Empty Bowls: Artists Helping to Feed Western New York
All proceeds from the sale of the bowls at Empty Bowls will benefit Friends of Night People.
Bowls need to be dropped off at Friends of Night People, 394 Hudson Street, Buffalo, NY
14201 between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day up until Tuesday, January 19, 2016 to be included
in this year’s Empty Bowls Event.
Empty Bowls will be held in conjunction with Buffalo Soup Fest, which is taking place from 11
a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, January 31, 2016 at the Buffalo Convention Center, 153 Franklin
Street, Buffalo, NY 14202.
Introduction: Empty Bowls participants for 2015-2016 will learn that they can do something,
collectively, and individually, about the problems around us. They can also learn about meaning
and how art can address social issues. The social issues that we hope the students will address
include hunger, poverty, and homelessness and what it means to them, represents, etc. The
quality and diversity of the students’ responses are phenomenal.
Participant Instructions: Participants are encouraged to contemplate hunger, homelessness, and
poverty as problems that exist in this country, and other parts of the world, they have impetus to
create solutions to these problems. Participants might contemplate how to address the problem of
hunger in the world, and in their own community. Teachers can offer opportunity to create a
bowl, or container that becomes a metaphor imbued with signs and symbols that speak to issues
of hunger and poverty. As an empathetic gesture, please encourage students to donate the
finished bowl/container to the Empty Bowls Project to raise money to help feed residents of
Western New York. Some teachers ask students to make a presentation on their bowl, or break
into discussions about hunger and poverty prior to the bowl designing, or work in groups to
create one bowl. That part is completely up to you.
Perhaps you would like to encourage participants to contemplate the following questions for
discussion based on hunger.







Why do we need food?
Think of a time when you were really hungry. What was the length of time that had gone
by since you had last eaten? Did you know you were getting food soon? How is your
situation different than that of people who don’t have ready access to food?
When one uses the word hunger, what does it mean?
What might it feel like to be without food for three days?
What if you did not know when you would eat again? How would you feel?
Why are people hungry?
What can we do to help?
Participants should ask themselves:



Does my bowl clearly address my social issue?
Have I produced a visually convincing bowl?
How well is my bowl constructed?
Possible sequence of events:
1. Describe the Empty Bowls project to your class
2. Open a discussion with your class about artists who address social issues in their work.
Break your class into small groups to discuss ways they might make a symbolic statement
about poverty, hunger and homelessness in Western New York, and how to express these
concepts in bowls.
3. The students, in groups, or individually, will execute their ideas by making actual bowls,
or containers with metaphoric content.
4. The media is open, so either you, or your students may decide what materials, or
techniques to use. NOTE: Bowls do not need to be food safe.
5. The bowls must hold together both in transport and on display. Damaged and broken
bowls will be sold.
6. Before bringing your bowls to Friends of Night People by the deadline of 6 p.m.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016, encourage students to discuss their ideas and why they feel
their work and this project is important to them and to others.
7. The amount of time this project will take will vary, depending on the materials and
techniques chosen.
8. Attach a bowl tag to each bowl.
Bowl Submission Requirements:
1. Students will identify a concern related to poverty and hunger to be expressed in their
bowl.
2. Each student will be responsible for creating a bowl, or container with metaphoric
content.
3. Bowls need not be food safe.
4. Finished bowls are of a high quality.
5. Bowls must hold together both in transport, and on display. Damaged and broken bowls
will not be sold.
6. Please price the bowls between $5-25. Participants can write the amount by the artist
statement, or on the back of the bowl tag.
7. Attach bowl tag to the bowl.
8. Please turn in bowls by 6 p.m. Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at Friends of Night
People, 394 Hudson St., Buffalo, NY 14201.
9. Students and their families are encouraged to attend the Empty Bowls event to view their
bowls, purchase their bowls, or see what some of the other artist interpretations based on
hunger, homelessness and poverty are.
About Friends of Night People: Friends of Night People, 394 Hudson St., offers meals 365
days a year to the homeless, unemployed, destitute, and working poor from 5 to 7 p.m. Free
clothing and personal care items are available during dinner, as well as during Clothing Closet
hours. General medical and podiatry clinics are offered the first and third Tuesday of the month
and 4th Saturday. A food pantry was added to further meet the needs of the community in
January 2014. It is open from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and serves approximately 50
individuals per week. Eye exams and glasses are available by appointment only Mondays.
Alcoholics Anonymous is six days a week. FONP also offers emergency shelter assistance,
referrals and emergency food assistance. Urban Diner by FONP, 385 Paderewski Drive, serves
meals from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Meal Time by FONP serves meals from 3:30 to
5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 21 Westminster Ave. For more information, visit
www.FriendsofNightPeople.com, email [email protected], or call 884-5375.
About Buffalo Soup Fest: Since its inception in 2011, Buffalo Soup Fest has welcomed
approximately 7,000 attendees eager to sip, slurp and sample some of the area’s best restaurants’
soup concoctions. With so many restaurant options, Buffalo Soup Fest brings together a vast
array of options for attendees to try. More than 30 vendors will be at Buffalo Soup Fest, and
there will be 30 different judged categories. Visit www.buffalosoupfest.com for more
information.
Contact Info: Nicole Gawel, Development Manager at Friends of Night People,
[email protected], or 716.884.5375 ext. 202.