With a goal to throw 100 ceramic bowls to eventually glaze and sell in order to raise money for Feeding Westchester, students gathered in the ceramics studio this evening, March 4. The project was led in conjunction with the Empty Bowls Foundation, a global effort that supports charitable organizations focused on combatting food insecurity. 

“It’s pretty daunting, but, you know, it’s really exciting,” Caitlin Berry ‘28 said. Berry is one of three ceramics students who are spearheading the event, including seniors Bella Danahy-Levine and Bennett Sonnenburg.

Danahy-Levine explained that she first found out about Empty Bowls through her work at the Katonah Art Center and posts on social media. She knew that she wanted to bring the initiative to Masters, and asked Sonnenberg, Berry and Upper School Visual Arts Teacher Stephanie Mestyan to join the effort.

“The whole focus of the Empty Bowls is also that it’s not a specific maker, like it’s a community made object. So we don’t usually sign them, and it might be a different maker than who trims it, or who glazes it,” Mestyan said. 

Students in Mestyan’s wheel intensive class, an advanced ceramics class focused on teaching fluency on the pottery wheel, along with other students, were also there to lend a hand. 

The Empty Bowls team is hosting two production nights. Students with hand building or wheel experience were invited to the first night to make bowls for the sale, and all levels of experience are welcome to join the second session on April 8 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to glaze pre-made bowls.

“We’re really excited to open the doors to everybody and to work with people that have no ceramics experience, to tons of ceramics experience, and to get everybody all hands on deck,” Danahy-Levine said.

If all goes according to plan, Empty Bowls at Masters will host the sale the same evening as the Upper School production Great Gig on May 1.