Pacific University’s Art Department, led by Professor Terry O’Day, is hosting a ceramics event titled PacUBowls, in which the general public can go online at boxerbowls.org to browse the different student-crafted ceramic pieces before placing orders for their favorites. The website launched on November 20, and will remain operational until December 14, 2021.
Professor O’Day says that part of her reason for putting on this event is offering assistance to both the community and the students who participate in the form of a free meal and college credit respectively.
“Since we have a Civic Engagement requirement, I thought it would be a great way to tackle this in ceramics,” said O’Day. “Pre-COVID, we actually held the event in the Senior Center and invited the whole community.”
PacUBowls was inspired by a similar occurrence approximately thirty years ago, where potters crafted ceramic bowls to be sold before their buyers got to use them to enjoy a free portion of soup. All monetary profits obtained from selling the ceramic bowls were subsequently donated to charities that combat hunger.
Because of COVID-19, the event was changed from an in-person gathering to an online one. This was done in order to combat the spread of COVID-19.
“Had the pandemic never happened, we would have had a giant gathering using the bowls we made to serve meals,” said Randall Klagg, a Senior majoring in mathematics who supervised visiting fifth-graders who helped work on the bowls. “In order to prevent infection, our event is strictly online this year.”
Behind the production of this event, Pacific students had the opportunity to work closely with one another and create a temporary reprieve from the stresses of university life. — Max Pennington
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