There are many artists in Prescott, making art in many different media. For fiber people there’s the Weavers and Spinners Guild. For jewelers there’s Granite Mountain Jewelers. There are groups for printmakers and woodturners, but since I moved here in 2010 there has been no regularly gathering group for people who work with clay.
For people who make art it’s hugely helpful to have a group of other artists working with the same issues, sharing ideas on how to build things, networking and helping each other find their voices in a given medium. Having come from a place where there was a vibrant ceramics community in upstate New York, I deeply missed this.
Several years ago a few of us potters started meeting to talk about creating a community ceramic studio. We met a number of times and did a lot of research on how to organize such a studio. After a while we hit a wall, realizing that we needed a community to have a community studio. We decided that the organic way to begin was to find that community and cultivate it till we felt ready for a physical space. We began asking around and gathering names for a mailing list, and then started in May of 2023 holding monthly potlucks for anyone working in clay.
“It took me by surprise how many clay artists we have in this area,” shared Lee Anets, one of the original organizers. There are all kinds and levels of clay workers in the group, from artists with work in local galleries to those who take classes at Yavapai College to those who work for the joy of it in their own studios. Some work on a wheel, and some do hand-building. We named ourselves Mud Makers.
I’ve held off writing about Mud Makers till we’d actually done something apart from having meals together every month. Over the last year this group has accomplished a lot. Our potlucks have been consistently well attended, always include sharing about shows, workshops, sales, and tips and tools. We’ve hosted several workshops, including one on handle-making, another on saggar firing and one on making slab-built wall pockets. As a result of finding each other we have greatly added to the number of contributors to the annual Empty Bowls event.
Word has apparently got around about Mud Makers, because when a parish priest from Sacred Heart passed away and the church was looking for a home for his ceramics equipment, an art teacher at Prescott High School suggested it get in touch with us. We chipped in with a donation to Sacred Heart and now have two kilns (including a raku kiln), a slab roller and some tile-making equipment, all of which are being stored at members’ studios but will eventually go into the community studio we're working toward.
The creation of Mud Makers has been one of the best things I’ve experienced in the last year. Artists can always benefit from rubbing shoulders with other artists. We’re interested in helping each other with technical issues, we share tools and studio space, and help each other move forward in the craft. We have built trust and forged friendships. We are building community.
Empty Bowls 2024
For some years I’ve volunteered in the Empty Bowls event, a fundraiser for local food banks and soup kitchens in Yavapai County. Last year EB raised over $20,000 to help address food insecurity in our community. Local potters and woodturners make and donate soup bowls, and then on the day of the event people line up on the courthouse plaza and make $20 donations to pick out a bowl they like, have it filled from one of the many restaurants who bring down big pots of soup, some bread and a bottle of water, and enjoy lunch with other friendly folks. It’s a festive, tasty and meaningful event.
My job in this many-faceted event is called “Clay Wrangler.” I buy hundreds of pounds of clay (paid for by the Unitarian fellowships that coordinate Empty Bowls) and distribute it to the many potters who make the bowls. What’s so exciting to me right now is that before Mud Makers came into being that number seemed to be dwindling, and we were relying heavily on the good folks at the Yavapai College Ceramics Department, who, bless them, come through with as many as 300 bowls every year. Apart from them, the number of outside potters was slim. When I invited our Mud Makers to participate, the response was enthusiastic. This year we’ve added many new contributors and are on target to produce our goal of 1,000 new bowls by September.
Special mention should go to Dori Hatton, who owns Jars of Clay in Frontier Village and has made 200 bowls (so far!) for EB, enlisting her patrons to help decorate them. I am very proud of Mud Makers in giving back to this community by doing what we love. Empty Bowls is now in its 27th year in Prescott. This year’s event will take place on Sunday, September 8, 11am-2pm on the courthouse plaza. People look forward to this fundraiser and the bowls they take home every year. Some come looking for a bowl by a specific artist. Last year 920 tickets were sold. So many people showed up that the soup ran out toward the end, leaving only 50 bowls. These issues are being addressed with plans for more soup and more bowls.
Every year the EB organizers carefully review the results of the prior year’s event and make adjustments to improve the next. EB event coordinators Tracy Augustine and Chris Hawthorne wanted the event to be more environmentally mindful going forward, so this year there will be compostable bowls instead of a washing station, and a Girl Scout troop will collect and recycle all the plastic water bottles.
Asked about planning the event, Tracy expressed great enthusiasm and gratitude for all the sponsors and volunteers who joyfully support this fundraiser. “It really is a bringing together of the community, all different people. Beliefs, politics, religion kind of go away for this kind of thing.” Over 50 volunteers show up, many come year after year to run the event, not to mention the many hours of planning that go into preparing for the big day. The band Sucha Ruckus will perform again this year. There will be a silent art auction and a raffle. The woodturners will be demonstrating their craft.
Well before the event begins, people line up in anticipation. The line typically snakes all around the plaza and provides nice opportunities to visit with others. Tracy pointed out that waiting in line also gives participants a little feeling for what it’s like to wait in line at a soup kitchen, where there are no reservations and no tiered levels of service. By waiting in this line we are in a small way helping those in other lines.
Tickets for Empty Bowls can be purchased at the event and are still $20. After you pick out your bowl you get two bowls of soup from any of the over 14 participating restaurants set up in booths next to the bowl tables, plus some bread by local bakeries and a bottle of water. Picnic tables are available. There will be a food-education table where you can learn about local food insecurity and how our community is addressing this issue, and about composting and the Prescott Farmers Market composting project. A photo exhibit featuring many contributing potters will be set up near the bowl tables.
Follow Prescott Empty Bowls on Facebook at Empty Bowls of Prescott Arizona, on Instagram at @prescottemptybowls, or on prescott-empty-bowls.square.site.
