Ceramics Club presents student work at Pot Sale Sale

Mugs with woodland creatures, porcelain pots with delicate designs and containers shaped like food will fill the first floor lobby of the Fine Arts building and be available for purchase Wednesday and Thursday.

These handmade creations and other pieces of pottery will be the goods for sale in the Fine Arts Ceramics Club’s Biannual Pot Sale.

The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days and will be located in the first floor lobby of the Fine Arts Building.

Lauren Duffy, a second year graduate student in ceramics and the president of the Ceramics Guild, said the pieces for sale will be diverse in both form and process.

“They range from clean, minimal forms to intricately carved surfaces, from hand drawn designs and quirky characters to decals to the beautiful effects of wood and reduction firing,” Duffy said. “Each artist has their own unique way of handling clay, and thus the style in which they work is specific to each person and will be evident in the work they produce.”

This wide range of artistic expression is visible in how the artists describe the works they will have up for sale.

Senior Rob Kolhouse will be selling mugs with anthropomorphized woodland creatures printed on them and junior Marta Finkelstein will offer mugs that look like they’ve been sewn together as well as some in the style of beer steins.

Adams Puryear, a master’s student in ceramics, is making mugs with graphic imagery on the surface.

Third year graduate student Ben Fiess has created porcelain pots glazed with bright colors.

Kolhouse, Finkelstein, Puryear and Fiess all said they enjoy ceramics because of the adaptability of the medium and the possibility of creating something different every day.

They also said rather than being upset when a piece is sold, they take joy in knowing the new owner appreciates their art.

Finkelstein said it is a wonderful process to be the creator of an object, even though he might feel a part of himself is attached to the object.

“It is also wonderful knowing that once you sell something, like a mug, it may well be someone’s everyday favorite mug,” he said. “It’s a worthwhile trade.”

Most items for sale will be priced between $5 and $30, with some of the larger items and sculptures ranging higher, Duffy said.

The funds that are generated through the sale are split between the artists and the guild’s visiting artists program.

Besides this educational and creativity enriching advantage, Duffy said the sale is perfectly placed before the holidays.

“The sale will be a perfect place for people to find affordable, quality gifts,” she said.