Empty Bowls Festival

CHECK OUT THE EMPTY BOWLS  ARTIST BOWLS !!

The Story of Empty Bowls....

Empty Bowls Festival is an annual fundraiser to support the Community Cupboard, as well as art education in local schools. Every year, hundreds of Upper Valley residents participate in this unique event, which is coordinated entirely by local volunteers.

Participants buy one of the unglazed, undecorated bowls made by local artists, then paint them with a design of their choice. The bowls are then fired and returned to the people who painted them at a community dinner in March.

The Artist Bowl Auction features larger bowls which are painted by local artists and auctioned off prior to the community dinner.  

The Empty Bowls Project started in 1991 in Michigan and has spread to arts groups in nearly every state.  Originally, Empty Bowls focused on hunger in the United States.  The project has grown beyond expectations, and is already underway in several countries.

Two local potters, Jeff Hinton and Nancy Peterson, began the Upper Valley's version of Empty Bowls in 1996.  It was their idea to combine an art experience for novice artists with a fundraiser/soup supper.  The first  Empty Bowls happened in Carl and Sheila Bergren's garage and has evolved into an event that includes over 500 Upper Valley residents each year.

2012 Empty Bowls Painting Days from Decanter Banter on Vimeo.