Dedicated potters spinning for Empty Bowls again

Once again the wheels have been spinning in local ceramic studios as six artists donate their time to create bowls to be glazed at the 22nd Annual Empty Bowls Fundraising Festival in Leavenworth on Jan. 19-22.
Margareta Dilley has been making pots off-and-on for Empty Bowls since she first heard about the event about 10 years ago. She learned how to work with ceramics as an elective in college and just loved it. Margareta remembers that her grandmother gave her money to buy dishes and instead, she bought clay and made her own.
After moving to Wenatchee many years ago, she took some ceramics classes at Wenatchee Valley College and continued to enjoy it. Later Margareta earned her degree as a nuclear medicine technologist and went to work at Confluence Health. During her years working full time, she did not find the time for her pottery, but upon hearing about the need for hand-made bowls for the Empty Bowls festival, she realized how much she missed it.
Fellow artist and dedicated Empty Bowls participant, Dawn Kranz, welcomed Margareta into her studio to make her bowls. Margareta retired from her work at Confluence Health a few years ago and is happy to now have more time for her art including making 100 bowls for this year’s event. She is currently renting space in Terry Porlier’s Leavenworth Pottery studio. She is grateful to both Dawn and Terry for the use of their studios.
Margareta loves to work with her hands, which is evident with all of the beautiful ceramic pieces and hand-made pine needle baskets gracing her home. She enjoys the process of throwing pots on the wheel. Some of her favorite items are the small, lidded jars she creates and whose delicate forms line her stairway.
Margareta believes very strongly in the mission of Upper Valley MEND, particularly the Community Cupboard where she has volunteered often over the years.
Another local potter contributing to Empty Bowls this year, Adam Pfleeger, does not let his job as a fisheries biologist keep him from finding the time to throw 60 bowls in his second year of participating in the festival. Adam got bit by the ceramic bug in high school. He credits a great teacher and wonderful program for his enthusiasm. He even built his own kiln in his senior year. Adam is currently building a studio in his home where he plans to continue to create primarily functional multi-media art with a focus on ceramics.
After moving to Leavenworth a few years ago, he met potter Mijanou Fortney of Tierra Learning Center who introduced him to Empty Bowls. Adam sees how this event has become an integral part of the Leavenworth Community and enjoys contributing to the efforts of Upper Valley MEND.
For local potter Heidi Bard and her three sons, Empty Bowls has become a real family event. Heidi will contribute 60 bowls and her sons will return for another year, to glaze their own creations. She enjoys seeing how their bowls have evolved over the years, like a timeline of their lives.  
There is much more work required on the part of the potters than making the bowls. Dawn Kranz, returning for her 21st year with Empty Bowls, also helps to dip glaze and fire about 240 bowls. She will create about 80 bowls plus 14 auction, raffle and serving bowls.
Ceramic engineer, Terry Porlier, will throw over 300 soup bowls this year plus three porcelain artist bowls, three serving bowls and all of the “thank you” bowls for Empty Bowls sponsors and major donors. On top of that he will also glaze and fire a large portion of the bowls in his studio, Leavenworth Pottery.
Hannah Pygot is excited for the opportunity to participate in Empty Bowls again this year. Working out of her own studio, she will contribute about 80 bowls for this year’s event.
Oh, and in case I forgot to mention, on top of it all, both Hannah and Terry will create and decorate their own bowls for the Artist’s Auction. 
These dedicated potters are the engine behind the very successful Empty Bowls Festival. We all appreciate the hard work and talent contributed by this local community of artists.