Empty Bowls, 2009

An activity that the Palouse Studio Potters do almost every year is Empty Bowls, and it is an event I really look forward to. The past two years I held small workshops where I invited friends to paint underglazes on bisqued bowls I made and donate them to the Empty Bowls. This has been a very enjoyable and worthwhile activity. The participants have a good time and have come up with wonderful results:

This bowl is by Rafaella, she is interested in learning more about maiolica. So rather than painting with underglazes directly on the bisqued bowl, I mixed a cone 6 maiolica glaze (Roy & Hesselbreth) for her to paint the glazes on top of to get that thick white background.

The delicate decorations on this bowl were painted by Tammy. She took hours to accomplish this look. She judged distances and sizes just by looking carefully.

The exterior of Daedin's bowl was inspired by Italian Renaissance Drug Jars. It looks great on bowls too. A strong design lasts through the ages.

A bowl painted by my talented son Gavin. He is a painting major in college, but this is his first use of underglazes as a medium.

A different application for me. Empty Bowls donations are a great place to experiment.

Another of my underglaze bowls. This one is also rooted in Middle Eastern ceramic design.

Empty Bowls recap

Empty Bowls, 2008, was a success for the Palouse Studio Potters Guild. We made over $1500.00 for Hunger organizations and had a great time doing it, although it did take quite a bit of work. I was proud of the Potters Guild members for their dedication and good energy.

Intended for Empty Bowl Donations

This Phoenix bowl was painted with underglazes and fired to cone 6.

This paticular influence was from a Medieval Persian fabric design.

Another Bird Bowl, also Ancient Persian in design for both interior and exterior

Bowls, bowls, and more bowls

These freshly thrown bowls are destined to be decorated by friends.

The Palouse Studio Potters Guild is holding an "Empty Bowls" chairty April 19th. For this we gather handmade bowls. http://www.emptybowls.com/ The website says: "The basic idea for Empty Bowls is simple. Participants create ceramic bowls, then serve a simple meal of soup and bread. Guests choose a bowl to use that day and to keep as a reminder that there are always Empty Bowls in the world. In exchange for a meal and the bowl, the guest gives a suggested minimum donation of ten dollars. The meal sponsors and /or guests choose a hunger-fighting organization to receive the money collected".

We are actually asking $15.00 for a bowl, still a great bargain. The funds we generate will be given to Oxfam and a local small town food bank that is in dire need of food.

This is the most wonderful activity. The Moscow Food Co-op provides 2 homemade soups and bread. We have offers of about 200 bowls from potters. The unfired bowls in the picture above will be decorated by non-potters (but artistic people) in two small workshops. I am also donating quite a few bowls.

This is another example of my Celtic Knotwork pottery. Bowls are such wonderful designs to decorate.

This is a simply designed soup bowl, simple for me and the way I work anyway.