Using clay, stones, wire, wood and even butterfly wings, three Worthington art teachers are proving those who teach art can create it, too.

Erin Johnson and Julie Woodrow, both Worthington Kilbourne High School teachers, and Kim Maurer of Thomas Worthington High School are displaying their artwork in an exhibition called "Art of Educators" at the Fischer Gallery, located inside Roush Hall at Otterbein College.

The art exhibit will run through Nov. 20, with the gallery open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at the hall, 27 South Grove St. in Westerville.

"I hope everyone takes a trip out to see the show," Johnson said. "The three of us have really put so much of ourselves into it and want to share what we've done, as artists, with the community."

Curator Jim Bowling said, "I myself did not fully understand the commitment of these individuals and the excellence in their studio pursuits until I got the opportunity to work with these amazing artists.

"The work in this exhibition provides just a small picture into the artwork of educators who are as committed to excellence in the studio as they are to excellence in the classroom," he said.

Johnson has 30 mixed-media sculptural pieces in the show, using ceramic raku, beads, bones, stones, wire, wood, coral, jewelry pieces, watch faces, wool and other materials.

"Any kind of interesting object is fair game," she said. "I've traveled to more than 35 countries and I think the colors, textures, designs, intricacies, tribal qualities and richness of the pieces came from my varied background and travel experiences."

A graduate of Thomas Worthington, Johnson is in her fourth year of teaching in the district, but she has taught art for 15 years in Olentangy schools, in Cardington and Columbus schools, and in Japan, Malta and the Marshall Islands.

"I want my students to problem-solve, be creative thinkers, focus on techniques and craftsmanship and try all the possibilities when expressing themselves," she said. "I don't think people realize how important art really is. Art is all around us in some shape or form and dates back to cave paintings."

Maurer has 12 paintings in the show.

"I work with encaustic, which is a medium dating back about 2,000 years to the ancient Greeks and the famous Fayum portraits," she said. "I mix various types of beeswax with dry pigment to create my color. The works in the exhibit are based upon abstract map shapes and several of them feature natural objects such as thorns from locust trees, seed pods and butterfly wings."

Maurer said for most of her pieces in the show, she was "thinking about the shapes of the daily routes I take -- to and from work and my studio, walks with my dog and hikes and trips to other parts of the country.

"I map out these shapes that I make in my travels and use them as starting points in my work," she said. "Like much art, though, I think these pieces are about many other things as well: being acutely alert and aware of your surroundings; noticing color, texture and space and how they play with or against each other. The wax layers are also important in how they reveal or conceal different areas of the painting and require you to look again and again to see something different each time."

Maurer has been an art teacher in Worthington schools for 18 years.

"I teach the creative process, both its importance to the outcome of your work and what can be revealed and learned during the making of the work," she said. "Art uniquely develops us intellectually, emotionally and spiritually in ways that other disciplines cannot. I believe the physical act of making an artwork expands our thinking and understanding of ourselves and others."

Woodrow has 15 sculptural pieces in the show, with ceramic or copper raku glazes.

"Raku is a process where the work is coated with metallic materials and heated in a kiln," she said. "The work is removed from the kiln when it is hot and put into a container with combustible materials. The resulting colors are formed by the fire, smoke and the atmosphere created by the burning of materials reacting on the thin layer of metallic glaze."

Nature was her main inspiration.

"Rural living, gardening, hiking and an outdoor lifestyle keeps me fascinated by visual information as rich and broad as geologic formations, weather patterns and the minute structures of bones, stones, plants and bugs," she said. "The inherent organic quality of clay allows me to express my amazement and reverence for natural processes and forms."

She has taught in Worthington schools for 15 years.

"Learning about art, and specifically ceramics, creates opportunities for students to engage in the study of an art form that has been around just about as long as humankind," she said. "We learn a very primal lesson when making a pinch pot, and even though the skill no longer hinges on our survival, the act of creating connects us to basic human experience."