16th Annual Soup ‘R Bowl

By Léo Azambuja

By Léo Azambuja

The deeper the bowl, the better it is for pour decisions. But shallow bowls are more appropriate for a salad dressing to impress. There was no shortage of handmade ceramic bowls at the annual Soup ‘R Bowl last weekend. In fact, the bowls were the life of the party, more than 400 of them.

“This is our 16th Annual Soup ‘R Bowl,” Molokai Arts Center executive director Alice Kaahanui said. “It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year to help fund all of our programs.”

The event held at Lanikeha Community Center in Hoʻolehua March 7 attracted about 200 people who wasted no time noodling around to pick the perfect bowl to ramen-ticize their dinner. 

More than 20 local ceramic artists donated ceramic bowls for the fundraising event. For a $60 ticket, each adult could pick a bowl among a sea of bowls to take home. Youth paid half price. If soup wasn’t their thing, people could pick one of about 75 mugs available instead. 

Those who didn’t think a single bowl was enough could buy more bowls. There were a lot of folks walking around with a few bowls in hand.

“A lot of the part time residents schedule their time on Molokai just for this,” Kaahanui said.

This year’s bowl artists included Arabella Ark, Dan Bennett, Keao Chow, Kanoelani Dudoit, Cheryl George, Heidi Johnson, Koko Johnson, Maricel Kanemitsu, Amber Keoho, Lil Macmillan, April Maddela, Kim Markham, Koichiro Morikawa, Eileen Nims, Emillia Noordhoek, Judith Palmeri, Dawn Simpson, and the Scherling ʻohana, Alena, Earlie May, Jared and Mathyus Scherling. 

The event wasn’t just about soup bowls — it had soup too. Each ticket gave people a choice among five different soups, each one created by MAC’s members, which got the crowd soup’r excited. 

The Kanemitsu and the Take ‘ohana joined talents to create two soups, a beef curry stew and a chicken tinola. Kalaʻe Tangonan went for local taste buds, a beef stew lūau. Brittany North made a hearty vegetable soup. For the vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free crowd, Lee Inouye prepared a coconut lentil soup. 

Kananikalā Bishaw-Juario, Raymond Hiro and later the Da Jukes band provided the soup’rb live music for the event. Bishaw-Juario and Hiro used to perform regularly at the recently closed Hiro’s ʻOhana Grill. Da Jukes — Jessica Sakurada, Robert Shizuma, Melia Kalawe, Kahale Naehu-Ramos, Leonaka Burrows and Edwin Mendija — was formed only a few months ago, quickly gaining popularity with an eclectic array of songs covering classic rock, Motown, R&B, pop, funk and island jams.

A small Art Boutique featured additional art pieces in various media for sale, from local and visiting artists, and MAC T-shirts.

The first Soup ʻR Bowl dates back before MAC was even established as a nonprofit organization. It was held in early 2010 at the lanai of the now-closed Coffees of Hawaii shop. In August of that year, MAC was established as a nonprofit and the event became their main fundraiser, according to Kaahanui. Over the years, the event expanded to include a bowl to take home, live music and food. 

Kaahanui thanked MAC’s board, the artists and staff, as well the volunteers who help the annual event. Akaʻula School students help to serve dinner every year, and the Molokai Agricultural Youth Council, helps with recycling and collecting slop. 

Molokai High School senior Leila Pereira, of the Molokai Agricultural Youth Council said her group was helping to recycle all the waste, plus helping with serving and bussing tables. 

“But our main focus as the ʻōpala (waste) group is just to recycle any of the slop and paper, metal, all that stuff,” Pereira said.

Visit www.molokaiartscenter.org for more information, donate or sign up for their newsletter.