The Clay Guild held an open studio to help raise money for Plumb Place, a local women’s shelter located at 224 E. 6th Ave, as well as to help Clay Guild members attend a conference and for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. The open studio was Valentine’s Day and anyone who wanted to try their hand at ceramics was able to attend.

“We open up our studio to the public and we let them come in and experience what it’s like to work with clay, to work with ceramics,” said Emily Young, vice president of the Clay Guild and senior ceramics major. 

They also brought in students from the Student Art Therapy Organization to help with the studio. It cost five dollars per person at the door and some of the funds earned will go to the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts

“Most of the earnings from the open studio usually go to a charity of sorts,” said Charlotte Blackwell  junior glass-blowing and ceramics major. “This semester 60 percent of our earnings went to Plumb Place, the local women’s shelter.” 

The open studio has also become a fundraiser for the Clay Guild itself, according to Stephanie Lanter, advisor for the Clay Guild and ceramics instructor

“In the last three years we have gone to a ceramics conference in the spring, and every year it’s in a different city around the country,” Lanter said. “This year it’s in Pittsburgh so the funds will help provide support.”

For an additional fundraiser, the Clay Guild also holds a ceramics sale on the Memorial Union Main Street once a semester. The sale will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 28 to March 2, according to Lanter.

“Most of the time there are cups, mugs, bowls, sometimes plates and then some people usually have little sculptural things,” Lanter said. 

Blackwell said that she enjoys the opportunity to teach people about ceramics. 

“We get several people during the sale and open studio that have absolutely no idea what ceramics is,” Blackwell said. “It’s always fun explaining what it is and how it works.”