LEXINGTON, Ky.—The art program at Transylvania University invites the community to help feed the hungry by doing some early Christmas shopping for beautiful handmade ceramic bowls at the Morlan Gallery Dec. 6-8, noon-5 p.m.
Transylvania University ceramic and design students, along with local potters, have created and donated several hundred beautiful ceramic soup bowls available in the Morlan Gallery for $10 each. In addition to soup bowls, there will be larger individually priced bowls and wall tapestries designed to visually correspond to the graphic motifs on some of the soup bowls.
When the Morlan Gallery last hosted this event, in 2008, almost 600 bowls sold in just hours. This year, local potters have been added to the gallery event to augment the supply of handmade ceramic bowls.
Started 17 years ago, the Empty Bowls Project is an opportunity for local artists to donate handmade ceramic bowls that are made available for purchase, with the proceeds benefiting community agencies that feed the hungry. Over the last ten years, the Morlan Gallery bowl sales have raised $31,000 for local agencies such as Moveable Feast, the YMCA Spousal Abuse Center, the Community Action Council and the Hope Center.
“Local artists can still donate bowls for sale as part of the Empty Bowls Project,” said Morlan Gallery director Andrea Fisher. “Functional or nonfunctional artists’ bowls of any media: wood, glass, fiber or paper mâché would be wonderful additions to this worthy event.”
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| Customers browse the bowls offered for sale in the 2006 Empty Bowls Project. |
Included with every bowl purchase is a ticket to a vegetarian bean soup supper in the Rafskeller in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 8. Soup supper tickets are available for $5 each without a bowl purchase. All proceeds from the bowl sale and the soup supper will go to the Catholic Action Center, a Lexington agency that provides meals for local residents.
The December 8 soup supper coincides with “Noel: Four Centuries of Christmas,” a concert by Anonymous 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium, located in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. Anonymous 4 is a female a cappella quartet, based in New York City. The holiday concert includes the most popular carols and hymns, the most moving motets and chants from the group’s medieval Christmas programs: “On Yoolis Night,” “Christmas Music From Medieval Hungary: Legends of St. Nicholas,” “Wolcum Yule” and “The Cherry Tree: Songs, Carols and Ballads for Christmas.” Tickets for this event are free and can be picked up before December 8 in the William T. Young Campus Center Monday-Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Friday from 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday from noon-8 p.m. and Sunday from 1-10:30 p.m.
For more information about how to donate or purchase a bowl or attend the soup supper, contact gallery director Andrea Fisher at (859) 233-8142. For information on “Noel: Four Centuries of Christmas,” contact the fine arts office at (859) 233-8141.