Everyone is welcome to feast their eyes on the Lawrence Arts Center’s newest exhibition, purchase bowls and prints, and bid on handcrafted platters when the Souper Bowl fundraiser returns.
Preparations for the sale — which offers hundreds of unique, handmade bowls — often begin right after the event is over each year, said Kyla Strid, the arts center’s director of residencies and adult education. Community members and arts center staff began making bowls about a month after last year’s fundraising efforts concluded.
Souper Bowl opens to the public at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4. Attendees are required to sign up for a time to participate in the auction and visit the gallery. Staff recommends arriving about 10 minutes before your designated slot to keep the event running smoothly. Visit this link to sign up.
All attendees are welcome to peruse the vast array of handmade and handpainted bowls, and participate in cardmaking, pottery painting and ceramics until the event concludes at 2 p.m.
Bowls start at $15, but anyone who brings nonperishable food items to donate to Just Food’s pantry gets $1 off their purchase on up to three bowls. According to the Souper Bowl’s signup page, “most needed items are cereal, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables, whole grain pastas, granola bars, tomato products and diapers (sizes NB-6).”
The Edible Ink exhibition, which opened on Friday and will remain on display in the arts center’s lower lobby until 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, employs various printmaking methods to depict food. Arts center staff members, KU design students and members of the community came up with one-of-a-kind designs that are available to view and bid on at this link. See the list of artists at this link.
And 34 artists spent countless hours painting intricate designs on handmade platters for the Platter Silent Auction, which began on Jan. 13 and ends at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4.
All proceeds benefit the center’s Visual Arts Education Program, which offers both adult and youth classes in everything from ceramics, paper arts, and drawing to photography and theater.
“We strongly believe that everyone is an artist, and art is for everybody,” Strid said. “This is also a very unique place … there aren’t very many arts centers that have this many different kinds of programming all under one roof.”
By bidding on a platter or buying a print or bowl, Lawrencians are helping the arts center provide financial aid for students and buy necessary equipment and materials.
“This event is a great way for people to just check things out and meet some of the instructors and artists that are involved in the school,” Strid said.
Arts center members get first dibs to the Souper Bowl, with early access from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3.
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Chloe Anderson (she/her) contributed to The Lawrence Times from August 2022 through May 2023. She is also published in Climbing magazine, Kansas Reflector and Sharp End Publishing. As a recent graduate of the University of Kansas, Chloe plans to continue her career in photography, rock climbing and writing somewhere out West.
You can view her portfolio, articles and commissioned work here. Check out more of her work for the Times here.
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