Bob Zebrosky (Bob the Potter) is an artist for the Alleghenies Museum of Art. He is one of the potters, and he is also involved with the Pennsylvania Council; The Art Stallman Registry. 

“The Pennsylvania Council is a registry of professional artists across the state of Pennsylvania and a lot of them work in these satellite museums, like Southern Allegany Art. There’s a website that has all these different artist’s museums across Pennsylvania, so they work in conjunction with that,” Zebrosky said. 

Kristin Miller is the site director for Ligonier education and a coordinator for Art Stallman. 

“He is one of the best teaching artists we have, if not the best. He is just stunning and he is so good with the kids. I couldn’t ask for better,” Miller said. 

Zebrosky went to Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) for college. He majored in art education. He has clearances to teach art classes from kindergarten through twelfth grade and taught for 28 years at the Northern Cambria school district. 

“I have an art degree. I was a teacher for 28 years. I took a pottery class in college and kind of fell in love doing pottery, and that’s what I’ve been doing since even as a teacher. I like to throw on the wheel. I’m just going slow with my work and enjoying what I do. I’ve been doing pottery for over 20 years. My work is all over the globe because I have been working with different schools and have been doing a lot of pottery for a while,” Zebrosky said.

Zebrosky feels his projects that most represent him are his Talavera pumpkins he creates. 

“I like artwork that leaves something behind for years after I’m gone. There’s going to be my existence in the work that I do. I made so much stuff over the years. The thing I think that’s going to give me notoriety could be my pumpkins that I do every year. They have individual faces, and I do them in the fall in red clay,” Zebrosky said.

Zebrosky has been retired for 12 years. In his time of retirement, he has gone to different schools doing projects. 

“Well, I’ve been to many schools, a few are Conemaugh Valley, Somerset, Penn Cambria, Cambria Heights, Blacklick Valley, Altoona, Hempfield and Chestnut Ridge. I’ve been in five schools this year doing projects, sometimes pottery wheel stuff or clay murals,” Zebrosky said.  

Art teacher Eric Hoover and Zebrosky go back a long time. Zebrosky first met Hoover when he worked for his uncle at his construction site, then he later met Hoover again at Blacklick Valley School district, where Hoover taught prior to Altoona. 

“I’ve worked with Bob since I first started teaching at Blacklick Valley 15 years ago, and I try to make it a point to work with him every year I possibly can. We work very well together in the classroom,” Hoover said. 

“I’ve been consistently coming here on and off the last few years. I was in the Roosevelt building doing stuff with him. We’re always working well together and we take on projects like the black backsplash over by the sink he did last year. On Thursday, we decided to cut the tiles, filling in the gaps,” Zebrosky said. 

Zebrosky came in on April 12, and he will be leaving May 11. He is working with all Hoover’s ceramic classes. 

“There’s five classes I’m working with. I come in and work with whoever and help them make whatever they want to learn. This year, we decided to try something a little different in a process called sgraffito. That’s what these plates are and scratching through slips, reinventing ourselves in terms of what we’re able and capable of doing as a professional artist,” Zebrosky said. 

Students have learned a lot from Zebrosky while he has been in the classroom. 

“I found him very helpful and I thought that his instructions were clear, and it made it really easy to throw pots on the wheel. I didn’t know how to do that before. I think that he is informative, and he is really good at his craft and what he does,” senior Brenna Cokrlic said. 

Pottery is a slow learning process, and the more times you do it the better you will be at it. People should learn patience to start with before they try to make a perfect piece. 

“I learned that clay can be very temperamental, but it’s also something that can be made into many different things. You have to really be careful with what you are doing and how you are doing it in order for it to come out with a good product,” Cokrlic said.

“I hope my students learn an appreciation for a craft that is something in life that is permanent because if you make something in clay, clay can last forever,” Hoover said. 

Gallery • 10 Photos

Abigail Rudy

Pictures. These are pictures of Bob's pumpkins. Bob made all of his pumpkins in different places.