by Mike Hudgins
For months, potters at Clay Works! in Hamilton have been shaping, glazing and firing bowls.
Some are wheel-thrown, others built by hand, and no two are quite alike. By Oct. 17, organizers hope to have about 300 of them lined across tables, waiting for someone to choose one.
Every one of them was made to help put food on someone else’s table.
The ninth annual Empty Bowls fundraiser will bring together local potters, restaurants and volunteers to raise money for food-security programs throughout the Bitterroot Valley.
“It’s really well attended,” organizer Barb Mendrey said. “Usually we run out of tickets before the event starts.”
The idea behind Empty Bowls is simple. For $35, attendees choose a handmade bowl donated by a local potter, then sit down for soup and bread provided with help from area restaurants. They take the bowl home afterward as a reminder of the event and the people it benefits.
This year’s event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 17 at Cornerstone Bible Church in Hamilton. There will be two seatings, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 12:30 to 2 p.m., with room for about 100 people at each.
In previous years, the event was held at St. Francis Pastoral Life Center. Mendrey said organizers decided to begin rotating the event among three Hamilton churches that host community dinners.
Empty Bowls came to the Bitterroot through potter Sidney Mehlschmidt, who participated in the program while living in Alaska. When he came to the Bitterroot, he suggested bringing the idea here.
Robin Ireland, now studio manager at Clay Works!, spearheaded the effort for the past eight years and continues to play an instrumental role in the event.
Mehlschmidt remains one of its most prolific potters, making about 50 of the roughly 300 bowls prepared each year. His distinctive shapes and glazes have developed a following among people who attend the fundraiser.
“You can always tell a Sidney bowl,” Mendrey said.
The rest come from a group of roughly 12 to 15 potters who donate their time and work throughout the year.
Preparation begins long before soup is poured. This year’s first “throwdown” was held in March, followed by additional sessions in May and August. During a throwdown, seven or eight potters may work at the wheels while hand-builders work alongside them. Separate glazing sessions are held after the bowls are formed.
Clay Works! provides the clay, glaze and kiln time for the project, allowing participating potters to make bowls without paying for the materials themselves. The studio has also received grants in previous years to help offset those costs.
The finished collection reflects the different potters who contribute to it. Bowls range from smaller dessert-sized pieces to larger soup and salad bowls, with artists experimenting with shapes, techniques and glaze combinations.
That individuality isn’t lost on the people who take them home.
Mendrey recalled people coming into Clay Works! after previous Empty Bowls events carrying a bowl and asking who made it because they wanted more from the same potter. Since not every artist signs a bowl, studio members sometimes have to study the piece and identify its maker by style.
The bowls may be the most visible part of the fundraiser, but the effort extends beyond the pottery studio.
About 10 area restaurants typically donate soup for the event. Crockpots keep it hot throughout the two seatings, and organizers try to provide choices for a variety of dietary needs, including vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free options. A bake sale is held separately.
The event also relies entirely on volunteers. About six people help set up the day before, while roughly 10 are needed during the event to serve soup, oversee the dining room, keep coffee and bread stocked and handle work in the kitchen.
Proceeds benefit food-security programs throughout the Bitterroot Valley, from Stevensville to Darby. This year’s recipients include Community Meals, Haven House, Darby Bread Box and the Stevensville Food Pantry.
The fundraiser has grown steadily since its early years. Mendrey estimated organizers may have started with around 200 bowls. Today, they aim for about 300, giving the 200 people attending plenty to choose from.
People do choose carefully.
“People actually look forward to it,” Mendrey said. “As we get closer to the event, we have a lot of people walking in going, ‘I need tickets,’ and we’re out. We don’t have any more tickets.”
For Mendrey, the project is about more than pottery.
“We feel really privileged to live in a community as lovely as this, but we know that people are still struggling,” she said. “To be able to use something that we love to do to help other people is kind of a win-win, because we enjoy doing what we’re doing.”
Mendrey is a retired physician who spent about the last six years of her medical career practicing addiction medicine. In retirement, pottery has given her a different way to serve people.
She described the change in goals simply.
Before, she said, the goal was to ease suffering.
“Now my goal is to give joy.”
For more information, go to clayworkshamiltonmt.com/empty-bowls.
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