It's an ongoing fundraiser, local but in many places, for services for hungry and homeless people. Potters donate handmade soup bowls, restaurants and bakeries donate soup and bread, sometimes musicians donate performances; and anyone interested comes to lunch or dinner, makes a donation, chooses a bowl, and fills it with food. You keep your bowl. Check out emptybowls.net.
I know of 2 Empty Bowls events in San Diego this spring:
Coronado High School on April 19
La Jolla Methodist Church on May 12.
I've heard wonderful stories from the potters' perspective, about people choosing their bowls. There are all sorts of bowls donated, ones you like, ones you hate. But there's the story of the little boy grumping through the entry line, until he found the bowl with the dinosaur carved into it; then it was his event. Or the little girl delighted with a bowl with a big red heart, that no adult would touch.
Something for everyone. But is everything for someone? I am fascinated and always surprised at the things people choose, from the pots I offer for sale, or from the huge selection at UCSD Craft Center sales. Why do you like that? As I work more in pottery, I am coming to see why I like this. But other people's taste? A great variety, clearly, and marvelously mysterious.
There are people who donate 100 bowls. I've got 6 drying. Oh, well. But many potters in San Diego participate. It's a lovely project to get your hands into.
