The winners of this year’s John Frank Memorial Scholarship Awards have been chosen by your Scholarship Committee.  Each year more students apply, and the competition gets tougher! Those whom we found worthy of our support are from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond and the University of Oklahoma.  Junior and senior winners of the competition will each receive $500 per semester for the next school term; graduate school winners will receive $250 per semester.  They will be introduced to you at the Open House and the Awards Banquet on Friday evening.  We hope you will all have a chance to introduce yourselves to them, shake their hands, and congratulate them on being winners.  Make them feel welcome, and know that we have faith in their futures as artists.  They are both outstanding potters and very lovely people.

As you know, it is the annual auction that funds those scholarships.  And the auction items come only from us, the FFCA members!  The net profits from the auction are used for the support and encouragement of outstanding junior, senior, or graduate students of ceramic art. Why only juniors, seniors and graduate students?  Because we feel that, by the time they’ve reached that level, they’re serious about a career in the field of art. We have observed that younger students tend to be still “testing the waters” and have not made their decision a firm one. It’s the serious, dedicated, no-nonsense student whom we wish to support!

Thanks to your generosity, our Frankoma Family continues to make a truly significant contribution to the continuing education of these worthy, talented young artists.  We must not take this challenge lightly!

We have so many new members who need to know our deep feelings about our wonderful scholarship program—so we’ll repeat the following without apologies!   John Frank often met young artists who were struggling to get through school, and he never turned his back on them.  He himself had been helped in his early years by the generosity of people who believed in him, and he vowed he would “pass it on” and do the same for others when he could. If he truly believed that a student had potential and was destined to make a positive contribution in the Art World, he would slip them an amount of money, whatever he could afford.  It wasn’t much to begin with, and sometimes all he could do was buy a piece of their work. Later, as he became more successful, the dollar amounts got larger and larger.  Many of the recipients of his generosity and his faith in them became successful and well-known artists, curators, and teachers. And they never hesitate to tell their stories and give credit to the man who believed in them enough to help them avoid having to drop out of school because of lack of funds.

This work we’re doing is important, friends!  Think of what a difference we’re making in the lives of our future ceramic artists.  In this era of high-tech, “instant” products, real (and good!) ceramic artists are few and far between.  And we pottery lovers must not let the true pottery craftsmen of this generation die on the vine. They are the future of our ceramic art culture!

This is how our current scholarship winners follow Mr. Frank’s example and “pass it on” to others  . . .

Each of the previous year’s winners generously donate one or two of their works to the following year’s auction, as will last year’s winners give to AUCTION 2004.  It’s their way of saying thank you to us— as well as helping one of their fellow artists along the way.

Here are those words that we repeat year after year—“Old men plant trees.”  Remember that ancient saying?  These scholarships are the trees we plant!  Some of us will not be around to enjoy their fruits, nor will we live to rest in their shade.  But the next generation will be forever grateful that we were wise enough to plant them for their nourishment and pleasure.  Again, we implore you to help us keep the John Frank tradition of generosity alive and well within our Frankoma Family!  We know that even now Mr. Frank is ever so pleased and proud that we are carrying on his efforts, and in his name.

So please!  Look through your Frankoma collection and select whatever you can send to be auctioned this September.  Remember—every item you donate to your AUCTION 2004 will take another ceramic student that much closer to his or her education goals, and on to their future careers in art.  They will be the teachers of our children, and our children’s children.