Senior Sage Holcombe approaches the wheel with a quiet intensity. Clay spins, hands press in, and the room falls away. Ceramics, for her, is less an elective and more a way to breathe.
Although her passion for ceramics started early, she truly found her stride in high school. “I started ceramics in elementary school, but it was much more of an introduction to the medium,” she said. “I really started throwing and learning more about the process my freshman year of high school. That was the first year I took a ceramics course, and I loved it. I fell in love with the process and found that ceramics was a great way for me to center myself (no pun intended) and use it as a creative outlet.”
For Sage, ceramics is about presence and mindfulness. “I really love ceramics because it—like so many different artistic mediums—is my way of being present,” she said. “When you’re working with your hands, you don’t have to worry about anything else; you can let go and just focus on the project you’re making. It’s almost meditative.”
Her favorite piece to date? A coffee mug inspired by the beloved early-2000s TV show, “Gilmore Girls.” “I’m a coffee addict and I love the TV show, so it’s perfect for me. It’s something I use all the time, and I think that really speaks to the ways in which ceramics can be both fun and practical.”
Bowls, too, are a staple for Sage. “I make lots of bowls, too. So many bowls. Cereal bowls, popcorn bowls, and small bowls to hold jewelry or knick-knacks. If you can put it in a bowl, I’ve made one for it.”
She even crafted an experimental clay speaker designed to amplify phone sound, though it has yet to be fired in the kiln.
Sage credits Laguna Blanca’s arts program—and ceramics teacher Holly Ballenger in particular—with expanding her sense of what clay can do.
“The arts program here at Laguna is amazing,” she says. “Ms. Ballenger always inspires me to try different things and experiment artistically.”
That encouragement has pushed her away from rigid rules and toward more artistic risk-taking.
She says one of the biggest lessons she has learned is not to obsess over a single “right” way to build or glaze a piece.
Clay, she notes, is a “limitless medium,” and some of her best work comes from experimenting with new techniques and seeing what happens.
That mindset has also opened doors outside the campus. Sage recently submitted a piece to show at a gallery in downtown Santa Barbara, expecting nothing more than the experience of entering. Nevertheless, it sold.
She occasionally takes commissions, but insists that money is not the point. “It’s more that I enjoy the process of making things and that’s why I do it,” she says.
She gets just as much satisfaction, if not more, making a bowl for a friend or a mug for a family member as she does from selling a piece.
She strongly advocates for ceramics programs in schools. “If it weren’t for the opportunities I’ve had to experiment with different mediums, I wouldn’t have discovered my love for ceramics. I’ve had friends who’ve brought, say, their parents into the studio. They’ve walked in knowing nothing about the process, and walked out having thrown their first bowl or cup.”
For Sage, ceramics is more than art; it’s a balance point. “Attending a school that is so academically rigorous, I really need that part of my day to breathe and recenter myself; it helps me find balance. But ceramics isn’t just an emotional outlet, it’s a creative one too—and those two reasons are why I really love it.”