{"id":19587,"date":"2026-03-10T15:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/?p=19587"},"modified":"2026-03-11T16:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:26:24","slug":"empty-bowls-midwest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/stories\/empty-bowls-midwest\/","title":{"rendered":"Pottery with a Purpose: Serve Soup and Fund Community Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this church basement in south Minneapolis, local food security and art become <\/em>collaborators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 15 years, Kingfield Empty Bowls<\/a> has joined grassroots organizers across the Midwest and world, fundraising for neighbors in need. Empty Bowls<\/a> founders John Hartom and Lisa Blackburn organized the first event in Michigan in the 1990s for art students to create change in their community.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Alana Horton \/ Arts Midwest<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n Several local ceramic studios fire many of the bowls to be sold later at the event.\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n \n \n <\/figure>\n\n
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Ashley Annett is the community coordinator with the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, which puts on the event each year. She sets the scene during \u2018Soup-er Bowl Sunday\u2019 this winter:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou come in,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0greeted by a volunteer or two, you go downstairs, you\u00a0pick out your artist-made bowl,\u201d\u00a0Annett\u00a0says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those bowls are all made and donated by local potters or locals who want to try their hand at it. The neighborhood organization even hosts painting parties for folks to glaze them before sending off the bowls\u2014which numbered nearly 800 this year\u2014to get fired at local studios.<\/span><\/p>\n

At\u00a0<\/span>their\u00a0<\/span>fundraising<\/span>\u00a0event,\u00a0<\/span>f<\/span>olks can\u00a0<\/span>donate<\/span>\u00a0(the suggested amount ranges from $25 to $40)<\/span>\u00a0to local organizations\u00a0<\/span>before filling up their bowls.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Annett says around $18,000 was funneled right back to the community, through these donations and non-bowl ceramic raffle tickets.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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\u201cYou\u2019re nourishing people, you\u2019re bringing people together, and you\u2019re raising money that\u2019s going right back directly into the hands of people in your community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ASHLEY ANNETT, KINGFIELD NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION<\/cite>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n