Annual sale of student pottery at NOVA Annandale on Wednesday, Nov. 6

Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale Campus will hold it annual sale of one-of-a-kind student pottery on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the Annandale Campus outside the lower entrance of CA.  Among the artwork for sale will be cups, mugs, plates, bowls, vases and more in many shapes, sizes and colors,

Just in time for holiday gift shopping, this pop-up sale features “a wide variety of artisan ceramics at bargain prices,” according to the NOVA news release.

All of the one-of-a-kind items that will be offered for sale at the event have been handcrafted by students and teachers, and all proceeds will benefit the ceramics program at NOVA. Shopping hours will be 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.  

To give potential shoppers an idea of the various kinds of items that will be available for sale, we were connected with Professor Virginia Pates, M.F.A., the NOVA faculty member who is responsible for the ceramics program at the Annandale Campus, and who helped write the curriculum that has been offered since 2019.

According to Professor Pates, there are “extensive ceramics facilities at both the Alexandria and Annandale campuses, and we work in a wide variety of techniques and include instruction in not only forming clay, but selecting and understanding clay bodies; loading, unloading and firing kilns; using, formulating and making glazes, slips and engobes; firings can include oxidation, reduction, Raku, salt, pit firing, earthenware, majolica, and experimental firings.” Day, evening and weekend classes are offered.

How popular is the ceramics curriculum? Professor Pates noted there were 10 A.F.A. graduates that first year (when the pandemic was swirling), In Spring 2023, the number of graduates had jumped to 116. Ceramics was among the first to work out a four-year degree program pathway with George Mason University, the professor added.

The address for NOVA’s Annandale Campus where the students’ pottery will be for sale is 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale VA 22003.