Christina McCleary, Columbia Art Center ceramics manager, works on the pottery wheel.

Empty Bowls raise funds for hunger

Columbia Art Center ceramics staff and volunteers have been hard at work shaping, trimming, firing and glazing 300 bowls for an upcoming fundraiser. The event offers affordable pottery at nearly half the cost of buying a bowl at a gallery, all while supporting local charities.

Empty Bowls will be held Saturday, Oct. 4, from 5:30-8pm at the center in Long Reach. Tickets are $20 and include a ceramic bowl and dinner, with proceeds benefiting Meals on Wheels and AIDS Alliance of Howard County. Festivities will include studio demonstrations, live music, raffles and a silent art auction.

Art Center student Sue Nicholson, of Long Reach, had the idea to bring the Empty Bowls concept to Columbia. Empty Bowls began in Michigan in 1990 when a high school art teacher used bowls as a reminder of hunger in the world as part of a fundraiser.

The art center's inaugural Empty Bowls fundraiser, held in 2007, raised $6,000 for Grassroots of Howard County. Art Center Manager Liz Henzey said she hopes this event, which aims to draw 300 people, will also raise a large contribution for charity.

Nicholson first took classes at the Art Center 10 years ago. She has made about 20 bowls for this year's fundraiser.

"[Pottery] is a good way to express yourself and get down and dirty," she said.

It took a core group of about 30 artists a year and a half to create bowls for this year's event. On group work days, the volunteers threw clay on the wheel for up to five hours at a time. Each handmade bowl took weeks to complete, and several volunteers contributed to the many steps to create each bowl.

"Each bowl goes through many hands," Christina McCleary, ceramics manager, said. "These bowls are made by the community."

The bowls are varied and appeal to a variety of tastes, having been reviewed by several committees to represent the best, McCleary said.

"Bowls are one of the most intimate forms of art," she said. "They contain sustenance to nourish you. You hold them in your hands."

It's more labor intensive to create pottery than most people realize, McCleary said, noting that about 20 percent of the ceramics break or become unusable at some point in the process.

The Art Center's ceramics program offers affordability and a well-established group of students who are welcoming to newcomers. About 90 ceramics students take classes during the center's four seasonal sessions. The Art Center's ceramics studio rivals that of any university, she said.

Photographer Dennis Gilbert, who teaches for the Art Center, has documented the Empty Bowls process throughout all the preparations by taking photos. The bowls are stoneware or porcelain, so they are food safe, microwave safe and dishwasher safe.

Information/tickets
Columbia Art Center
410-730-0075
www.ColumbiaArtCenter.org

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