Story by ANNA L. MALLORY
managing editor
Photos by SARA ARMSTRONG
news editor

Members of Keramos, Marshall's pottery club, celebrated July 4 by throwing pottery in Hamlin.

Student pottery from the fine arts department was on display and for sale Wednesday at Mud River Museum in Hamlin.

The museum, which used to be a dentists office, is in its planning stages. The purpose is to provide a community based education center for the cultural advancement of the Mud River area.

Danny Kebles is the museum's founder and also an art student at Marshall. He said having students display their art at the museum is part of an ongoing task to bring the community and the museum project together.

" I'm trying to get anyone who may be interested, students and community members to come down here and support us," he said.

The museum has nine members on its board of directors and 12 members on another informal board to help establish the facility.

Once fully opened for business, the board members hope to make use of workshops on lapidary, local geology, crafts, music festival, youth programs and computer training.

Kebles said board members are in the process of getting AmeriCorps grants to help with funding. He added that he would be open to working with Marshall¹s departments for money.

Working with Marshall is just one of the ways to integrate education and the arts, Kebles said.

"It [the museum] would lend itself to both institutions," he said.

Anyone interested in helping the museum is welcome.

"I like the idea of the ceramics club being here because its an earth science." he said.

Richard Dick, Barboursville senior whose work was on display, said he began making pottery as a way to raise his gpa. Then he decided although the art classes may not have raised his gpa, he liked it too much to stop.

"I was a pre-med major for three years, then I started throwing and decided to change my major to ceramics," he said.

Dick said the pottery sale went slower than expected because of bad weather early in the day. But, he said he had fun anyway.

Mira Springer, a student in Florida and friend of Kebles, came to the museum to see what it was all about. She had never thrown pottery, so she said she thought she would try.

"It was interesting. I'd recommend it for therapy," she said.

Elaine Yeager, a teacher from Martinsburg, said she had not had a hand at the pottery wheel either, but thought it was a great deal of fun.

Different types of Marshall students' work was on display.

A sculpture by Dick entitled, "By and By" which depicted a man pulling a heavy load sits at the entrance.

Dick said the sculpture was not on campus because officials worried about students climbing it.

Kebles said he would like to continue the event after this year and extend it to different times.

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