Times were lean and worry abounded. The art department didn't have the funds to buy replacement kilns and other specialized equipment.
Without the necessary equipment, there was palpable concern - would the program survive?
No one guessed the event would become an annual tradition, so popular that would-be buyers stand in line for the sale to begin.
The annual Christmas Sale and Juried Show celebrates its 21st year this week, with an event that begins Thursday evening.
Ceramic and sculpture work crafted by students and their professors will be for sale at affordable prices, Lo explained, because the event hasn't lost sight of its other original intention: to raise funds for the department.
Of the money raised from the three-day sale, 50 percent is pocketed by the student artists and 50 percent goes to the Starving Sculpture and Ceramics Students fund and the Artist Collective of the University of Montana.
Among the kiln-fired cups and platters, vases and other ceramic works, will be sculpture, including snow globes, belt buckles and Christmas ornaments. Items from the Artist Collective, such as drawings, paintings, photographs and prints will also be for sale.
The event makes about $9,000 for the art department, with the money used to bring as many as eight visiting ceramics artists to campus each year, and to send students to conferences that specialize in ceramics.
Last year, proceeds from the sale sent UM students to England to attend an iron-casting conference and provided scholarships for students to take summer courses at the Archie Bray Foundation ceramics school in Helena.
A juried show goes hand in hand with the event to showcase the very best student work, much of which is not for sale, Lo said.
This year, Doug Baldwin, a retired professor of the Maryland Institute of Art and a UM graduate, will judge the show.
Cash awards, $600 in all, and in-kind donations such as ski tickets from local resorts are awarded to students whose work is judged the best of the best.
Lo, an accomplished nationally known artist in her own right, said people can expect to see and find lovely things at this week's sale.
“The work is good,” Lo said. “I think it's competitive with schools and with potters across the country.
“Since Rudy Autio has been here and involved with the department, we have a tradition of excellence with ceramics and we are keeping the tradition going.”
For Nate Closson, the sale will be the last in which he has items for sale. The soon-to-be graduate is hoping to earn what he did last year from his sales - $250. Not that his art is for money, but because he needs some extra coin to buy Christmas gifts for his family.
“The show is a lot of fun,” he said. “People line up at the door before it begins, and a lot of stuff goes in the first 15 minutes.
“It's exciting to see people so excited about our work.”
Art for sale
The annual Christmas ceramics and sculpture sale at the University of Montana is this Thursday through Saturday in the Art Annex, next to the Adams Center. The event is free and open to public.
The sale is from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
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