DENVER (ELCA) -- More than 600 clay bowls were submitted by ELCA college and university students in the first-ever Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Hunger Bowl Contest.
Dr. Addie J. Butler, vice president of the ELCA, announced five grand prize winners of the contest Aug. 18 at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Initiated to raise awareness for world hunger, the project a is part of the church's celebration of the 25th anniversary of the World Hunger Appeal.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 16-22 at the Colorado Convention Center. There are more than 2,500 people participating, including 1,038 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ Known: Hope for a New Century."
Bowls will be distributed to voting members -- one bowl will be given to two persons in the same synod -- and they must develop a way to share the bowl, said Kris Shafer, coordinator for volunteer development, ELCA Department for Human Resources and developer of the ELCA Hunger Bowl Project.
Shafer got the idea for the project three years ago during a visit to her alma mater, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, one of the 28 ELCA colleges and universities. As a community service project, students made clay bowls, sold their artwork and donated money to service agencies. Shafer said she thought the idea could be expanded to raise awareness for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and some 840 million people who are hungry in the world.
Students in the ELCA colleges and universities were invited to participate in the bowl design contest. More than 600 bowls were submitted, most created by students. The five grand prize winners will each receive a monetary scholarship, and their work will be on display at the ELCA churchwide offices in Chicago. Juror, Keith Williams, ELCA member and professor of art at Concordia College, St. Paul, Minn., selected 25 bowls for honorable mention. Grand prize winners were Heather Cook (two designs selected), Theil College, Greenville, Pa.; Ryan Ramos, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Matt Rude, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa; and an unidentified student at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.
Winning bowls represented "sophisticated glazes" and "exploratory pieces." Bowls were judged on functional traditions, creativity, innovation and the level of craft, Williams said.
One of Cook's bowls arrived at the assembly broken. In a juror's statement, Williams compared this brokenness to people. "These vessels may become a metaphor for our own brokenness or for the brokenness of our world," he said.
Williams said broken pieces of clay are used in developing nations to create new vessels. Pieces of broken pots give new pots their strength, he said.
"The repaired pots are as valuable to us in the context of world hunger as the ones which are whole. After all, isn't it Christ's brokenness which makes us whole?" Williams said.
Aid Association for Lutherans, a fraternal benefits organization, Appleton, Wic., provided a $10,000 grant for the ELCA Hunger Bowl project.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
