Kneading volunteers: Empty Bowls organizers seeking potters for Saturday event
Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 10, 2023
- Empty Bowls of Cullman is putting out the call for volunteer potters both novice and experienced, with the latest of several upcoming pottery-throwing events set to take place Saturday, Aug. 12 at Meek High School’s pottery studio, operated by longtime event volunteer and teacher Sandra Heaven. Pictured during a previous pottery-throwing session at the Meek studio, in the foreground, from left, are volunteers Lucy Williamson, Christy Brock, May Dawsey, and Marie Rhodes.
Want to ply your creative craft for a worthy cause? You don’t have to be an accomplished artisan to sit in this Saturday for a good old-fashioned pottery throwing event; one that’s laying the groundwork now for next year’s Empty Bowls — a food-minded fundraiser that taps the community spirit of local volunteers.
Empty Bowls organizers are sounding the call for pottery pros and novices alike to pitch in on Saturday, Aug. 12, when volunteers will assemble at Meek High School in neighboring Winston County to begin the painstaking task of crafting the hundreds of hand-made earthen vessels that lend the yearly fundraising event its name.
“It’s not just for advanced artisans,” says volunteer Jeanie Rhodes, who together with daughter Marie are helping spearhead preparation for next year’s Empty Bowls dinner. “We have people who have been doing it for six months, and we also have people who’ve been doing it for 40 years. So even if you’re just getting started in pottery, you are very welcome to come and join in.”
This year’s overall goal is to have 1,500 bowls finished and ready in time for the 2024 iteration of Empty Bowls, which is set to take place early next year at its customary home inside the community space at Cullman’s First United Methodist Church. Though the big date’s still months away, making 1,500 bowls takes time — which is why supporters are collecting help now to get as many artists as possible on board for the all-volunteer effort.
Potters will meet at 9 a.m., Saturday at Meek High School (6615 County Road 41, Arley), with the aim of staying until they’ve thrown a one-day goal of 100 new bowls. Volunteers will gather at the school’s old field house, located beside the football field, where longtime Empty Bowls volunteer Sandra Heaven — who’s also the pottery instructor at Meek — maintains a 10-wheel pottery studio.
The event is casual and open to anyone with pottery experience, whether it’s making bowls with or even without a wheel (via the slab technique). Snacks will be provided, says Rhodes, and volunteers are of course free to stay for a long as they like, with the aim of reaching the 100-bowl goal sometime around 3 p.m.
Rhodes says pottery-throwing get-togethers like Saturday’s will likely be scheduled monthly from now until the Feb. 19, 2024 date for next year’s Empty Bowls event. For more information on how you can help now or in the future, contact Rhodes at 205-382-0739.
