COCAAN HOSTS THIRD ANNUAL POTTERY OLYMPICS

COCAAN (Central Oregon Community Action Agency Network) will once again be hosting this crucial pre-fundraising event to produce most of the 1,000 bowls for COCAAN’s Empty Bowls fundraiser (on November 12th this year) and the public is invited to watch as potters compete to make the largest bowl, a bowl with no hands, a bowl blindfolded and a tandem creation using kids from the audience. The event will also feature live music.

The event will be held this year during the popular Art Walk July 7 and August 4, 5 - 9 p.m., at the Old Mill Quarter (550 SW Industrial Way in front of The Curiosity Shoppe/Blue Spruce Gallery). The event is free and family friendly. Interested potters and volunteers should contact Nancy (Volunteer Coordinator for COCAAN) at 548-2380 ext 148, or Kalisha at x110.

Reigning Champion, John Kinder, says, "It's fun to work side by side with so many artists at one time, and to have the audience cheering us on."

Bob Sant, also a gold medalist last summer, is excited to participate again this year. "It’s great to have that much creative energy in one place." Sant enjoys the atmosphere and is anticipating new and stiff competition.

For Kinder and Sant, as well as the fifteen other local potters expected to participate, the competitions are fun, but the motivation is really the cause. The artists donate their time and exceptional talent to help COCAAN in its mission to empower individuals and families to succeed and become engaged citizens in the community.

"The community has been instrumental in COCAAN’s efforts to build success and change lives for Central Oregonians,” says COCAAN’s Assistant Director, Holly Hutton. "The Pottery Olympics is a fun way to for everyone to get involved – artists, volunteers, and attendees all do their part."

Pottery Olympics are sponsored by: Washington Mutual Bank, Fuqua Homes, Curiosity Shoppe, Cindercone Clay Co-op, PIP Printing, Horizon Broadcasting, The Source, Cascade A&E Magazine, and Blue Spruce Gallery.

For more information about the event or COCAAN, please visit www.cocaan.org.

COCAAN seeks to change the course of each family’s future by giving them the tools they need to succeed. COCAAN’s tool box includes Head Start, weatherization, home repair, energy and rent assistance, financial skills building, savings programs, assisting parents to find child care, tutoring homeless children, providing emergency and transitional housing to homeless families, home buyer education and feeding the hungry.

COCAAN: Building Success—Changing Lives

Kalisha Fleischmann
Central Oregon Community Action Agency Network (COCAAN)
Phone Number: 548-2380 ext 110
Fax Number: 548-6013
Email Address: kalishaf@cocaan.org

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