Donkey Mill Art Center presents its eighth annual “Cool Fusion: Festival of 1,000 Bowls,” a celebration of the ceramic, musical and culinary arts. The event will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Sept. 27 at Donkey Mill Art Center in Holualoa. Participants will enjoy live music while tasting noodles and sipping sake in the cool Kona uplands.
Admission is $25 for adults and $12 for children, and includes a one-of-a-kind ceramic bowl hand-made by a Donkey Mill potter, as well as a lunch of cold somen noodles. Somen is a signature Japanese summer dish served cold. Very thin noodles, broth and special toppings are artfully presented in a personal-sized bowl called a soba choko. Both traditional wheat noodles and gluten-free noodles will be available.
For the first time this year, handmade sake cups will also be offered for sale. Additional hand-made bowls can be purchased for as little as $10 each, and many other pieces of ceramic art, including larger bowls, vases and cups, will also be available.
In keeping with the Donkey Mill’s mission to support a wide variety of arts, the event will feature Brazilian style music by Andrea Lindborg, an awarded musician and educator. As a treat, she will bring her best student musicians from Innovations Public Charter School to perform for guests.
“What I love about this event is that it allows us to bring together a diverse range of artists from our community,” said Claire Seastone, ceramics program director. “The ceramic artists here at the mill work for months to make the bowls by hand, and they produce an incredible array of unique pieces. Each bowl represents the particular vision of the potter who made it.
“To see a thousand individually crafted bowls on display at the event is astounding. And then to have the opportunity to enjoy the culinary arts and the music of local artists makes for a truly inspiring day. The music students are incredibly professional, yet they bring such a playful element to the celebration,” Seastone added.
All funds raised at Cool Fusion support the Donkey Mill ceramics department’s mission to bring clay art to people of all ages and abilities in the community. Along with year-round ongoing classes in pottery and sculpture, the program also offers specialty workshops taught by visiting artists from around the world.
For more information, call 322-3362 or visit donkeymillartcenter.org.