Jen Selwyn Pottery: Facing Hunger in Bounty Project

Friday, December 28, 2012

Facing Hunger in Bounty Project

Time to make good use of my blog.

Facing Hunger in Bounty

365 Day Challenge

Last year Kristie visited the River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan and was inspired by some work by ceramic artist, Lisa Farris, who created a ceramic bowl each day for 365 days to bring awareness to the issue of hunger. Kristie returned to Wisconsin with one of the artist’s bowls in hand to excitedly show Jen. That bowl started us dreaming.

Every year more than a thousand children in Portage County go hungry. The sad part is that this is very common in communities all across Wisconsin. In some communities across the country, the student drop out rate is as high as 50%. Students are dropping out to get jobs to put food on the table.

Those children who are giving up their education to eat inspired this project. Jen’s long-term goal for this project is to make 3,030 bowls. This represents the number of children who went hungry in 2011 in Portage County alone. That is a lot of bowls! Our hope is that by the time she makes all 3,030 bowls, hunger in Portage County will be eradicated.

For this exhibit, we challenged each other to bring awareness to hunger through our art. The challenge begins on January 1, 2013. Jen will create a bowl each day that has a face that represents someone in Portage County in need of food.

Based on the Painting a Day (PAD) movement, Kristie will make a small painting each day to bring awareness to the bounty that we have here in Wisconsin when it comes to food. All these food objects are readily available to us, but there are some people for whom getting access to this food is a struggle. These art objects symbolize the dream of putting food on the tables of those in need here in Portage County for 365 days a year.

Hunger prevention has long been a passion of Jen’s. So when she found Empty Bowls, it seemed like a natural fit. Empty Bowls is a grassroots movement to end hunger that was started in 1990 by an art teacher in Michigan. Empty Bowls fundraising events are now held throughout the world. In Portage County, Empty Bowls will be heading into its 13th year. Empty bowls raises money to help organizations in our community that serve those in need of food. Jen and Kristie will donate 20% of their profits to Empty Bowls of Portage County and other hunger prevention programs our community.

1 comment:

Kristie F. CecilJanuary 8, 2013 at 2:07 PM
This will be fun?!
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About My Work

My love for all things messy started when I was young but has carried into my adult life for sure. I remember as a kid making mud pies and trying to sell them. Now I am using clay to create beautiful pieces and selling them. This time people are buying them. Although my first encounter with pottery was in college where I majored in Art Education. I really got into pottery about 9 years ago in Cincinnati at a place called

“Annie’s Mud Pie Shop” .... something about the name I guess.

I am most known for three series I have been working on for the last few years. My speckled turquoise pieces draw the eye of many art lovers. The color and mat texture of the glaze stands out in the sea of earth-tone work at many craft shows. My spiral series came about when I was experimenting with multiple layers of glazes and underglazes. The combination created a unique look that is ancient and modern at the same time. This glazing technique often requires hours of work, but the final product is such a delight I can’t stop making them. My leaf series is inspired by the Green Circle Trail in Stevens Point and my love of Fall. I use both throwing hand-building techniques to create the bowls, platters and baking dishes and use real leaves I collected with my children, to create texture and design elements. The glazing technique is what makes the leaves stand out on these pieces. I use the layering technique I discovered in my spiral work to add texture and depth to the leaves. I balance the strong colors of the leaves with a translucent gloss green to make the leaves pop. As a split to this series I have also added leaves to some of my turquoise pieces. The contrast if color is outstanding! This discovery came about when my cat stepped on the edge of a bowl and to salvage it, I simply added a leaf, the final product was such a delight I decided to make several more. And they were a hit!

When there are no more leaves to use, butterflies adorn my work. Much like the leaves the butterflies adorn the edge of bowls, platters and baking dishes. No, I do not use real butterflies! I do use images of real butterflies and I try to keep the decoration as accurate as possible. The butterflies are even more delicate than the leaves and have been a learning process for me. As a split from this series I have been using embossing and stamp techniques to create some original baking and serving dishes. They are still every bit as beautiful, just a little more user friendly.

I prefer to work in stoneware clay which makes my work durable, as well as oven, microwave and dishwasher safe. Glazes that are food safe and beautiful are what make my pottery great sitting on a coffee table or the kitchen table. What I enjoy most about working in clay, and with the leaves, is no two pieces are ever exactly the same. Most of my work is Asymmetrical, much like the leaves I find in nature. I hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoyed making it.