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The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

Ceramic Guild sells handcrafted pieces for holiday sale

SF State
SF State student Laura Kelly, 26, looks through ceramic bowls during the annual holiday ceramic sale inside Room 192 of the Fine Arts Building in San Francisco on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Photo by Godofredo Vasquez/Xpress

Christmas music fills up Room 192 of the Fine Arts Building, which is filled with carefully placed bowls, mugs and plates with a kaleidoscope of colors.

The Ceramic Guild started the annual sale Nov. 26 and continues until Nov. 30.

The club offers all kinds of dishes: bowls, cups, mugs and plates. Handmade bowls range from $8 to $80.

The room is adorned with holiday decorations from garland and candy canes. Red and white striped pieces of candy are attached to some of the ceramic pieces.

SF State
SF State student Connor Norris, 19, center, shows his friend Tiffany Tang, 23, left, the ceramic ice cream during the annual ceramic sale inside Room 192 of the Fine Arts Building in San Francisco on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Photo by Godofredo Vasquez/Xpress

Jill Buchholz visited the sale for the second time to look for certain household furnishings.

“I have none,” the nursing major said. “Here, I can put together my own unique set of dishes.”

Leslie Rice, a graduate student in the Fine Arts Department, fell in love with ceramics during her undergraduate years, she said. Before going to graduate school at SF State, she taught at a high school.

This is her second year in the Ceramics Guild, which consists of about 120 students. The guild and sale has been around for about 30 years, Rice said.

“We spend two weekends together to make all the bowls,” she said. “Every bowl has been touched by so many hands. The first person throws it in. The second one makes the trim. Someone else glazes it.”

Since members in the guild help create the ceramic pieces, the students are allowed to sell their own work.

Guild members use the proceeds to participate in the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, where they get to show off their work.

“The money raised with the bowls is meant to support the ceramics student experience, especially with all the budget cuts,” Rice said.

SF State student, Nicholas Oh, sold his work at the ceramics sale for the second time. His work took up about three shelves; mugs and cups and all sorts of dishes.

“I like clay, the way I can manipulate shape and form,” he said. “It’s challenging to get the right form; the exact form. It doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to.”

It took Oh about half a semester to finish a project and he worked on about three or four projects at a time. Currently, Oh is working on a temple inspired by his trip to Korea last winter.

Gwen Kelly is a broadcast and electronic communication arts graduate who worked at the ceramics sale. This was Kelly’s fourth consecutive year working the sale.

“Some items are more personal, others are bulk. At the beginning of the semester, we come together and just “make” something,” she said. “There are also leftovers from other years.”

The ceramics club is the oldest club on campus, Kelly said.

“People go out of their way to collect work here,” she said. “We have our fans, I recognized people today from last year and faculty members return as well.”

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    FrancescaDec 10, 2012 at 11:39 am

    Really sorry I missed this! I would have loved to support a good cause and get some of the Xmas Shopping out of the way! I love the ice cream cone and Connor’s face! Thank you for putting this together and great follow up article!

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Ceramic Guild sells handcrafted pieces for holiday sale