CWU ceramics graduate discovers her true self through art

As with many of her classmates, McKenzee Guzman started at CWU in the middle of the pandemic.

She had planned to become an art teacher through CWU’s renowned education program, but once she was able to get back in the ceramic studio, she discovered that her career might be heading in a different direction.

“I originally came here to be an art teacher, but I was just so drawn to the joy of the creative process that I decided to pursue that full-time,” said Guzman, who graduated June 8. “I went back and forth for a few years, but once I got into the ceramic studio after the pandemic, I was like ‘yeah, this is where I’m meant to be.’”

With a new path in her sights, Guzman set about refining her technique and putting in the work that would be necessary to make her artistic vision a reality.

“I really struggled with throwing ceramics in high school, so once I got to college, I knew that was something I wanted to overcome,” she said. “After doing the work for a while, it suddenly just clicked for me, and it’s all I’ve wanted to do since.”

As a fine arts major specializing in ceramics and drawing, Guzman got to work alongside a broad variety of fine arts faculty, all of whom helped her connect further with herself along the way.

“Art is different from a lot of other majors in that you really get to connect with your professors on an emotional level,” she said. “Obviously, they’ve mentored me and helped me develop my technical skills, but they’ve also let me really become the person I was meant to be.”

While Guzman’s focus has been on practical earthenware like pots and cups, she finds inspiration for her work in more abstract concepts like family and her surroundings in the Pacific Northwest. Her final exhibition pulled together all of her favorite work from her time at CWU into one cohesive exploration of those influences.

“My art focuses a lot on the interconnections between memory, identity, and our surroundings,” Guzman said. “Setting up the exhibition was a cathartic experience, getting to see everything I’ve worked for over the last four years come together and be recognized by my peers.”

Guzman’s final project for her undergraduate degree was “Nestle,” a ceramic sculpture funded through CWU’s C. Farrell Fine Arts and Research scholarship. The piece reflects her upbringing in the shadow of Mount Rainier near Spanaway. It fuses the mountain’s iconic silhouette with that of a female figure, drawing parallels between the roles anatomy and geography play in housing the human experience.

“This piece reflects the difference between finding home, which can be a façade or structure that you project outwards, and finding yourself, at home in your body, which is something you’ll carry with you forever,” Guzman said. “Just as you live within a certain geographical area, you live within yourself, too. The intent was to take everything I do and somehow combine it, which has turned out to be a monstrous, yet cathartic, undertaking.”

With her bachelor’s degree in hand, Guzman is focusing on building out her portfolio to eventually pursue a graduate degree in her field. She says her life so far has taught her the importance of accepting change and taking her time to get where she needs to go.