While most teachers work with pencils and paper, University instructor Zimra Beiner works with his hands and clay.
“He definitely has a different style to his work,” said freshman Hunter Wehrle, a student in Beiner’s introductory ceramics class. “It’s not so perfect, and it’s more expressionalistic, and I like that.”
Beiner is a ceramics instructor in the Fine Arts Department, teaching under a one-year contract. Faculty on one-year contracts can be rehired on another contract for the next year or have their contracts expire.
During his time here, Beiner has had a chance to work on his own art and pass his experience on to students.
Originally from Toronto, Beiner’s artistic journey began with an interest in architecture, and he’s had experience in other mediums, including paper mache and drawing. He eventually ended up studying ceramics at Sheridan College in Wyoming, NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada and Alfred University in New York.
Beiner said he chose ceramics because of the unique way it replicates the physical world.
“I’m interested in it as a material that records your body,” Beiner said. “It’s very tactile, and it records the body in a way that other materials don’t.”
Junior Abby Young, another of Beiner’s students, said this desire to show what cannot be expressed through language is apparent in his work.
“I like [his] idea of showing things you can’t describe,” Young said. “Simple everyday things emphasize what’s he’s trying to say.”
Beiner said he has many questions about objects, the space around us and the world in general. The work he does in ceramics, he said, is his way of trying to answer those questions.
“I think what’s unique about clay is that it’s obviously fragile,” he said. “It’s very physical, and sensitive to touch and timing … I’m just really interested in those things.”
Though Beiner is only in his second year of teaching, he said it’s been a great experience so far.
“I’ve still been learning a lot, but the students have been really great,” he said.
Teaching students with majors outside the School of Art, Beiner said, gives him a chance to give those students a new perspective.
“I teach a lot of non-art majors as well as art majors, so that’s been interesting,” Beiner said. “To try to make them understand that there’s a value in it whether you’re an artist or not, that’s been an interesting challenge.”
Despite his relative inexperience, Beiner has a comfortable, soft-spoken manner in class. Freshman Makenzie Wheat said the gentle way he interacts with his students is what she likes about his class.
“He’s really relaxed and open,” Wheat said. “He lets you have control.”
Between the students, and the opportunity to continue his work, Beiner said he’s enjoyed his time at the University being around all artistic mediums.
“I’m just in a circumstance where ceramics works for me,” he said. “I don’t think that it has to be ceramics, but I like cermamics, so I think, ‘why not.’”
