Coffee drinkers and art patrons are able to share their interests as the School of Art Gallery hosts the national juried ceramic cup exhibition, called “8 Fluid Ounces.”
Kristin Malia Krolak, gallery coordinator, said invitations were sent across the country to professional artists and other university art schools.
More than 100 artists applied, and the cups judged as the best are presented in the exhibition.
Krolak said among the pieces selected to be on display, many are from current LSU art students.
Michaelene Walsh, assistant professor in the School of Art, judged and selected the ceramic pieces in the exhibition.
“The cups in this show explore and expand upon ways we might relate to something that is conventionally so everyday, as to be overlooked as simply ‘eight fluid ounces,'” Walsh said.
From cups depicting George Washington to those shaped like giraffes, the exhibition’s designs vary from piece to piece.
“Some cups were chosen as celebrations of good design. Other cups stimulate associations between body and culture, ritual and nurture or story and reflection,” Walsh said.
Krolak said they received a lot of support for the competition and exhibition from people around Baton Rouge and from LSU graduates.
“The whole community got together and there was a lot of great support,” Krolak said.
A reception on Friday, which many University and community mentors attended, highlighted the exhibition.
“It was almost like a family reunion,” Krolak said. “LSU has one of the top five ceramic arts schools in the country, and there are a lot of graduates that are very supportive of this program.”
Krolak hopes the exhibition will receive enough support to continue the competition in the future.
“There is a lot of strong support and community in ceramics and hopefully we can put on this competition every year or every other year,” Krolak said.
“8 Fluid Ounces,” which began Feb. 17, will be on display in Foster Hall until March 10. The exhibition is free and open to the public.