Gabrielle Armstrong, who graduated with a BFA in ceramics in May 2022, is currently teaching ceramics classes and is one of two studio coordinators at the Pullen Arts Center in Raleigh, NC.

Pullen Arts Center is a community educational facility for the visual arts. The Center supports all artists, regardless of age or experience, by providing skill-building classes taught by professional artists, like Armstrong. The Center offers studios in pottery, painting, jewelry, bookmaking, printmaking, and more. Three gallery spaces are also located in the Center: a main gallery, a youth and teen gallery, and the Chalk Wall Murals gallery.

Armstrong says her most recent accomplishment is graduating college and moving to a new city where not only is she utilizing her degree, but she is utilizing it for something she is passionate about.

“I love teaching people and being in a job setting that pushes me to continue to learn,” stated Armstrong.

Some of her favorite memories at JSU include being a Marching Southerner, firing the JSU soda kiln, and working late nights in the ceramic studio with her friends. Her favorite classes were print making with Sarah Ellis and ceramics with John Oles, whom she credits for always being reliable when she needed help and preparing her to be “an artist out in the real world.”

When asked what advice she would give current students, she said, “Enjoy yourself while you’re in college.”

Armstrong has begun working on starting her own business where she will set up booths at vendor markets in her area almost every month. She also plans to attend graduate school next fall.