UNI ceramic students held their holiday pottery sale again this year, following last year’s cancellation due to COVID-19. Perfect for gifting, there were over 100 pieces of artwork available for sale on Friday and Saturday evening in the ceramics lab. 

Advanced pottery students were offered the opportunity to create pieces of their choosing and offer them up for grabs during the sale. Pieces included a variety of functional mugs, magnets, jewelry dishes and other artistic works. Professor of art and ceramics instructor, JoAnn Schnabel, oversees the sale as well as provides her own creations. 

“The sale is open to my advanced grouping of students and it’s totally optional to participate because it’s above and beyond coursework,” said Schnabel. 

Profits from the sale are split 60/40, with 60% going to the student who made the art and 40% coming back to the ceramics lab as students do not have to pay for materials or the use of firing the pottery. The students also get an input into where the money that comes back to the lab goes to, such as equipment or materials. “It’s an understood reality of what a real sale is. The artist never makes all of the money,” said Schnabel. 

Schnabel has taught at UNI for 31 years, and the holiday pottery sale has occurred for around 20 years. As for the ceramics courses, the advanced course is smaller in size while the beginning courses are always full, according to Schnabel. Regardless of the number of students providing work to the sale or the normality of the year, Schnabel suggests stopping by no matter the intention to buy or not. 

“It’s fun to have people come and see what we’ve done, even if they don’t purchase anything,” Schnabel said.