Photos by Amy Demmer Above: Jane Howard and her children, Adrian and Wellesley Howard-Larsen, work on their bowls for the Empty Bowls 2009 fundraiser. Their sister Paisley also made a bowl. They were among the more than 50 community members who participated in Make-A-Bowl open studio sessions at the Grand Marais Art Colony this fall. Empty Bowls, which is a fundraiser for the Food Shelf, will be held at the First Congregational Church from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12. Left: Korey Bockovich holds up a bowl he made and decorated for Empty Bowls 2009 at the Art Colony. He and other youngsters were part of the Stone Soup Gardeners, who grew vegetables at the WTIP Community Garden this year to use in a soup for the fundraiser Nov. 12.
More than 300 beautiful handmade bowls will be ready for the Empty Bowls Dinner, a fundraiser for the Cook County Food Shelf from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday, November 12 at the First Congregational Church.
There will plenty of soup and bread, too, donated by local businesses as well as organizations.
“We have donations from the Crooked Spoon, Gene’s Foods, the Whole Foods Co-op, the Pie Place, Gunflint Tavern, Dockside, Cascade Restaurant, Moguls, South of the Border, Bluefin Bay,” said Amy Demmer, administrator of the Grand Marais Art Colony, which is organizing the event this year.
Local churches are making soup for the event as well. So are the Stone Soup Gardeners, a youth gardening group which grew vegetables for an Empty Bowls soup in the WTIP Community Garden this summer. Potatoes, beans, onions and carrots were all harvested this fall, said Diane Booth, Cook County Extension agent. “We’re making Stone Soup,” she said.
Empty Bowls is now an international project to fight hunger and has raised millions of dollars to help the hungry. It was started about 15 years ago by a teacher in Michigan, who wanted to give artists and art students a way to make a personal difference in others’ lives. In that project, he had his students make ceramic bowls in their high school art classes. The bowls were then used as individual serving pieces for a fund-raising meal of soup and bread. Contributing guests kept the empty bowl.
The idea caught on throughout communities in the U.S. and Canada and the model of an Empty Bowls event has been maintained through the years, with some local variations.
Here in Cook County, children at Birch Grove Community School, ISD 166, Great Expectations Charter School and Oshki Ogimaag Charter School in Grand Portage have all made bowls for the event, as have more than 50 community members and local potters.
For a $10 suggested donation, you can pick out your favorite handmade bowl and enjoy a soup and bread dinner at the event. All the proceeds will be donated to the Cook County Food Shelf.
There’s also a silent auction with beautiful handmade bowls donated by regional artists as well as by community members. The Empty Bowls Silent Auction opens Saturday, November 7 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Grand Marais Art Colony. The bowls will be displayed at the Art Colony until Thursday, November 12, when they will be transported across the street for final bidding during the Empty Bowls Dinner.
Empty Bowls was partially funded by a grant from the Cook County Community Fund and proceeds from the Silent Auction will be used to carry on the event in the future.
For more information, call the Art Colony at 387-2737. And put this event on your calendar – it’s a great way to start the season of giving.
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