pottery blog: emily murphy » First Slice Cafe

3rd Annual Empty Bowls Chicago

Emily Murphy — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:14:00 +0000

I’m excited to announce that the 3rd Annual Empty Bowls Chicago is coming up on December 12th at Lillstreet.

Empty Bowls is an event that brings pottery, community and good food together to help fight hunger. For the last three years, my friend Joanna Kramer has been organizing the event for Chicago. (I’m including a letter from her below that explains all the details.)

If you’re a potter (or vessel maker with another medium), I encourage you to send us a bowl or two. Just make sure it gets to Chicago by the 12th! I think the deadline is listed as the 5th, but it’s ok as long as it’s there by the day of the event.

If you’re going to be in the Chicago area on the 12th, I hope you can join us for a family style meal. Doors open at 5pm on Friday, December 12th. There is a room that will have all the bowls spread out on tables (like the picture to your left). You get to pick out your bowl and then fill it with soup. Then you’ll eat your yummy meal made by the First Slice Cafe at family style tables and enjoy a good conversation with the other attendees. At least that is what my experience has been in the past.

If you’re not in Chicago, you might want to think about creating your own Empty Bowls event for your community. You might remember a post that I wrote last spring about my friend, Jordan Taylor and the event he organized in Scranton, PA. (Don’t be intimidated, you don’t have to make 1000 bowls… you can start small.)

Here is the letter from Joanna with all the information that you need to know. Also, you can RSVP to the even via Facebook.

Dear Artist and Supporter,

Bring us your bowls and help feed the hungry! Join us on December 12, 2008 for a bowl of soup and help to feed the hungry. The Empty Bowls Project is a nationwide effort by artists to help fight hunger. Lillstreet Art Center is proud to host the 3rd annual Empty Bowls Project to benefit Chicago-area hunger-fighting organizations. We’re asking student and professional potters to donate bowls for this cause.

Empty Bowls works like this: guests choose a bowl and are served a generous serving of soup and bread made by First Slice Cafe, in exchange for a $20 suggested donation. Guests keep the bowl as a reminder that there are always empty bowls in the world. Bowls with an estimated price of over $30 will be placed up for auction. Empty Bowls will take place on Friday, December 12, 2008, 5-8 pm in the Lillstreet Gallery. 100% of the money raised will be given to First Slice, so they may continue to create healthy meals for these local organizations whose mission includes helping those who are hungry and/or homeless: Heartland Alliance, The Night Ministry, American Indian Center Youth Program, and Howard Area Alternative High School and Chicago-area soup kitchens. With the revenue generated from last year’s EMPTY BOWLS event, First Slice was able to donate 1000 meals to youth in need. All donated bowls may be mailed or delivered to Lillstreet Art Center by December 5th. We hope you will participate in this important hunger-fighting event.

Thank you in advance for your generous donation to help feed Chicago’s hungry.

Joanna Kramer

Drop off / Ship bowls:
Lillstreet Art Center
Attn: Joanna Kramer, Empty Bowls Coordinator
4401 N. Ravenswood Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
(773)263-5581

Visiting Chicago? Stop by Lillstreet…

Emily Murphy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:00:00 +0000

I thought I’d tell you a little bit about where I spend my days making pots and teaching classes. My studio is on the north side of the city at Lillstreet Studios. Stop by if you’re in the neighborhood sometime and say ‘hello.’ It’s a great place to explore if you’re visiting Chicago. Or if you happen to live in the windy city, take an afternoon excursion to see what’s happening inside the walls of this old factory building.
Click here to get more information on Lillstreet’s location.

Getting there: You can drive (ample parking). You can ride a bike (lots of bike racks). You can take the Brown Line to the Montrose Stop. You can take the Montrose bus to Ravenswood. You can take the Metra to Lawrence. Etc…

There is a lot to see, so I thought I would give you just a brief “virtual tour” to entice you to stop by on your next trip to the windy city.

This is the directory that you’re greeted by when you walk inside the front door:

On the first floor:

Lillstreet Gallery (ceramics and jewelry)
First Slice Cafe (lunch or coffee)
metals department (2 classrooms)
kids department (2 classrooms)
ceramics department (6 classrooms, 44 wheels, 2 gas kilns, 1 soda kiln, 1 spray booth, 5 electric kilns, 2 slab rollers, 2 extruders, etc…

One of the wheel classrooms (this one has 18 wheels):

On the second floor:

Studio artists (29 clay artists, including my studio in 205 west and 8 metalsmiths)
First Slice kitchen
Lowitz and Company
studio gas kiln
studio electric kiln room
ArtReach office

Outside my studio, 205 west, there are bios of each artist:

On the third floor:

more studio artists (clay, jewelry, printmaking and photography)
glass department
printmaking department
textiles department
painting and drawing department (2 classrooms)

Jewelry and metals:

The building is open for visitors to wander around. Explore the classrooms, visit the studios, shop in the gallery. The studios don’t have regular hours, but if you stop by, there is probably something open! There is no way I could actually show you everything, so you’ll just have to come see for yourself.

Interested in making a day of it? Other things to see and eat within 2 blocks:

And some things that are pretty darn close, but you’d probably want to hop in a car, on a bike, on a train:
Haus
Old Town School of Folk Music

If you’re making a special trip to Lillstreet, send me an email to let me know you’re coming so I can make sure that I’m there to meet you! I live quite close, so if I’m in town, it’s pretty easy for me to meet up with you.

Empty Bowls – Chicago Style

Emily Murphy — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:48:00 +0000

This December, Lillstreet Art Center is hosting their 2nd annual Empty Bowls event. Last year we had a great turnout, but the plan is to really scale it up this year. Tons of bowls, a big community of people and soup galore will all come together to raise money and awareness to help fight hunger.

The request that I’m sending out is for potters, glass blowers, wood turners, and metal smiths of all levels to make a bowl (or 2 or 20) and donate it to Chicago’s Empty Bowls event at Lillstreet Art Center. We’d also like for you to come a share a meal, if you’re in the area on December 7, 2007 from 6pm – 9pm. For $20, guests are invited to choose a bowl and are served a generous serving of soup and bread made by First Slice Café. Guests keep the bowl as a reminder that there are always “empty bowls” in the world.

Lillstreet has a very unique restaurant in it’s building (sharing space with the gallery), the First Slice Café. Proceeds from the cafe go to feed Chicago’s hungry. They help fight hunger in a very direct way: the food they make for various organizations is the same amazing food that is served in their café. In addition to First Slice making the food for the event, they will also be the recipient of the event’s proceeds so they can continue to create healthy meals for these local organizations: Heartland Alliance, The Night Ministry, American Indian Center Youth Program, and Howard Area Alternative High School.

If you would like to participate in this event by donating a bowl, please deliver or mail your bowl(s) by November 18, 2007 to:

Lillstreet Art Center

4401 North Ravenswood

Chicago, IL 60640

Attn: Empty Bowls

If you’d like to join us for a bowl of soup, come to Lillstreet on December 7, 2007 from 6pm – 9pm.

If you have any questions about this event, you can contact the event organizer, Joanna Kramer.
Please help us spread the word by forwarding this to a friend. Thanks!

The bowls that are in the photo above are by Gary Jackson, Fire When Ready Pottery.