Empty Bowls, Utah raises funds for city's hungry

Intermountain Catholic

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Hundreds of soup bowls of every shape, size, and color were available for $15 each. Buyers were treated to a bowl of soup and bread. IC photos by Barbara S. Lee

SALT LAKE CITY — The Saint Vincent de Paul Center was the showplace for hundreds of hand-made bowls donated by members of Clay Arts Utah and other artists for the fourth annual Empty Bowls, Utah May 3.

Randi Lile, manager of Red Kiln Pottery Studio and Gallery in Salt Lake City and, with Cheryl Glenn, one of the organizers of the event, said buyers were encouraged to join the artists "for a simple meal of soup and bread, then choose a bowl for $15 to take home as a reminder of all the bowls you helped to fill."

Rare were the buyers who went out with just one bowl under their arms.

"Clay artists have been setting bowls aside all year in anticipation of this event," Lile said. "Then, we had a bowl-a-thon. Some artists fashioned the bowls, others painted them, still others fired them, and others glazed and refired them. The bowl-a-thon produced 150 bowls."

Last year’s Empty Bowls, Utah raised $6,000 for Catholic Community Services, Lile said. "The Empty Bowls fund raiser is a national event. This is the Utah chapter."

In a corner just inside the door potters Bill James and Chuck Parsons demonstrated how bowls are made on a potter’s wheel. They created several pieces and set them aside for firing, painting, and glazing.