Buffalo State College's Fourth Annual Western New York Clay Olympics will take place at 11 a.m., Thursday, May 23, in the ceramics studio in Upton Hall 128 on the campus at 1300 Elmwood Ave.

The event will begin at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center with a 10 a.m. lecture by visiting artist Kathi Roussel, a Buffalo ceramic artist and graduate of the college's ceramics program.

The Clay Olympics events will get under way at 11 a.m., and include a day-long exhibition of the artwork by students participating in the competition. Roussel will jury the students' works for cash awards.

This year the event has expanded to include contests between 45 students from five area high schools. As an added competitive motivation, the students' art teachers are all graduates of Buffalo State's ceramics program - Brett Coppins Lewiston-Porter, Matt Sagurney from Kenmore East, Ann Perry from Lancaster, Scott Losi from Pioneer and Shawn Leffler from Wellsville. Their students will compete individually and in teams using clay and various clay forming methods in timed events. Student teams from each school will also compete with each other to design a t-shirt to represent their school and the event. The overall total point winner will receive a clay trophy created by last year's winner.

Funding for the event is made possible by the Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Sheffield Pottery, Lewiston-Porter High School and Buffalo State College.