Tag: Empty Bowls Fundraiser

Brianne Barclay

The SHSU academic fall semester may be complete, but LEAP students are continuing to learn, in and out of classrooms. Accordingly, a group of LEAP students participated in a ceramics class this Monday, March 15, led by Professor Lauren Clay at the Dana G. Hoyt Fine Arts Building as an early participation in the Empty Bowls Fundraiser, which will occur March 4, 2026.

Our participation is the first phase of a three-phase fundraiser. As described by Professor Clay, our purpose Monday was to (1) shape our bowl, learning how to mold wet clay, explore the many options for designs and ornamentation, and to prepare for the kiln.

We will return in January to (2) glaze the bowl, and in March, some of us (3) will volunteer for the Empty Bowls fundraiser at the Wynne Home Arts and Visitor Center–a project we have assisted with since the program’s inception in 2008.

For our initial session, Professor Clay…

…demonstrated “underglaze transferring,” which involves creating a design on one medium and transferring it to the ceramic before shaping and kilning.

Thus, we created our design and waited for the design to dry…

…smoothed our clay, completed the transfer, and then put the clay over a mold to complete the bowl.

Not all of us did the transfer process; Professor Yawn, for example, had much trouble with his transfer, and proceeded without ornamentation.

Others, however, engaged fully in their creativity, exploring floral designs, innovative clay designs, or using laces or others props.

With the right imagination and dexterity, the possibilities are endless, and some of us were thrilled with our designs. I, on the other hand, didn’t feel like I quite got the hang of it, but was nonetheless satisfied with it as a first effort.

This participation also gave me the chance to see the beautiful Hoyt Fine Arts Building, making me wish I had explored this building earlier in my college career. And while the building was a little on the cool side, the experience itself left a warm feeling in all of us, a fitting outcome for participation in a worthy cause.