Most people don’t sip their morning coffee out of a mug shaped like an alien or bird. There is, however, a place for creative cup lovers in Nelsonville.
Artsy mugs from all throughout the country will be unearthed during Friday’s monthly street fest, Final Fridays, in the Historic Square Arts District. The biennial Starbrick Clay National Cup Show will be coming to Nelsonville for its second time.
For 10 years, Starbrick Gallery has celebrated the small town’s ceramics by displaying and selling local artists’ creations in the clay capital of Ohio.
Since the Industrial Revolution, Nelsonville has had a reputation for its burly bricks. The widely recognized Starbrick is made of the hardest firing clay, almost reaching the density of a diamond. Those bricks, which still line the streets of the square today, are also a common souvenir and symbol of Nelsonville culture.
“People really appreciate pottery here,” said Ann Judy, a founder of Starbrick Gallery and cup-show coordinator. “That’s our heritage.”
Judy, a potter and sculptor, shares ownership of the gallery with other local artists. The fine-art cooperative features the work of about 30 artists at any given time. For one month, the store will go beyond regional boundaries by displaying 50 cups from 30 states and Canada.
The show wasn’t always exclusive to cups, though. It started in 2004 as a celebration of sculptures and other ceramics until Brad Schwieger, the chair of ceramics at Ohio University, suggested a cup show in 2009. And so it was.
“Cups are the most common form studio potters make,” said Kristen Kieffer, an OU alumna and juror of this year’s show. “It is an excellent premise for an exhibition because it allows the surrounding community to see and experience handmade for an object to which they already have a connection and understanding.”
Prizes from $100 to $300 will be granted to the most captivating cups.
“It’s hard to recreate the cup, to make something unexpected or unseen,” she said in her juror statement. “I sought to include artists who brought their own spin, influence and flare to this not-so-simple form — whether it be detail, humor or gesture.”
Among the chosen 50, only a few were created within Ohio, including OU graduate student, James Tingey’s cup.
“OU has one of the best ceramics programs in the country, and this is a nice way to showcase that,” Tingey said. “And it’s good for a town of Nelsonville’s size to have outside work coming in because small towns need art, too.”
The quirky cups will be on display and for sale at the Starbrick Gallery until Oct. 25.
oy311909@ohiou.edu
