Page 10 - The Highacres Collegian, April 4, 1975.
POTTER VISITS
CAMPUS
By Donna Marie Baver
Highacres was honored
daring the week of Feb. 3
with the presence of an accom
plished potter, Nancy Ziegen
fos. Ms. Ziegenfas spent the
week giving informal demon
strations of her craft and dis
playing Her work.
Ms. Ziegenfus has been
working with pottery for two
years. When asked why. she so
enjoys the craft she replied
that she likes the feel of the
clay. "I like to work with my
hands," she said.
However, pottery is not
the only form of art work in
which Ms. Ziegenfas is inter
ested, She is also interest
ed painting and sculpture and
spoke with great authority on
the subject of famous artists
photography and the emergence
of art to what it is now.
Mr. Ziegenfus considers
herself first and foremost a
teacher. She gets great en
jpyment from imparting her
knowledge to others. She en
joys her craft. She considers
herself a craftsperson rather
than an artist—but feels no
need to gain a lot of money
through her craft.
Ms. Ziegensus elaborated
on the history of pottery-mak
ing, speaking on the techni
cal advancement in the field.
She noted the large amount of
chimiestry involved in pottery
making. Different clays need
different temperatures to
properly fuse, different chem
icals cause varying shades in
glazes, to name only a few
examples.
Ms. Ziegenfus considers
pottery one of the original
crafts, science combined with
craft and skill. She did note,
however, that some people con
sider pottery a fine art. To
explain this she noted that
pottery that is designed for
a specific function is a craft,
while pottery which is designed
for aesthetic value alone is a
form of fine art.
The young lady noted that
every potter and every pot are
unique. She does not always
end up with a piece exactly like
the idea she had in mind. A
piece can change 1,000 times,
she said, before she feels it
is complete, and it may ulti
mately be nothing like the
piece she began to make. She
does not like to work on a set
with matching pieces because of
the great difficulty involved
in forming similar pieces.
She noted that she once threw
24 bowls to make a matching
set of eight for her sister.
Ms. Ziegenfus* work was
displayed and on sale in the
Library for the week thatshe
visited our campus.
Ms. Ziegenfus is return
ing to Highacres to display
her work at the Fine Arts
Festival to be held for the
first time at Highacres this
year over the weekend of May
9, 10, and 11.
What Do You Want
In Your Newspaper?
I would like to see the Collegian contain mores
News:
.Local news.
News from University Park.
.Student/facuity news.
.Besidence Hall news.
Editorials
.Student/faculty opinion.
National interest opinion.
Local editorials.
Features
lusic coverage,
took reviews,
fovie reviews,
[umorous articles.
Sportss
.Intramural coverage.
Penn State sports.
Local sports coverage.
Campus events (such as the air hockey tournament).
Miscellaneous s
.Photos of campus, special events.
Art work.
Opinion polls.
.Other (please elaborate).
Bicentennial
Crafts
University Park—ln connection
with the Bicentennial obser
vance, the Cooperative Exten
sion Service at The Pennsyl
vania State University is
conducting a survey of crafts
men in Pennsylvania for fu
ture craft development.
Craftsmen who make tra
ditional, folk or contem
porary crafts of quality,
thereby contributing to Penn
sylvania's cultural develop
ment, are asked to send a
postcard with their name,
address, telephone number and
description of the craft they
create to Miriam E. McGrew, 51
Agricultural Administration
Building, University Park, Pa.
16802.