{"id":2774,"date":"2022-02-28T14:41:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T20:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/?p=2774"},"modified":"2022-02-28T14:41:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T20:41:21","slug":"jones-colleges-melanie-eubanks-selected-as-mississippi-humanities-teacher-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/news\/jones-colleges-melanie-eubanks-selected-as-mississippi-humanities-teacher-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Âé¶¹Ö±²¥\u2019s Melanie Eubanks selected as Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
ELLISVILLE \u2013Âé¶¹Ö±²¥\u2019s visual arts instructor, Melanie Eubanks has been selected as the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ 2021-2022 Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year. She will be honored by the Mississippi Humanities Council and the college on Tuesday, March 8, at 10:30 a.m. in the M.P. Bush Fine Arts Auditorium. The public is invited to see her free presentation, \u201cGetting to Creativity Through Ceramics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is quite an honor to receive this award. It validates so many things that are The Pascagoula native and current Hattiesburg resident said it was her 4th\u00a0grade to 12th\u00a0grade gifted teacher, Charlotte Davis who allowed her to discover the many forms of art, which birthed her love for the arts.<\/p>\n \u201cShe took us to see art shows in New Orleans and Mobile which was fascinating as a child. She taught us architecture and we drew our dream house. It was also the first time I was exposed to Gothic Architecture and other things I wouldn\u2019t normally be exposed to,\u201d said Eubanks.<\/p>\n Her Smith County cousins also played a role in realizing art takes on many forms, including creek bed clay.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a child, I was OCD about getting my hands dirty. However, I was at my cousin\u2019s house in Smith County and the boys were five or six years older than me and playing in the creek bed. They were making animals out of clay. It was counterintuitive for me to get my hands dirty, but I was hooked! I didn\u2019t even realize my hands were dirty because it was fun creating clay animals!\u201d Eubanks shared. \u201cHowever, I was a freshman in college before making anything again with clay as an art major.\u201d<\/p>\n While primarily a ceramics artist, Eubanks paints and has tried many different materials and crafts. Amongst her new favorites are weaving and hot glass\/lamp work.<\/p>\n \u201cArtmaking for me, is about the process of using materials to make something,\u201d said Eubanks. \u201cMy presentation for the Mississippi Humanities Council at JC will discuss the components of the creative process and creativity in the ceramics arts. The creative process is such an important part of being human. It is a way of thinking that propels us forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a> important to me, primarily, the role of the arts in examining what it means to be human,\u201d said Eubanks.<\/p>\n