Empty Bowls returns to The Umbrella!
October 2, 2015 by Jess
-written by Caitlyn Marsh
Empty Bowls is happening again at The Umbrella. This is only our second time, and the event has already grown beyond last year!
We kicked off summer with an all day adult student Bowl-A-Rama in late June. About 60 bowls were made here by our talented Spring student body. Over the course of the summer all of these were glazed. Many were used as decoration surfaces for my students in my experimental summer clay course focused on glaze. We have got some amazing results!
Right before Fall session began we held a second adult student Bowl-A-Rama, where another 40+ bowls were produced. Students have also set aside time to trim and clean up the bowls as the begin to dry and harden. We tried to stamp all our empty bowls with our handmade EB stamps.
Our first free public bowl making session was last Friday, again a great success! This year there's much more support behind the project, and our volunteer coordinator Kathy Warren has brought in fabulous people to help our guests and create bowls themselves. Also different this year, I organized an Empty Bowls Team comprised of 6 adult ceramic students to help mange, plan, and instruct. It was a joy to have 4 pros with me cleaning up last week, discussing the final loose ends of the event.
Tonight is the second free public bowl making session, and I hope we have enough clay recycled to last until 8pm! We're able to offer these making sessions at no cost because all the stoneware clay is recycled. I spent all summer, and am continuing this fall, to recycle as much clay each week as possible. Recycled clay is formed from all the scraps, slop, and unused or dried pieces of clay. It takes several days to dry and return to normal clay. Again, without all our students working and contributing to our studio recycle bin, we wouldn't be able to organize this in the same fashion.
Stop by the first floor clay department anytime to check out our progress!
And don't forget to attend the big Empty Bowls event Thursday November 5th 6pm-8pm, where for a suggested $20 donation guests can take home a bowls to keep after enjoying a warm simple meal with us here at The Umbrella.
