Sale showcases various pottery styles

Colorful mugs, plates, vases and bowls line the shelves between Fine Arts Rooms 173 and 174. Students make their purchases and go home with handcrafted ceramics from the IU Ceramic Guild's pottery sale, which began Tuesday and continues until 3 p.m. today. \nAround Christmas and Mother's Day each year, the IU Ceramics Guild holds a pottery sale of Fine Arts students' work. The sale raises money for the IU Ceramics Guild and participating student artists. The IU Ceramics Guild is trying to raise enough money to rent studio space to display student work at the 38th Annual National Council for Eduction of Ceramic Arts (NCECA), which takes place March 17 through 20 in Indianapolis. If the organization receives enough donations, IU student artwork will be exposed to the international crowd of over 5,000 people attending the conference. \n"We have put $500 down to reserve space at the conference," said second year MFA student Hunter Stamps. "But we need another $1,500 to rent the building. We will have graduate students, undergraduates and alumni show there during the conference. It will be really good for all of us." \nThe money is also going to help support the Pre-NCECA Ceramics Conference Workshop the IU Ceramics Guild is planning to hold in Bloomington March 14-16. \n"We're doing something slightly more scholarly here than in Indianapolis," said Georgia Strange, the director of the School of Fine Arts. Strange said Bloomington's pre-conference will have international guest panelists, demonstrators and lecturers. Ceramics will be on display at various galleries throughout Bloomington during the pre-conference. Students working at the sale said they felt it was very successful.\n"This is the busiest day I can ever remember us having," second-year MFA student Greg Stahly said. \nDaniel Gardner, a first year MFA student, said he estimated more than 200 pieces had been sold on the first day of the pottery sale. \n"We've done as much business today as we did all year last year," Gardner said. \nStrange said the sale is a great opportunity for student artists to get feedback on their work. \n"There seems to be unconditional love and support from the people who buy the ceramics," she said. \nStrange said peer critiques at the school are often brutal, but people who buy pottery only see the beauty in it. The positive feedback gives the students more confidence. Strange said she enjoyed the pottery available at the sale and had spent more than $100 there on student pieces.\nGardner said he thought one of the great things about the pottery sale was all of the pieces being utilitarian. Nearly every ceramic on sale could be used to serve food or beverages.\n"It's just a great outlet for students," Stamps said, "to sell and show their work to other students." \n-- Contact staff writer Jenica Schultz at jwschult@indiana.edu.