 12th-grade classrooms. 

Summer Teacher Institute 2023: Celebrating Communities through the Art of Roberto Lugo

Join us for a deep dive into the work and style of ceramist, Roberto Lugo. On Day 1 participate in a virtual conversation with Lugo, hearing how he draws inspiration from his lived experience and ceramic history. Lugo’s multicultural mashups often combine classic forms and patterns with elements of hip-hop. “As a potter,” Lugo explains, “I aim to carry on the ceramic tradition in a manner that honors the culture and community I come from.” On Day 1 and Day 2, enjoy a docent guided tour of the exhibition Roberto Lugo: Hi-Def Archives along with presentations, workshops, and hands-on activities inspired by his work. On Day 3, take an offsite field trip to the Cincinnati Recycling & Reuse Hub and Imago (environmental education center and nature preserve) and explore connections between art, science, and sustainability.

Roberto Lugo was raised in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, an area marked by poverty, violence, and drug trafficking. At the age of 25, he enrolled in his first pottery class. Today, he leads the ceramic department at Temple University in Philadelphia, and his art resides in the collections of the most prestigious art institutions in the country, including the Cincinnati Art Museum. When he is not teaching or creating, Lugo returns to neighborhoods like Kensington with a potter’s wheel emblazoned with the words, “This machine kills hate.” Taking his art to the street, he uses clay and his wheel to teach others how to throw pots, break down cultural and social biases, and encourage the possibility that anyone can choose and achieve their dreams.

Roberto Lugo: Hi-Def Archives features recent works by Lugo. He intends the exhibition to “be both an homage to the village that raised me up and the legacy of Rookwood Pottery.” Showing his work in conversation with selections from the museum’s Rookwood collection, Lugo examines intersections of community, place, and identity, celebrating the rich craft history of Cincinnati while simultaneously recontextualizing the impact of ceramics as contemporary cultural objects that honor all of us.