Art pupils sell their vivid bowls for charity

ORRINGTON – What do soup, pottery, post-impressionist art and community service have in common?

Fifty sixth-graders at Center Drive School.

The energetic students, led by their art student teacher, Jessica Andresen, held an “Empty Bowls” soup and bread dinner last week to raise money for Bangor’s Manna Inc. soup kitchen. They made, decorated and glazed clay bowls in their weekly art class. People attending the meal took home the colorful creations in return for their donation.

Jennie Wainer, 12, of Orrington proudly displayed her bright red, yellow and blue bowl featuring a three-dimensional red flower after the dinner.

“I liked doing this,” she remarked. “I thought it was really fun … I thought it was really cool to donate [the money] to Manna, instead of thinking of ourselves all the time.”

The school cafeteria was warm and full of good smells Tuesday night, despite the wild hailstorm outside. One table was weighted down with pots and slow cookers filled with beef stew, corn chowder, hamburger soup and other savory winter soups and stews as well as baskets of bread, all provided by parents.

Seated at red, child-size tables, parents and other community members tucked into steaming bowls of soup and chatted with friends. Meanwhile, the budding artists roamed the hallways in happy packs.

Corridors were lined with red, yellow and blue posters that the students had made to advertise the event. One showed a large bowl being filled from ladles labeled “hope,” “love,” and “care.” Another invited viewers to fill a bowl with happiness and soup.

“I think it was a great idea,” Jennie Wainer’s mother, Karen Frazell, said as she finished her beef stew. “It was a great way to get the parents and the kids involved, to do something meaningful.”

About 100 people attended the meal, which raised more than $350 for Manna.

Andresen, a student teacher and senior at the University of Maine, had been looking for a service-learning project to do with her class. Students had to use the limited selection primary colors available for printing purposes in the late 19th century. If France’s famous artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec could use only red, yellow and blues for his posters, so would the Orrington students.

“They’re very vibrant,” Andresen said of the posters and bowls. “They came out very, very well.”

Students and parents seemed to agree that the project went very well.

Snow days and some other glitches meant Andresen had less time to prepare than anticipated. She wound up using the faster pinch-pot method, instead of the coil-pot technique, to make the bowls.

“I think it’s wonderful how it’s getting the community involved with this project to help our local community,” Center Drive art teacher Leah Olson said. “I think this is something that the kids are excited about and feel good about doing.”

Center Drive School Principal James White took a break from cleaning up the cafeteria.

“I love the idea of the hands-on project,” he said. “And what makes it more meaningful is the connection to those who are more needy in the community.”

Abigail Curtis can be reached at abigail.curtis@umit.maine.edu.