By Josephine Lee–

For two days, the ceramics room in the HPES Building transformed into a Christmas bazaar, lined wall to wall with ceramics with Christmas music playing in the background. The Annual Student Pottery Holiday Sale took place on Dec. 2 and 3 and featured unique and handmade pottery and ceramics, all of which were works from students and alums from the fine arts program and local ceramists. A wide variety of pieces were featured in the holiday sale and ranged from vases and decorative bowls to dinner platters, salt and pepper shakers and jewelry. Students, parents and people from the community were invited to browse through the pottery selection and support local art.

This sale acts as a showcase for the students, and also allowing them to profit from some of the proceeds from the sale. The funds brought in are split between the ceramist and the Ceramics Arts Club, which helps pay for new tools and also brings in nationally renowned ceramists from around the country and gives workshops to students.

Some of the items in the sale were designed to be in this ceramics sale. Patrick Rademaker, senior ceramics major, designs cups, bowls, glasses and other ceramic pieces that focus on functionality.

“I make stuff that people will pick up and grab,” said Rademaker.

The items in the sale were vastly unique in design. The room was filled with multiple colors, shapes, textures and varying ceramic style. For senior Phillip Rodriquez architecture is used as inspiration for new art pieces.

“A lot of the things I make are influenced by different cultures – Islamic mosques, Russian architecture, Asian architecture, Indian architecture and also, somewhat, geological forces.

Ceramics is so in tune with geology in general, it’s all just rocks and dirt, that it’s kind of hard not to have a connection with it,” said Rodriquez.

This pottery sale also allows students a networking tool and the chance to get their works out in the community. Many alumni and local artists come back year after year. U of L alum Sonia Thompson, who graduated from the fine arts program, returned this year to support her former classmates.

“A lot of people who graduate come back to support the sale and see how the program is doing,” Thompson said.

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Photo: Austin Lassell/The Louisville Cardinal