Quirk Gallery hosts silent auction for VCUarts students

Amanda Hitchcock
Contributing writer

This past Thursday, ceramics students, professors and enthusiasts gathered at Quirk gallery for VCU’s Craft and Material Studies Department’s “Clay is for Lovers” silent auction and exhibition.

Quirk, an art gallery most known for its wearable art products, hosted the event. The auction and exhibition were a fundraiser for the students to go to the 47th conference of the National Council on the Education of Ceramic Arts, in Houston, Texas.

The conference features a host of distinguished artists, presentation and demonstrations, providing an educational opportunity for the students who attend.

Vases, cups, necklaces and figurines graced the tables of the gallery’s main exhibition room. Viewers were invited to peruse the pieces and place bids on whichever they chose.

Andrea Keys-Connell, exhibiting artist and assistant professor in ceramics, explained that, though the exhibition appeared cohesive, the pieces varied greatly in terms of the artists’ educational experience within the department.

“The show is a good mix. We have first-year ceramic students. Junior and senior undergrads and grad students have their pieces here. Some of the faculty even participated by donating their work,” Keys-Connell said.

Megan Oost, a student of VCUart’s ceramics department hopes that the money raised at the auction is enough to fund the trip.

“We all want to go. Everyone exhibiting wants to go on the trip,” Oost said. “We decided to put our work out there. It’s a giant collaborative effort.”

“I hope to do something like this every year, that’s one of my missions. It’s really important to take students to conferences for that kind of exposure and experience,” Keys-Connell said.

The gallery show, in addition to raising funds for the trip, also provided students with exposure as local artists and the opportunity to sell work in a professional environment.

“We owe a million and one things to Quirk,” Keys-Connell said. “Quirk let us hold the event without any percentage requirement, so all profits go to the artists. Sixty percent goes to the NCECA trip, and forty percent goes to the artists themselves. We are really thankful.”