Here's how Butte potters craft vessels for annual Empty Bowl fundraiser

Butte’s Empty Bowls got its start in 2013 with a group that included two art teachers, a potter and the director of the Butte Emergency Food Bank.

Empty Bowls reported that, from its start through May 2025, local artists had made more than 13,400 bowls and the event had raised more $800,000, allowing the food bank to provide more than 140,000 meal bags to students through the BackPack Program.

One bowl will be handled several times during the process, and often by multiple different artists.

Throwing

Bowls are either hand built or made on a pottery wheel with fresh clay.

“Potters always talk about how calming it is and how satisfying it is to be able to throw a bowl,” said Judy Andrews, who’s been a part of the bowl-making process since moving to Butte ten years ago. “I can throw all day long.”

After it dries, it needs to be trimmed.

Glazing

Bowls then go into the bisque kiln, an essential stage in the ceramic process that transforms the clay into a durable, porous piece that can be glazed.

Firing

After the glaze is applied, bowls go into a high-fire kiln where they are fired to a cone 10, a system that helps measure the combined effect of temperature and time in the kiln.

After a cooling period, the pieces are finished and the kiln is unloaded.