Art center aims to fill empty stomachs with 'empty bowls'

At the Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, Bryan Moore, an instructor and pottery artist, glazes a motley collection of colorful handmade bowls the center plans to donate to the Capital Area Food Bank.Part of an international grassroots movement that has found its way to Prince George's county, the fundraiser, Empty Bowls, rests on a paradox: fill the bowls of the hungry by giving empty ones.For Moore — a Washington resident who cooks meals to give to the hungry every Saturday for a local organization — Empty Bowls is part of a fulfilling journey as an artist who has made a living out of creating handmade pottery and creating art that demands to be filled.Bryan Moore, an art instructor at the center for nearly three years, says pottery is all about creating vessels and filling them.&quot;When you're in a strong community like the pottery community, food is the thing that binds you,&quot; said Moore. &quot;We all create these individual vessels to share with each other. That is at the core of what we do.&quot;At the arts center, artists and other community members can create handmade bowls during one of three sessions in late July and August. The center has pledged 175 bowls, which will be donated to the Capital Area Food Bank — a major relief organization that serves the Washington area — as part of a fundraising event.Proceeds from each bowl can feed up to 87 people, said Sonya Kitchens, the art center's director.&quot;Not only are we going to have the opportunity to help more people, but we're just creating the awareness that people are in need,&quot; said Kitchens. &quot;In this area in particular, we forget that everyone doesn't have the same resources that we do.&quot;Roughly 9 percent of residents in Laurel live in poverty, according to statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau. In Prince George's County, almost 130,000 people struggle to get the food they need. Across the country, nearly 1 in 5 children struggle with hunger.Linda Bernard, 74, prepares pottery outside the arts center where she has been involved for nearly three decades.Kitchens said the Empty Bowls fundraiser brings together an already tight community of pottery artists, who often eat, drink and share from the vessels they've created.&quot;When I'm eating soup out of a bowl that I've made, there's something almost indescribable about that,&quot; said Kitchens.Moore hopes the fundraiser will develop long-lasting change -- as long-lasting as the handmade bowls, which can take a couple of weeks to craft, dry, design and glaze.&quot;When you think of that bowl that comes from the store, it's breakable and somewhat disposable whereas the handmade object is a symbol of permanence. If they're well cared for, these bowls will last as long as the earth. There's a kind of permanence that transcends time.&quot;The class is open to experienced pottery artists. Students can register for one of three sessions: Sundays, July 24 and 31 from 1 to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, Aug. 20 and 27 from 1 to 4 p.m.; and Tuesdays, Aug. 23 and 30 from noon to 3 p.m. For more information on the program, go to https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/empty-bowls/. To register, go to https://smartlink.pgparks.com/smartlink/Start/Start.asp

Art center aims to fill empty stomachs with 'empty bowls'

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