Club Mud Spring Sale at Georgia Southern is May 3-5

April 23, 2007

The Annual Club Mud Spring Sale and Exhibition, now in its twenty-third year, offers the public an opportunity to view and purchase original artworks created by students enrolled in the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art at Georgia Southern University. The sale and exhibition begins Thursday, May 3, from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., and continues Friday, May 4, from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., and Saturday, May 5, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. The event will be held in the Ceramic and Sculpture Studio located on campus at 236 Forest Drive. Club Mud features work from art students in a variety of media: ceramics, jewelry and small metals.

Ceramics professor Jane Pleak began this sales and exhibition opportunity with her students twenty-three years ago as a learning activity sponsored by the ceramics student organization, Club Mud. ‘The opportunity to turn the studio into a gallery offers the students a chance to enter into the business of art,” she said. ‘Learning about the marketplace, meeting the public and offering a product for exhibition and sale are essential components of being a functional and successful artist. Reaching out to their community and their audience is a necessary process in students’ growth as artists and craftspeople. Through this annual event, the students understand the practical hands-on work required to operate a full-time studio.”

The community benefits from Club Mud community because it provides a venue in which to purchase hand-made art. Artwork prices range from $5 to several hundred, and students receive 80 percent of the sale price. Twenty percent of each sale is used to fund visiting artists and student travel to professional conferences. Both graduate and undergraduate students participate in this event. All students and faculty involved in the sale volunteer their time in order to make this event possible.

Ceramic students will be selling beautiful and unique hand-made pottery and sculpture that is both functional and decorative. The ceramic works on display will highlight the students’ broad range of techniques taught in the ceramics program. Patrons can expect to see richly colored glazes and decoration on dinnerware, mugs, candleholders, vases, and sculpture.

Students enrolled in the jewelry courses taught by Christina Lemon learn about creating one-of-a-kind jewelry in sterling silver, gold, copper, bronze, brass, nickel silver and enameled metals using various techniques including: fabrication”the use of silver soldering; stone setting; and enameling”fusing powdered glass onto metal surfaces. The success of a particular handcrafted jewelry piece rests on several factors that include: design, media, cost of production to the consumer, and production time.

For further information, please call the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art at 912-681-5358; Jane Pleak, 912-486-7473; or Christina Lemon, 912-681-5299.