Albuquerque Empty Bowls serves up ceramics, soup to raise money Storehouse New Mexico

The bowls do not remain empty for long at the New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists fundraiser Albuquerque Empty Bowls.

Albuquerque Empty Bowls lets people pick out a ceramic bowl handcrafted by a New Mexico artist and then fill it with a soup of their choice. All the money raised from ticket sales, along with additional ceramic purchases, benefits Storehouse New Mexico.

“It’s basically sort of a reminder that there are people who have empty bowls,” Melissa Alexander, planning committee chair, said.

The event will be held at St. John’s Methodist Church from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27. The soup selection this year will include Tula's Kitchen tomato bisque, Christy Mae Restaurant's cream of green chile chicken and Ex Novo's vegetarian black bean and potato and ham soups.

“It’s just a lot of energy going on as people are mingling through the tables to pick out the bowl that they connect with,” Alexander said.

The New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists restarted Albuquerque Empty Bowls in 2023 after it had been on hiatus since 2014. Alexander said the event has been able to raise more money each year.

“Storehouse is able to feed five people for each dollar,” Alexander said. “So last year we raised nearly $25,000, so that’s 125,000 people that we’re feeding through this event.”

With over 600 bowls donated, attendees have rows of tables of ceramics to choose from and the selection continuously changes as people make their picks.

There are a few guidelines for donating bowls, like width and height. Otherwise, it is a vast collection of various designs and ideas.

“What we’re interested in is a bowl that people can put soup, chili, cereal, those types of things in, as opposed to a little fruit bowl or a large serving bowl,” Alexander said.

Alexander said the bowls come from local ceramics studios and individual artists in New Mexico, with some artists shipping vessels from Ohio and California.

“It’s so much fun,” Alexander said.

“Just looking down the table and seeing all the, you know, different colors and concepts and styles, because every artist is sort of unique in their creation of bowls.”

She said Albuquerque Empty Bowls is a way for artists to help the community.

“It’s something that ceramic artists can do to help deal with food insecurity,” Alexander said.

Albuquerque Empty Bowls serves up ceramics, soup to raise money Storehouse New Mexico