A turtle, a Jack-O-Lantern, a piano, a balloon, and a dragon? When did these things ever come together in the same category?!
At Empty Bowls, of course. Last Thursday, the Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) Steering Committee courageously headed down in the bitter cold to create ceramic bowls at the Wildflower Arts Center.
Empty Bowls is a project that calls for adults, youth and children in the community of Calgary to become aware of youth homelessness in Calgary and allows them to get involved. Volunteers of all ages create fantastic and beautiful ceramic bowls at the Wildflower Arts Centre, and then auction these bowls off in a fundraising event, where fellow Calgarians will purchase tickets to a mock-soup kitchen, allowing these guests to experience and remind them of the youth that go hungry in Calgary. Every year, the YVC Steering Committee chooses the proceeds from Empty Bowls to go a different youth organization; 2009 being Yahoo Youth Housing.
In a previous post, I was a member of the Summer Youth Steering Committee, committed research potential celebrities, and discussed what the design of what “fill-a-bowl” aspects of Empty Bowls would be. Now I was making them out of clay.
Slamming down thick pieces of clay and molding them into malleable clay bowl forms, the clay bowl making was an extremely fantastic outlet for creative expression, and stress relief. The YVC Steering Committee was definitely an advanced artistic group, as beautiful patterns and shapes emerged (mine was an attempt at a coiling dragon around a bowl), resulting in approximately 20 bowls. After the “flooding” of the art tables, I couldn’t wait to come back and make some more bowls. Music to lighten and create a comfortable atmosphere, chatting with friends, and a great cause were definitely great aspects of bowl making.
Come out and sign up to create great bowls as well! You can get involved here.