"Since I happen to be a clay guy and not a glass guy, we're going to beat the pants off glass."

It was a moment of levity from Bill Strickland as he addressed a packed house of studio ceramists, ceramic educators and representatives of local arts organizations at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild Thursday. The occasion was the launch of "Cera(mix) Pittsburgh," defined as "a regional celebration of diverse expressions of contemporary ceramic art ... to raise awareness of ceramic art in Western Pennsylvania."

Seated in the second row and directly in front of Strickland were Heather McElwee and Paige Ilkhanipour of the Pittsburgh Glass Center and Amy Morgan of Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, and Strickland's friendly challenge alluded to the extensive programming they and like organizations have done for the current yearlong "Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass!" event.

The motivation for this clay fest is the annual conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), which will be held at the David Lawrence Convention Center March 19-22, 2008, as the PG reported in June. The Guild is conference-site organizer, and Strickland, who knows his way around a potter's wheel, will be keynote speaker.

The projected conference attendance is 5,000, considerably more than the 1,300 the June Glass Art Society conference expected.

Strickland also announced that "Cera[mix]" had just been officially deemed part of Pittsburgh 250, the city's 2008 anniversary celebration.

It was a moment of pride for Strickland, Guild founder and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corp., who said it "is a fairy tale [for an] inner-city kid from this neighborhood to be asked to do this."

Strickland paid tribute to his mentor, the late Frank Ross, who taught art at Oliver High School. "Hundreds -- maybe thousands -- have gone through this place because of a man they will only meet through me."

The circumstance by which Pittsburgh landed the conference wasn't ideal, though. NCECA representative Shoji Satake, of West Virginia University, explained that a conference had been planned for New Orleans the year Katrina hit, and it was postponed until 2008. But it became evident that The Big Easy wouldn't be ready to host such an encompassing event by next year and a search began for a new site. Satake praised Pittsburgh for taking on planning responsibility with about one-third the lead time usually allowed.

With deadlines imminent, Josh Green, the Guild's director of Arts & Education Strategies and NCECA 2008 conference on-site liaison, asked organizations to consider hosting some of the 60 exhibitions that have been proposed for the conference -- 27 of them in response to a national call and more than 40 from a regional call. Sarah Nichols, interim director of the Pittsburgh Glass Center, is co-chairing exhibitions with Green.

Some organizations have already come on board. The Society for Contemporary Craft and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts immediately stepped up to host two cornerstone conference shows, Green said. The center has also committed to building a raku kiln for demonstrations during the conference, and the kiln will become a permanent part of the center's class programming.

Green expects clay activities and exhibitions to begin in January and increase during the lead-up to the conference.