The Wesley Foundation and the Department of Visual and Theater Arts co-hosted the third annual Cups for the Cure Saturday, Feb. 2, in correlation with World Cancer Day.
Community members came out to purchase handcrafted cups and mugs made by UTM Associate Professor of Fine Arts David McBeth and his advanced ceramic students for a $15 donation.
McBeth thanked the crowd and stated that over $10,000 has been raised since he started Cups for the Cure three years ago.
According to Donna McBeth, David’s wife, over $4,000 was raised during the two hour event. All proceeds will be donated to the Anna Kate Wenz FIGHT Foundation and the Joliet Oncology-Hematology Center, both regional cancer research institutions.
There were 400 cups and mugs handcrafted for the event, 50 of which were donated by One Potter Pots, a ceramics student of McBeth’s with her own pottery studio. The remaining 350 mugs were produced by McBeth with the help of a few advanced ceramics students. All of the cups made for the event were utilitarian in nature, simply meaning they were intended to be used.
“When they have their coffee out of it, not every time, but sometimes they’ll be in the right mindset to think back to making this donation and the good that comes out of that,” said McBeth.
Several local organizations, businesses, and artists sponsored and supported this year’s Cups for the Cure.
E.W. James & Sons supplied grocery bags for the event. Trinity Presbyterian Church gave a sponsorship donation of $150. Teddy Kay studios, one of McBeth’s former students, donated her time in the studio and assisted in handle making and all of that is in addition to the 50 mugs donated by One Potter Pots, who has also previously donated over 100 plates for Empty Bowls.
The Department of Visual & Theater Arts donated the glaze and space in the kiln where the cups and mugs were fired, and The Wesley Foundation hosted and helped promote the event.
In addition to Cups for the Cure, McBeth also organizes a similar fundraiser in the fall, Empty Bowls, which has raised over $90,000 in the past 15 years for local food banks. The idea to start Cups for the Cure came after McBeth and some of his advanced ceramics students were working on Empty Bowls four years ago.
“Over the course of time our family has been effected and connected to friends and loved ones who have gotten cancer and have either survived through it, or lost the battle to it,” said McBeth. “In 2014 my mother was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and only lived 21 days after that diagnosis, so that really pushed the idea into the forefront of my thinking.”
“I have to do something to respond to this,” said McBeth.
Empty Bowls returns to UTM every year in February and all are invited to attend.
UTM ceramics Professor David McBeth demonstrates the process that he and his students used to craft each handmade cup. | Photo Credit/ Anna Baker
