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PCC Instructor Wins Honor at World Ceramic Exposition
Photos and story by James Hill
ROCK CREEK CAMPUS – Wally Schwab, visual arts instructor at Portland Community College, won honorable mention from the inaugural World Ceramic Exposition in Korea. The international art competition is a three-month tour of submitted artwork that honors the opening of a world ceramic center in the Kyonggi Province of Korea. Korean officials estimated the attendance of this exhibit at five million people.Schwab, who has been an instructor at PCC for 12 years, entered his stoneware decorative platter in August. The piece joins a 300-piece exhibit of functional and non-functional ceramic works that toured Korea from August to October. Schwab, of Aloha, said the process to make the prize-winning platter took about a month."I was very pleased to learn I was accepted into this exhibit,"Schwab said. "They had applicants all over world and a handful from the United States. I felt pretty honored because it is a very prestigious thing."The platter will be a part of the exposition’s permanent collection. The exhibit honors the newly built ceramic theme park that includes a gallery and kiln museum. Schwab sent in a resume of his work that included slides of his most prized artwork. He then was selected by the exposition’s organizing committee to create a piece for the exhibit, which later won the honorable mention distinction.