Art Occupation - Glazing for the Empty Bowls Project

I teach at a K-12 Montessori school in Milwaukee. A concept that can be found in many Montessori schools is something called "Occupations". The idea behind this is that student should spend a period of time developing skills that will help them in a job someday and will help them contribute to their school community. These are things like learning to work with other people, learning to take responsibility for your work, learning to contribute to a larger group, and learning real life skills. One of the goals of this Occupation is that students will eventually run it themselves.

At my school we do our Occupation every Wednesday morning instead of having regular classes. The Occupation that I run is art related. We are in charge of designing and painting murals on the walls in school and making the props and backgrounds for the school play that will take place this spring.

To start off our group last semester, my students glazed bowls for the Empty Bowls charity in Milwaukee. Artists from the area make and fire bowls. Our school glazed (glaze = the thing you paint on that adds color and makes pottery food safe) the bowls then gave them to the Empty Bowls project. This project collects hundreds of bowls and raises money that goes towards area food pantries. They hold an event where people can come, pick out a bowl that they like, and donate money for it. Then they get to fill their bowl with soup, and eat their soup there. When they are done eating, they get to take the bowls home.