The world organization of China Painters Midwest Porcelain Art Show is coming to Austin Thursday through Saturday at the Holiday Inn Conference Center.

This is the organization’s first four-state regional convention covering Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota.

For event organizers, its a chance to show off their passion. It will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

“I’m a china painter, that’s my love,” Helen Petersen said.

Petersen, the show’s chair, has painted porcelain for about 25 years since her sister convinced her to try it.

“She was teaching China painting and she kept wanting me to paint,” she said. “I’ve never regretted the decision.”

This is the fourth convention Petersen has organized, and she chose the Austin Holiday Inn Convention Center due to it’s location in regards to the other states and the size of the center. She is excited for the upcoming convention.

“I love the conventions because I get to see people I haven’t seen since other conventions, and they come from all over the United States,” she said.

The items that are painted are also functional. Petersen said they paint things like cups, saucers and plates.

“When people get married they always have to have this beautiful set of China, well that’s what we do,” she said.

Though they don’t necessarily paint whole sets of China, they make different pieces into works of art.

“Its just like counted cross stitch, you take a piece of something white and when you get done you’ll have a design that will hopefully last forever, and it’s functional,” Petersen said.

The event is free and open to the public. There will be demonstrations of China painting, paint-alongs, different displays of painted porcelain, and vendors selling supplies to get started. The show will also host a competition of hand-painted porcelain and raffles. There will be pieces for display and for sale.

“It’s just fascinating,” Petersen said.

Petersen invited the public to come see the different items and get a feel for something they could do.

“[I hope] that they will love it so much they want to learn how to do it too,” she said. “[It’s] as simple as oil painting or water color.”