Empty Bowls Houston is the perfect melding of three of my passions in life: working with clay, charitable works and teaching children. My involvement in the event started a number of years ago with donating bowls, but with little knowledge of where they were going or the actual impact this event had on the community. I’ve since increased my involvement by demoing at promotional events as well as the Empty Bowls Houston event itself. Now I’m able to introduce children and adults alike to clay, often for the first time, and I’m able to relate throwing a bowl and how this simple act can benefit the less fortunate.
Though being a potter is my first passion, being able to direct it in such a worthy, wild endeavor has really given me a new perspective and sense of joy that I would otherwise not have known. Empty Bowls Houston connects seemingly separate communities – the local artist community and the dedicated people of the Houston Food Bank – and it does so for the sole purpose of helping those in need.
The 14th annual event will be held on Saturday, May 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 pm at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. The cost of admission is free, and the majority of the great, handmade bowls that artists like myself make and donate to the event are just $25. That’s an amazing price for a one-of-a-kind piece of art, but the bonus is that each bowl purchased helps to fill empty bowls of those in need. In fact, Houston Food Bank can turn $1 into three meals for the hungry, so each bowl allows them to provide 75 meals to our neighbors who need help. Amazing! And each bowl purchase also gets you a soup lunch, live music in the garden, and lots of live demonstrations by artists, including potters, woodturners, mosaic artists and more.
This is a volunteer event, and 100% of the bowl purchases go to Houston Food Bank and its mission to fill pantries and fill lives. I hope you will join us at the event, and I look forward to teaching you to “throw” on the potter’s wheel!
Mak Taing