For the Sea to Sky Potters’ Guild, reviving the popular Empty Bowls fundraiser had two benefits.
The event, which has been hosted in communities around the world over many years, is a practical way to give back to Whistler, Pemberton, and Squamish’s food banks. But it also offers the organization a chance to connect with Sea to Sky residents and drum up interest in pottery.
“The drive has been to create a space, a community studio,” says Stephanie Lowe, president of the guild. “There isn’t [one] in the Sea to Sky. There are a lot for-profit, but community, muni-run studios are all over B.C.”
To that end, there’s both plenty of potters working solo in garage studios across the Sea to Sky, as well as interest from locals who would like to try the art. Now, the guild hopes to connect them all.
“That’s what got us talking,” Lowe says. “Can we do this? Can we find a space and get the municipalities—one of them is enough—to help create this space? We’re still really talking about it.”
But, for now, the guild’s focus has been on Empty Bowls, set for May 18, which last took place as a sold-out event back in 2017 (then run by the Whistler Pottery Club, which falls under the guild’s wider umbrella). The concept is simple: artists create and donate the bowls, then five chefs (organized by Milestone’s Bruce Worden) contribute soups during a lunch event, hosted at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC). All funds raised go towards the food banks.
“It’s an international event everyone is interested in—the idea of a bowl that’s empty and then filled. It brings together so much of the community, raises money worldwide. For us that was the easiest way to get back and engaged,” Lowe says.
She and event chair Kathleen Tennock (who used to live in Whistler, but now calls Pemberton home) have been hosting bowl-making events with plenty of interested participants.
Lowe will also lead a bowl-making workshop for the graduating group of SLCC Ambassadors in early May. That organization is serving as both the venue and offering up bannock for the lunch.
“I said, ‘You’re lending us your space and helping us organize this amazing event. I have all this extra clay I’m not using, so I’ll donate the clay and my time,’” she says.
In total, there will be 120 handmade bowls for the soup, but also 50 created by Whistler Secondary School students for those who would like Lucia Gelato for dessert.
(By coincidence, the art class was just starting its unit on pottery.)
“It came together perfectly,” Lowe adds.
In an effort to try and raise as much money as possible for the food banks—considering the staggering demand for their services in recent years—this time around, they decided to sell tickets in two tiers.
Tier 1 has 20 tickets on sale for $150 for first choice of handcrafted pottery bowls. Tier 2 features 100 tickets up for grabs for $50 and the remaining bowls.
The dessert bowls, meanwhile, will be $15 until they run out.
There will also be a silent auction featuring work by local artists.
“The [priority] is handing three food banks cheques at the end of it,” Lowe says. “Our focus has to be there.”
For tickets to the event are available here.
