Artist:  Patti Erikson

Final Bid:  $600

Dimensions:  10 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Women have long seen elements of  their innermost selves in the mermaid. All who love the water and swimming, has at sometime imagined life under water. The joy of playing amongst the rocks, swimming with the fish and turtles. No one ever claimed that mermaids don't enjoy a good time. My bowl depicts the love of the ocean and the beautiful gifts it gives us. The purse is made of clam shells joined by a hinge and clasp; a gift from a mermaid? 

Potter:  Terry Porlier

Artist:  Harriet Bullitt

Final Bid:  $900

Dimensions: 9 1/2" x 1 3/4"

Potter:  Terry Porlier

Artist:  Terry Porlier

Final Bid:  $120

Dimensions:  11" x 3"

Butterfly bowl: A happy and fulfilled life is all about transformations.  The butterfly is and always has been the symbol for transformation.  When I retired from Boeing 2 years ago another transformation period started for me.  I had to disengage from the daily routine of the corporate world to a new one, one that is very different ceramic arts.  As a ceramic/pottery artist and a ceramic engineer, the new transformation is in the marrying of high temperature paints and the development of clays and glazes.

This year many of the artist moved from low-fire earthenware to mid range fired porcelain (the finest of all clays).  Throwing bowls is all about creating another surface to paint on and with porcelain an opportunity to create a special clear glaze specifically for porcelain.  Therefore, the big Swallowtail butterfly is a perfect subject for this year’s Empty Bowls artist bowl.

Potter:  Terry Porlier

Artist:  Rusty Gibbs

Final Bid:  $160

Dimensions:  10 1/2" x 2 3/4"

This bowl was inspired by the beautiful blue Steller's Jays outside our Kitchen window. I enjoy seeing Milo, my two year old son, get excited about seeing them dash back and forth among the undergrowth. I took a child's perspective into account when painting this bowl and made part of the bird realistic and part of the bird cartoon-like and almost abstract. It makes my heart warm to be able to donate my artistic ability to a wonderful cause.

Potter:  Terry Porlier

Artist:  Castilia Cava

Final Bid:  $120

Dimensions:  11" x 5 1/2"

My bowl has an image in the center of a Weedy Sea Dragon, which is a colorful part of the seahorse family usually found in the ocean reefs of Australia.  I left the bowl mostly white because I wanted the focus to be on this beautiful and rare creature that most people have never seen or heard about.

Potter:  Isaac Howard

Artist:  Dan McConnell

Final Bid:  $380

Dimensions:  9" x 3"

I enjoy caricaturing faces the most!  There is so much that is fascinating about people’s faces.  I’m always drawn to it – oops a pun.

Potter:  Sara Peckham

Artist:  Lori Aylesworth

Final Bid:  $500

Dimensions:  10" x 2 1/2"

On my bowl I painted a local Leavenworth valley landscape. You don't need to go far around here to find inspiration. I've watched the moon come up over Mountain Home Ridge countless times, and it always takes my breath away.

The barn depicted on the bowl is on Howard Templin's place out on East Leavenworth Road. I've often seen Mr. Templin as I drive or walk by, out mending fences, and tending to his cattle. Seeing that is always comforting to me, a reminder of the simpler way that I grew up, coming from a rural farm family. No computer, no phone, no texting. Just a man who loves his place and animals and tending to them.

It's a beautiful spot in our valley and it was somewhat challenging trying to capture moonlight and snow in the painting from memory, especially on a porcelain bowl. And with ceramics and glazes there are always surprises!

Potter:  Terry Porlier

Artists:  Ken Trimpe & Bruce Howard

Final Bid:  $280

Dimensions:  17" x 4"
Medium:  Steel

Since the Empty Bowls committee decided to open up the art medium this year from pottery bowls only, to wood, glass, metal, etc. we decided to create a unique metal bowl for the auction. We had seen a photo on the Internet of a metal bowl done in washers, and thought it was a great idea.  We liked the whimsical and rustic feel of it.

We went one afternoon to Earthwise Salvage in Seattle's SODO neighborhood and found some old rusty, and very large washers buried in the bottom of a bucket filled with old scrap metal pieces. We took them back to the shop and cleaned off the rust with a wire brush, leaving the patina and pitted texture in order to maintain the character. We then made a plaster mold using a large, shallow, glass lampshade as the base and started welding the washers together over the mold. We added smaller washers and the solid metal washer insides that we also found in the bottom of that bucket full of metal pieces. A little cleanup and adding more patina with a blowtorch and it was completed.

The circles in this bowl, remind us of the circles of life that connects us all in some way. This unique, rustic bowl obviously won't hold soup, but hey, it's a decorative piece of art. Use it indoors, or outdoors, and put something fun in it.  Use your imagination!