Empty Bowls is a nationwide event in which handmade bowls crafted and donated by potters, woodworkers and glassblowers are sold and auctioned off, with all proceeds going to community hunger-fighting organizations.
The Ceramics Guild, headed by ceramics professors Stephen Heywood and Trevor Dunn, is donating the bowls from Wednesday night to Lutheran Social Services, which operates one of the largest food banks in Jacksonville.
The guild crafted — or in potter’s terms “threw” — a stockpile of bowls to be sold at the event. While there are only 12 active members of the Guild, mass-production of quality, marketable bowls was a walk in the park for the experienced craftspeople of the Ceramics Lab.
For newer members of the guild, the throwing process alone was rewarding. Throwing clay and yielding a visually appealing result is harder than it looks. It requires persistence, consistency and a willingness to get your hands dirty.
The guild were kind enough to teach me a few potting pointers, and take a stab at making my own bowl. I didn’t realize how messy the task would be when I showed up at the lab. I was wearing one of my favorite shirts – a long-sleeved, green collared button down – which would end up crusted with dry clay before the night was over.
I sat timidly at a potter’s wheel for the first time since my pre-teen creation of a crude, lopsided vase (evidence of this monstrosity has since been destroyed) for an all-encompassing art class I took in 7th grade. After an enthusiastic two-minute pottery crash course by Professor Heywood, I threw two bowls that actually came out halfway decent.
The bowls that we made as a group will be fired, or hardened, in a big pottery oven called a kiln, generally kept around 2300 degrees Fahrenheit. Following the hardening process they will be painted with glaze and fired again, which will make the products smooth and polished, and will then be contributed to Empty Bowls.
“It’s really fun to see this big slab of clay turn into something really cool that you made with your own hands,” said freshman Amanda Wind, displaying a few of her bowls lined with intricate mandala-style carvings.
Wind, a special education major, is familiar with Lutheran Social Services’ community-focused efforts. When she wasn’t a ceramics student, she volunteered at Lutheran Social Services with UNF’s honors program, tutoring and playing soccer and volleyball with underprivileged refugee children from countries like Burma and the Congo.
“They come to Jacksonville, usually speaking no English, not knowing anything about America; no schooling, nothing like that – they lived in refugee camps their whole lives. So our job is to help the kids and the adults adjust,” said Wind.
Senior Logan Wall became fully immersed in pottery culture after she changed her major from journalism to ceramics. She often spends over 12 hours a day in the cozy art space behind the Fine Arts center.
“There’s definitely a strong sense of community in ceramics,” said Wall, proudly donning a clay-covered Ceramics Guild tee. “I feel accomplished and successful because I can make things. I really like producing things that you can use.”
Functional ceramics is a common form of pottery. Professor Heywood, who received his Master of Fine Arts degree in ceramics at Edinboro University, focuses the majority of his curriculum on this approach.
In conjunction with this style, Heywood is a strong proponent of “service learning,” which he has used to apply creativity to many different fundraising events like Empty Bowls and Relay For Life.
“It’s an opportunity to do something that we teach in class and have an impact on someone else in the community on a higher level,” Heywood said. “It’s built in. We teach people to be potters, to make bowls. And this organization needs bowls to sell to make money to raise money for food.”
Heywood is notably passionate about supporting the community. For people who are interested in farm-to-table and local organic dietary choices, Heywood offers a bit of advice to help sustain not only local agriculture, but also the thriving art industry of Jacksonville.
“People still make and use and purchase handmade objects,” Heywood said. “If you’re gonna get your groceries from the farmer down the road, you should probably not get your plates from China. Why don’t you get them from the local potter down the road that’s using local, native clays and is firing in a kiln that has less of a carbon footprint from using sustainable materials like wood?”
Patrons who are interested in supplying food for the hungry while also supporting friendly neighborhood artisans can attend Empty Bowls on Nov. 17 at the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center. They will be served a light lunch and will be given a bowl on the way in. Tickets are selling on Lutheran Social Service’s website for $30.
All Photos by Michael Herrera
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