Kyle Schuyler

My place in the world and in my community has always been important to me. I’ve always had a hard time fitting in and finding ways of self-expression. Through ceramics, I’ve been able to artistically express myself while also creating useful things. 

This honeycomb tile that I’ve created helps me symbolize how I feel like I fit into the world around me. I created an outer space scene, with a planet in the foreground and a nebula in the background. I’ve always liked the idea of space, and I’m very spacey so I think that it’s fitting. Space is vast and full of many, if not infinite possibilities. I think that our connections with people are the same way. You can affect people in so many ways, both good and bad, and we often "orbit" each other like everything in space does. I think it’s our responsibility to make sure we leave the best impact on people we interact with every day. 

To me, the way my piece will fit into the honeycomb is something that bees do. Space represents exploration, and we, as a society, do as well. There are bees that leave their hive and explore out into the world to find flowers or pollen, then return home to better their own society by showing them new sources of well-being.