Empty Bowls at Carleton
For the past five years, students from Professor Connole’s advanced ceramics course have been involved in a civic engagement project that raises money for the Northfield Food Shelf. The students make bowls in a community, each student participating in the careful construction and finishing of each object without taking individual ownership of the work—much like the cooperative pottery setting dominating most of the history of ceramics. Once the bowls are complete, students work with the interest houses on campus to generate homemade soup to feed between 400-500 people on the Bald Spot. Soup is served in the ceramic bowls, selected by guests, who keep the bowl as a reminder of the empty bowls across the world and those in Northfield. Guests are asked to make a donation for their simple meal and handmade bowl, $10-15 donation suggested, and the funds are donated to the NF Food Shelf at the Community Action Center.
This year’s event is scheduled for May 15th, following a convocation relating to hunger issues.
Musical Fare at Empty Bowls 2008
Empty Bowls=Full Stomachs, EB 2008
Empty Bowls Beyond Carleton
“The basic idea for Empty Bowls is simple. Participants create ceramic bowls, then serve a simple meal of soup and bread. Guests choose a bowl to use that day and to keep as a reminder that there are always Empty Bowls in the world. In exchange for a meal and the bowl, the guest gives a suggested minimum donation of ten dollars. The meal sponsors and /or guests choose a hunger-fighting organization to receive the money collected. Any organization fighting hunger qualifies. Many groups choose to donate to organizations within their own community and others choose to give their donations to national or international hunger relief. We ask that groups participating in Empty Bowls send us information about their involvement for our archives.”
From Empty Bowls Website