Pottery and massage therapy go hand in hand for Brandon Zeringue, ceramics art senior from Ama, and originality is certainly mixed into everything from his appearance to his artwork.Zeringue says he does chair massages in his spare time as a stress reliever between classes and work in the art labs. “It stops my arms from getting too unconditioned when I can’t work on ceramics,” he says.
Zeringue says art was always encouraged as he was growing up in St. Charles Parish, which hosts a talented art program.

“Even before I started drawing I would go and grab crawfish mounds out in the backyard and play with the clay,” he says. “Living next to the river, I always found clay and used it, making little figurines for my mom. They’re still in the window.”

He says it’s difficult to name his favorite artist because he likes so many different artists for different reasons. However, he says DaDa art is one of his favorites.

“It’s kind of silly – free from logical confines at times,” he says. “We goof off a lot around here. We get work done, but it definitely helps (to create fun art). It’s like brainstorming.”

Zeringue says his favorite piece he created was a punching bag depicting a penis for the women’s art show, the themed-exhibition held every year. He says he is looking forward to this year’s theme, which is seduction.

Zeringue will also host a senior art show in Ameen Art Gallery in the spring, which will feature Raku fired pieces. Raku consists of heating up pieces very rapidly and then taking them out of the kiln while they are red-hot. American artists then put the items in combustible material like sawdust or newspaper to cause different chemical reactions resulting in artistic effects.

His creativity comes through in his appearance as well. A few years ago, he began wearing skirts to school. He said it began when the mural was being done in the Student Union. He saw a skirt at the Salvation Army and thought that if he would wear it over his pants, it would prevent paint from getting on his clothes.

“I got paint on the skirt,” he says. “I realized it was kind of neat. I started wearing skirts because it was comfortable and practical. I didn’t find it feminine at all.”

Zeringue says he thought the broomstick skirts he wore were as far from cross dressing as he could get in a skirt but stopped wearing them because they had no pockets.

“It was inconvenient, and I wasn’t going to start carrying a purse,” he said. “Pretty much everything I do with my appearance is based around convenience.”

Upon graduation, Zeringue hopes to enroll in a graduate program and possibly go into teaching or massage therapy.