Local artists and La Jolla restaurants have pooled their skills for the second annual Empty Bowls Lunch event on Saturday, May 17 at the United Methodist Church. The effort to raise awareness about hunger in San Diego begins at 11 a.m.
For a $20 donation, guests can choose a handcrafted pottery bowl made by a local artisan and then fill it with soup from La Jolla, Pacific Beach and Point Loma restaurants including Jack’s, Bully’s, Point Loma Seafood, The Cottage, Water’s Catering, the French Pastry Shop, Jack’s Thai Spices, San Diego Yacht Club and others.
“We have a lively potter community here,” said Melanie Novak, of Empty Bowls Lunch. “Some are well known and some are less so.”
Last year, local potter Lynn Render decided to coordinate La Jolla’s first event, according to Novak. She found the artists and restaurants and located Third Avenue Charitable Organization (TACO), the charity to donate proceeds to.
In addition to soup and a bowl, the Mission Bay High School Jazz Band will play this year, Render said. This year, Render continues to coordinate the event.
“We had at least 300 people last year,” Novak said. “It was an overwhelming success.”
This year, the group will also have a mini-silent auction, she said. Some of the most beautiful bowls will be highlighted.
According to Render, the San Diego Potters Guild, Clay Associates, University City Craft Center and students from La Jolla High donated handcrafted bowls to the event. But David Cuzick, a Lemon Grove potter and member of the San Diego Potters Guild, donated bowls that will be auctioned, she said.
Cuzick uses a special process, called soda-firing, which creates unique “” and spontaneous “” finishes on his pottery, Render said. He donated some bowls with the soda-firing finish, which gives the pottery an orange-peel finish, she said, and the colors differ depending on what’s going on inside the kiln.
Render offered tips for choosing pottery.
“I think someone who makes pottery has different standards,” Render said. “People buy for emotional reasons, if the color is appealing or if it has funky stuff on it.”
But Render said she and other potters consider different aspects when looking at a piece of pottery. For the bowls, Render said to look for one less heavy, because with soup it will be even heavier. Also, she said to look for shape, form and glaze that are appealing.
“Because it’s a functional piece, it should be smooth,” she said. “The interior should be smooth.”
Money collected from the event helps an organization that partners with University of California, San Diego medical students. They also feed the hungry.
The nonprofit group, Third Avenue Charitable Organization (TACO) collects the donations to feed the homeless and working poor. Although this is the second year TACO has held a La Jolla Empty Bowls Lunch, the organization has been working downtown at Third Avenue and Ash Street in San Diego for 33 years.
“They feed people twice a week and that’s how it got started,” Novak said. “And then it expanded into a holistic way to treat the problem.”
TACO partnered with UCSD students who intern and work out of a downtown church. The organization not only feeds homeless and working poor but provides social services, including medical, dental and other services through its partnership with UCSD.
“TACO is a stand-alone charity that operates out of First Lutheran church downtown in the heart of the city,” Novak said. “They’ve stayed there and made a commitment to serve the local community.”
A doctor from UCSD and her medical intern students volunteer at a medical clinic that occurs twice a week for their classwork, she said.
“It’s three different things coming together: it’s art and the restaurants,” Novak said. “The donations we got from the restaurants are really cool for me, then you’re fighting hunger.”
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit www.tacosd.org, www.emptybowls.org or call (619) 235-9445. The United Methodist Church is located at 6063 La Jolla Blvd.