MC PROFESSOR FEATURED ON RECENT SEGMENT ON KWQC-TV
Release Date: January 25, 2002
Kevin Roberts, a lecturer in Monmouth
College’s English department, appeared on a recent “Paula Sands Live” show on KWQC-TV.
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Roberts
was featured as part of a series on people with hobbies in the Quad Cities area. A
Moline resident and former teacher at Moline High School, Roberts has been a collector
of Department 56 pieces for 12 years.
“I’ve been collecting since 1989, when
my wife and I bought a couple pieces from the Dickens village for her mother,”
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MC English lecturer Kevin Roberts shows off one of the Department 56 vignettes he
designed for his recent appearance on “Paula Sands Live.” |
said Roberts, who has approximately 320 of
the more than 1,000 pieces offered by the company. “I’ve found that people either really know
a whole lot about Department 56, or they know nothing at all.
“Out of the eight Department 56 villages, my
favorite is the North Pole collection,” he continued. “All of the pieces are either ceramic or
porcelain, and they’re all handmade and hand-painted.”
While Roberts was on the air, he
demonstrated how to cut and sculpt styrofoam to make foundations for the villages. He
typically starts with a 4’ x 8’ sheet of styrofoam and uses a hot wire or hot knife to cut and
melt his work at the same time. Other tools he’s used include a coping saw and a simple
breadknife.
“It was just so quick. It went by in a
blur,” he said of his six-minute appearance.
Roberts put together three vignettes
especially for the show, and he noted that Sands herself has a few Department 56 pieces, so
she was knowledgeable about the subject.
The company is located in Eden Prairie,
Minn. For more information, visit their Web site at
www.department56.com.
Released
by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330
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