Holiday Art Sale to Return After Pandemic Hiatus
By Cameron Butler
Editor-in-Chief
Canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, HWC’s annual Holiday Art Sale is set to take place once again this December.
The art sale will be held on December 15 and 16 at 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in room 103 of Harold Washington College at 30 E. Lake St. in Chicago.
While discussing the Holiday Art Sale, Associate Professor of Art Jessica Bader explained to her ceramics students how a piece of clay is “thrown off the hump,” which is where a clay piece, like a bowl or lid, is shaped, or thrown, on top of a larger hump of clay.
“We do what the clay tells us to do,” said Bader, spinning wet clay on her pottery wheel.
A rough draft of the event’s promotional poster suggested the possibility of free hot chocolate and a raffle, although these details weren’t confirmed.
Bader also explained to her students that a fully formed piece of raw clay goes into a kiln, a type of oven used to turn clay into ceramic, for two separate firings. The first firing is called a bisque, the second, a glaze, with each taking three days to complete.
With ceramic items, blown glass, paintings and prints available for purchase, there will be thousands of art pieces for sale. On average, one student may have around 50 pieces of art for sale, according to Bader.
The Holiday Art Sale acts as a networking opportunity for fellow artists, while also giving them a chance to “trade war stories,” said Bader, who also mentioned students interested in taking an art class at HWC were welcomed to check out the event.
Bader explained the art sale will feature glass pieces from Firebird Community Arts, an East Garfield Park-based nonprofit organization whose mission involves “empowering and connecting Chicagoans through the healing practice of glassblowing and ceramic arts,” according to their website.
Some ceramics students had no difficulty in finding inspiration in creating the art that will be on sale.
“Being able to work with your peers and seeing what they’re working on alongside you, how they find inspiration, just all these different kinds of forms that, you know, come to life all around you. It’s easy to be inspired,” said 27-year-old Jess Gaul, a ceramics student in Bader’s class.
Jess Gaul, 27, a ceramics student in her second semester at HWC.
The ceramics lab was open to students throughout the pandemic, although with reduced class sizes, according to Gaul.
This semester, Gaul is a student tutor for new ceramics students.
“I get to be around all of the beginning ceramics students and see everything that they’re doing, so it’s just really cool to see the process from beginning to end,” said Gaul.
Another ceramics student, 31-year-old Latashia Morton, found inspiration in her past.
“[My] inspiration came from a young lady; she was a teacher at my grammar school. She always used to come into [my] class, give me art supplies, drawing paper,” said Morton. “She kept me like a mother, you know, like a godmother […] she just inspired me to be better, to be better and courageous.”
Morton went on to explain how she eventually lost her passion for art—until going back to school last year—which she described as the best decision she ever made.
Latashia Morton, 31, a ceramics student in her fourth semester at HWC.
“Never stop loving what you do. Even if you do stop, pick it back up. Pick it back up because you never lose that spark, it’s always within you,” said Morton.
Any HWC student taking an art class will be able to sell their art at the holiday sale, with HWC alumni also welcomed to sell pieces, said Bader.
“When you buy a gift, you buy a little part of the artist,” said Gaul.
