Ceramic bowls made by West Virginia University art students working in China will be unveiled Friday (Aug. 8) by U.S. and Chinese ambassadors during the dedication of the new U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

The unveiling will occur on the same day as the opening of the Olympic Games .

President George W. Bush , who will attend the Beijing Olympics, is expected to officially dedicate the new embassy complex on Friday.

The bowls made by our students are the official commemorative bowls that will be unveiled at the dedication, and they will be on continuous display at the new U.S. Embassy,said art professor Bob Anderson , head of the WVU ceramics program in China.

The project began with a vision by WVU Distinguished Alumna Vivien Woofter, a member of the College of Creative Arts board of advisers. Woofter had the idea for the bowls and introduced the interior designer of the new U.S. embassy to the WVU ceramics program at Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China.

Woofter was formerly director of interior planning design for the Office of Foreign Buildings of the U.S. State Department. She has also served as head of interior design at the White House.

The bowls are 14.5 inches wide and have the 50 flowers of every state,Woofter said.There is also a picture of the embassy by day on one side of the bowl and on the other side a picture of the embassy by night.

They will be a very big part of the opening of the new embassy,she said.They will be given as special gifts and exchanged by the ambassadors of the United States and China, as well as other special guests.

Anderson began the popular summer course at Jingdezhen in 1996 and later expanded it into a semester-long program. In 2005, WVU opened its own building complex on the Jingdezhen campus.

Jingdezhen is considered the porcelain capital of the world, producing imperial porcelains since the Yuan Dynasty. Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute is Chinas national school for ceramic education and the premier academic program for ceramic arts in all of Asia. It has the largest and most comprehensive group of faculty and staff that continue to teach both ancient and contemporary craft techniques.

According to Anderson, the program offered by WVU is the only one of its kind in existence.

Our program allows students to spend the semester for credit in Jingdezhen, where they work with faculty at the Jingdezhen Institute, as well as local artisans and people from the manufacturing sector,he said.

Our summer program also continues and has become known as the most comprehensive study and travel program in ceramics in the United States,Anderson added.Participants include ceramic students and professionals from across the country and also from Europe.

One of the goals of the program is to expose young ceramic artists to the many traditional ceramic techniques of Jingdezhen and China through classes as well as demonstration and workshops given by local masters and artisans.

In addition, the program offers an extensive travel segment to allow students to explore the countrys cultural and historic sites and the origins of Chinas ceramic legacy.

With 600,000 square feet of office space, the New Embassy Compound in Beijing will be home to 1,200 employees from 26 U.S. agencies. The complex includes an eight-story main chancery building, a three-story atrium office building, a consular building, a parking garage and a Marine guard security quarters. The buildings are joined by gardens, courtyards, wooden bridges and a lotus pond.

The embassy is the second largest overseas construction project of the U.S. Department of State.

For more information about the WVU College of Creative Arts exchange program at Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, go to www.wvu.edu/~intlprog/mpa/08ChinaCeramics.htm