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Mostly Cloudy Using the power of pottery in the fight against hunger
Woman heads effort to create bowls
A Baldwin woman again is spearheading the effort at Adelphi University to fight hunger on Long Island by organizing artists, artisans and others to handcraft ceramic bowls.
In recent weeks, Barbara Selva has organized the effort by professors, students and community members to create the bowls on behalf of the Empty Bowl Project, a worldwide program that works to raise money and awareness to combat hunger. The bowls will be available for sale to the public at the university at the annual Festival of Bread on Feb. 23.
“We’ve been doing the Empty Bowl Project at Adelphi since 2010,” Selva said. “It’s an international grassroots project that uses the arts for education to create awareness of social justice issues -- in this case, to raise awareness of food insecurity and to fight hunger.”
This year, the project began in January, when the artists began constructing their bowls. Glazing and firing of the bowls came shortly afterward.
“The idea is to buy a bowl, and [fill it],” said Selva, an administrative assistant at Adelphi’s school of education. “Then you eat and empty it, and it puts you in mind of hunger.” That practice largely was dropped at Adelphi, but Selva said the bowls continue to sell.
“We do it to help students understand that hunger isn’t just in third world countries,” Selva said. “It’s right here.” All of the proceeds from the sale of the bowls benefit the Interfaith Nutrition Network.
This year, about 15 people came to create 150 bowls, Selva said. “We had students, we had instructors, faculty from other departments, alumni, administrators, some people brought friends,” Selva said. “It really involved the Adelphi community.”
Most bowl-makers were either artists -- professional or amateur -- or knew how to make bowls. “You have to have some experience with clay,” said Selva, who has lived in Baldwin for about a year. “I’m not a professional artist but I have some experience working with clay. And you need experience on the [pottery] wheel.”
But with Adelphi’s longtime track record on the project, finding artists wasn’t hard. “People came, some stayed the whole day, others came and left [sooner],” Selva said. “One person made thirty bowls but he throws a lot. So he’s able to produce a lot.”
