By Brian Ruth
The Scene staff
People at the St. Louis Art Fair can enjoy their coffee in handmade cups again this year, courtesy of St. Louis Community College.
Ceramics students and faculty from across the district will make more than 1,000 cups to give away to people who visit the college’s booth during the Sept. 5-7 fair in downtown Clayton.
“Last year, we gave cups to people who were interested in taking classes,” said Art Annex technician Miles Boyd, 35. “We get data, we get public representation, and we get the STLCC name out there.”
The kiln-fired cups are the size of small teacups, about 6 ounces. They’re tan with the letters “STLCC” stamped on the side.
Matthew Isaacson, 33, coordinator for Forest Park’s Ceramics Department, said the college’s booth will be staffed by faculty from all four campuses.
Full-time faculty also will display their own work at the booth.
“It’s not a very big space,” said Jim Ibur, the college’s fair coordinator. “But we’ll be able to show an amazing, diverse and talented group of faculty.”
Ibur, 54, is a professor of ceramics and an assistant chair in the Department of Design, Visual and Performing Arts on the college’s Meramec campus. He has been demonstrating pottery making at the fair for 10 years.
The booth also will provide information on theater, music and other college programs.
“We’ll be promoting the visual arts foremost,” Ibur said. “But because of our affiliation with other cultural media, we will be talking up the entire district.”
The idea for the cup giveaway was born last year, when former STLCC Marketing Director Delancy Smith asked Ibur what he thought of participating in the art fair.
“I thought it was an awesome idea that was overdue,” Ibur said. “I came up with the cups as a giveaway, and it just kind of took off.”
Students and faculty plan to start making the cups later this summer at Forest Park and Meramec. Isaacson sees it as a good production experience.
It takes him about three minutes to “spin out” a cup on his potter’s wheel. Timing of the entire project is harder to estimate.
“There will be between four and 10 people working at least a minimum of 50 hours,” Ibur said.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of people working on cups,” said Art Annex technician Marija Lajsic, 27.
A former Meramec student, Lajsic graduated from Webster University in 2011 with a degree in art education. She can make a small cup in about five minutes.
“I’m hoping to make 200,” she said. “We’re still keeping the design simple, with some minor alterations.”
Making this many cups on deadline could be considered mass production.
“The difference is there are no parameters about creating something exactly the same,” Ibur said. “Each cup is unique.”
Ibur also is a songwriter and musician. His band, Flying House, will perform at the fair.
“We make radio-friendly rock ‘n’ roll,” he said. “It makes me happy to have all three — my role as a visual artist, as a teacher representing the community college and as a musical artist — come together at such a great venue.”
The Art Fair Sourcebook websote has ranked the St Louis Art Fair one of the top 10 art fairs in the nation.
“We attract upwards of 130,000 visitors every year,” said Cindy Lerick, president and executive director of Cultural Festivals, which produces the fair.
“This year, the applicant pool included 47 states, Canada, Israel, Argentina and Mexico.”
The fair was created in 1994 to provide an economic boost for the city of Clayton. Founders Ben and Susan Uchitelle included “St. Louis” in the name to assure national and international reach.
But local residents often call it the “Clayton Art Fair.”
Last year, the college gave out about 500 cups at the fair.
“Everybody did such a great job,” Ibur said. “This year, we’ll need to have our cups ready for the pre-party for sponsors.”
The St. Louis Art Fair will be set up on portions of Forsyth, Meramec and Central streets. The location of the college’s booth has not yet been announced.
People can stop by the fair’s Hospitality Center near Meramec and Maryland for maps and directions or go online to culturalfestivals.com for updated information.