–

When I picked up our youngest daughter in Pennsylvania to bring her home for Thanksgiving she was in the pottery studio at college finishing up some work to be fired while she was gone. A talented ceramicist–see here and here and here– she is minoring in both studio art and math while majoring in Physics. This term in her sophomore year, with long physics labs and being a teaching assistant for another physics lab, regretfully her schedule didn’t allow for her to take a pottery class.

So she embarked on this “Empty Bowls” project for hunger relief as her pottery outlet this term, promising 150 completed bowls before the Empty Bowls fundraiser early in December, where the bowls all will be sold to individuals and filled with soup at a fundraising dinner to benefit local hunger relief charities. She has made over 200 bowls so far, giving her wiggle room to still make good on her commitment if some of them have glazing or firing mishaps.

She made 40 of those the weekend before Thanksgiving– wow, that is a lot of work in a short time– and those are the ones shown here. In these photos you can see her carving their “feet” and signing them to be ready for the kiln while she is on break. You can also see a shelf of other bowls she has made for this project that have been bisque fired but not yet glazed. Once she returns from Thanksgiving break the glazing process begins in earnest!

I’m proud of her dedication and hard work, for how she has wisely paced herself, and how she is giving back to her community. It is great to see her and have her home.  I have been cooking up her favorites, which is another form of hunger relief, I suppose.  I am so grateful she is happy and thriving!

–