How in 1990 a high school art teacher in Michigan helped his students, and ultimately Cape Ann solve a problem? They were searching for a way to raise funds to support a food drive. What evolved was a class project to make ceramic bowls for a fund raising meal. Guests were served a simple meal of soup and bread, and were invited to keep the bowl as a reminder of hunger in the world.
By the following year the originators had developed this concept into Empty Bowls, a project to provide support for food banks, soup kitchens, and other organizations that fight hunger. Since then Empty Bowls events have been held throughout the world, and millions of dollars have been raised to combat hunger. The Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry saw this event as a way to raise funds and also to raise awareness in the community that hunger does exist on Cape Ann.
For the last ten years professional potters from the North Shore ClayWorks group have donated bowls; seniors at the Rose Baker Senior Center made bowls; students in public and private schools all over Cape Ann made bowls; and lots of people who had never worked with clay created hand-built bowls at Marty Morgan’s studio.
The photos above are: 1.) Jim and Lea Watson and Mark Morgan creating their lovely bowl contributions, 2.) some completed bowls awaiting glazing and firing, 3.) inside Marty’s workshop are many bowls in process (the blue tinted ones have been decorated, glazed and are awaiting firing) and a couple of finished products, 4. & 5.) pottery on a rolling shelf system, that when the time is right gets rolled into the large gas-fired kiln at right, and 6.) some of Marty’s lovely pottery in the studio shop. Marty Morgan Pottery is located at 428 Washington Street in Gloucester. Mary has been working on Cape Ann since 1972, creating dinnerware and other functional pottery. Her glazes and designs, inspired by the quarries and river outside her studio, has evolved over time. Her latest work features heavily textured, multi-colored porcelain wall tiles and vessels. She welcomes visitors to tour the studio, see work in progress and sit by the river to watch the swans and egrets. Visit www.martymorganpots.com to see more (and better photos) of her work. Marty also has some of her work on exhibit at the Sawyer Free Library as part of the Cape Ann Artisans Group exhibit through March, a very nice exhibit which you should definitely stop in to see.
This year’s Empty Bowl event will be held May 12th 4- 8 pm at Cruiseport. Tickets $15 for adults and $10 for children and are available at the door. Extra parking is available at Harbor Beach with complimentary trolley service to and from the event site. The Silent Auction part of the event features work by local politicians as well as local artists such as Marilyn Swift, Kevin Ellis, Betty Lou Schlemm and Sigrid Olsen. There will be delicious soups and breads donated by local restaurants and bakeries. Best of all, everyone in the community who attends the event has a wonderful time, makes a significant contribution to the Food Pantry, and gets to take home a beautiful bowl as an unspoken reminder that somewhere someone’s bowl is empty. In 2010 nearly 1,000 people attended the event and they raised over $26,000 for the Food Pantry!
On Saturday, March 26 from 10:00 am to noon, you too can enjoy painting a bowl to contribute for the event at Open Door Food Pantry, 28 Emerson Ave.
For more information on the Empty Bowl Project, visit www.emptybowls.net. For more information about the Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry: www.foodpantry.org, or call: 978-283-6776.
E.J. Lefavour
www.khanstudiointernational.com
Good Morning Gloucester 