“This is terrifying.”
Emilyann Long bent over a slab of clay, using a ruler to work on the sides of what would eventually become a square soup bowl.
Jeannette Lehr, one of the workshop leaders at Pottery House Studio’s soup-bowl making workshop Wednesday, guided participants in forming square bowls. She instructed them to make the sides mostly the same size, though it wasn’t an exact science.
“We aren’t aiming for perfection,” Lehr said, “we’re aiming for original.”
Long and other potters made two styles of soup bowls during the workshop, a coil bowl and a square one. In about two weeks, they’ll return to Pottery House Studio to glaze the bowls before selecting one of them to take home.
The other bowls will be donated to Hoosier Hills Food Bank for the 32nd annual Soup Bowl Benefit, which will take place Feb. 22 at the Monroe County Convention Center. The event is already sold out for 2026.
Benefit attendees will taste soups from local restaurants and take home a bowl made by potters in the community, including participants at Wednesday’s workshop.
“We really wanted to do a workshop that was about learning how to make bowls and different techniques and then also kind of being a part of the community and like creating something for yourself, donating something for a good cause,” Jen Hoffman, Lehr’s co-leader at the workshop, said.
Long went to the workshop with her "little” from Big Brothers Big Sisters. She said the pair often go to Pottery House Studio to paint pottery.
“And so we're always looking for things to do — because we're part of the community — to give back to the community,” Long said.
Kaitlin Fugate, who works at Cook Medical, signed up for the workshop after a coworker sent the flyer in a group chat. Fugate was drawn to the opportunity to learn pottery techniques and give back to the community at the same time.
“I really like pottery painting and working with my hands, so I said, ‘Why not?’” Fugate said.
Dean Jones attended the workshop with his wife. He said the couple has attended the soup bowl benefit before, but participating in the making of the bowls gave him an appreciation for the process.
“There's several steps along the way and maybe I just thought, ‘Oh, people just make a bowl’, you know, like a bowl is easy. You just whip that out in no time,” Jones said. “And then, but there's all these steps along the way and waiting for things to dry.”
Lehr said the bowls have to dry out for about a week so they don’t explode when fired in the kiln. After firing, the potters will return to the studio to glaze their creations, which are then fired a second time.
Lehr described the partnership between Pottery House Studio and the Soup Bowl Benefit as a natural collaboration.
“I think it's got a ton of different benefits,” Lehr said. “Like, it gets local people who are hobbyists or artists involved in helping out the community. And so, it gives you a lot of sense of fulfillment and the work that you do being important, or the hobby that you're doing being important.”
