How art can help a community
On Saturday I ventured out to try something new. We all know that sometimes that simple step can be a difficult thing to do. Luckily I did have a friend, ceramic artist and sculptor Yvon Dockter, who I was meeting at a local Empty Bowls event.
What a powerful thing! Have you heard of these nationwide events? Leading up to the event, local artists and volunteers spend their time and creative energy making soup bowls and mugs. All of the bowls are then donated for an event. Tickets are sold for $20, and the people who come get to pick out a bowl and then eat soup (which is also generously donated by restaurants and individuals). A slice of bread was also available, water, coffee and tea, as well as some sweets. In our case here, there were lunch and dinner seating options.
I was a late-comer to the dinner event, but it was still a pleasure to get to choose a bowl. Here's the cute-y I adopted:
There were several soups to choose from, and I went with split pea since that's not something I make at home very often. Yvon and I sat at a table with several other people and had a nice conversation with the others there. One couple wanted to go back to try more of the soup options, and fortunately another woman spoke up to remind us all that this event is an example of people who are low- or no-income (and may face empty bowls a lot) and the point is for us to have a simple bowl of soup as dinner, like at a soup kitchen. Not a huge portion, not repeated fill-ups... luxuries we can often take for granted.
This annual event here benefits Hospitality House, which relies almost exclusively on donations. The thing that I loved most about this event wasn't just that we each made a $20 donation that goes directly back to our community (and there were almost 500 event attendees! that was powerful in and of itself) but that the community has to pull together to make it successful leading up to the event.
500 is a lot of bowls! Yvon selected this event as the big way she would give back to the community each year, so she makes close to 50 bowls to donate! Additionally she made several special "big bowls" for the silent auction which brought in some wonderful bids.
You can be sure that next year I will contribute some bowls. Pottery is not my "thing" so to speak, but I loved this event so much that it would be great to feel even more involved. The Empty Bowls website has a calendar of events around the country, so look for it in your area. Or better yet, get it started! It could be such a fun workshop to make bowls at a local pottery studio specifically with an upcoming event in mind.
When heading out to a new event, I always try to don some jewelry. I knew this was a deeper, more meaningful event than hoping for some networking (yet I'm always prepared with cards). I kept it simple and just wore these fun earrings:
Triple Stack Cube Earrings, photo by Thea Dickman, ©2011 Kathy Frey
Even though I ended up meeting a lot of new people and having some great conversations, I'm glad the attention was focused on the event and our wonderful community. I kept my cards neatly tucked into my purse for future uses.