Braham High School art students are lending their pottery skills to a good cause: the Braham Food Shelf.
The students are creating clay bowls that will be given in exchange for donations at a soup meal event benefiting the Braham Food Shelf, which is run by Tusen Tack.
The effort is part of Empty Bowls, an international campaign that encourages the pairing of pottery with help for those in need.
The silent auction and soup meal will take place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. March 9 at the Braham Event Center. Music for the event will be provided by the Braham Area School District’s music ensembles.
There will be three types of soup at the event, per Braham Event Center volunteer Gary Skarsten: a chicken soup, a beef soup and a vegetable soup.
The idea for the fundraiser was sparked by Dixie Randall, the food shelf’s coordinator, who had attended an Empty Bowls fundraiser in the Twin Cities.
“It was her idea that this might be a good way to do the March food drive with the food shelf,” Skarsten said.
The student bowl-making effort is being led by Braham High School art teacher Ryan Kedrowski, who is in his first year teaching at Braham. Braham Superintendent Ken Gagner mentioned the Empty Bowls project to Kedrowski.
“I thought it sounded like an awesome idea,” Kedrowski said.
Having his students make the bowls brought a desirable service-learning component to Kedrowski’s classes. Kedrowski hopes making the bowls also helps make art feel practical for his students, and they will learn to see where art fits in everyday life.
“They don’t realize it’s ubiquitous,” he said. “They want a practical application for the things they’re learning, so it’s nice to see it pay off.”
During first semester, Kedrowski said his students spent around two months making bowls.
“They’ve been doing it in all the classes to some degree,” Kedrowski said. “Some students have made as many as 10 bowls.”
In addition to supporting a good cause, Kedrowski considers the bowls good practice for his students, even though they may seem simple.
“I don’t consider myself great at it, and I’ve probably done thousands of bowls in my life,” he said.
The student-made bowls will all be fired in the school’s kiln before the fundraiser event, which means they will be safe to put food in. The soup meal will be served in the Braham Event Center’s own bowls, however.
Kedrowski noted the feeling of communal support created by a fundraising effort like this runs both ways.
“It’s really cool to see everyone supporting the new teacher and the art program,” he said.