A simple meal served in a handmade bowl is symbolic of the minimum calories needed to sustain life and to bring a greater awareness of hunger in our world. The Empty Bowl Lunch, to be held October 16th at the Arizona Center, is celebrating its 19th year in Phoenix and is a partnership between the Arizona Clay Association, WasteNot, and restaurants at The Arizona Center.

Halldor Hjalmarson, a member of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, was the clay association president during the inception of the event and chaired it during the first five years. Since that time he annually contributes ceramic bowls to the lunch and helps serve during the day of the event. He says the event is "made for charity, and potters take pride in contributing bowls made by their hands and hearts".

Potters contribute the bowls, restaurants provide the food, the Arizona Center provides the space, and WasteNot receives all proceeds. WasteNot feeds thousands upon thousands of hungry people every day. Their trucks and drivers are on the road six days per week, beginning at 6:30am, collecting an average of 5,000 pounds of excess perishable food daily from restaurants, resorts, caterers, grocers and various food purveyors – food that would otherwise be thrown away. They deliver the food the same day to more than 80 diverse agencies that feed the hungry including schools, after-school programs, daycare centers, rehabilitation centers, transition homes and senior facilities.

Patrons select their bowl, contribute $12.00 to WasteNot, are served a simple meal, and keep their bowl as a lasting reminder of hunger in the world. The three hour noon time event generates more than $35,000 in contributions for WasteNot each year.

Halldor Hjalmarson is a Sponsoring Member of The Artists Registry @ ECVA. He may be reached at: hjalmarsonpottery@mac.com

A new breed of preacher is reaching a global audience of millions, and the measurable impact of their influence on society cannot be dismissed. These preachers seek larger membership for their communities, and they invest as much in the care of their current members as they do in reaching out to new members. Their word-smithed messages of ethics, support and encouragement are teaching their communities how to make a better world together. And their delivery is aimed at developing a self-sustaining network of do-gooders and good-choosers with mutual financial support. Sound a lot like church? It could be.

But... the preachers I've described are marketing teams that practice 'civil branding.' Simply put, civil branding seeks to promote a brand while also influencing societal behavior, and ultimately seeks to prompt people to make progress towards a better society. All the while encouraging engagement with the brand. Civil branding seeks to know its audience, and invests time and resources to nurture that relationship.

Applying a civil branding strategy to an ecclesial community will revolutionize the ways and means that a church or parish proclaims itself to the world. Rather than dutifully listing service hours and preschool sessions, ecclesial branding would reveal the values of its membership, inform all who read/view the communication and invite people to join in. Borrowing from its civic predecessor, ecclesial branding's goals would be to inform, engage, incite, and call to act for a better society.

Ready to get started? First, know your membership and your value-propositions. This can be done through various listening and forum processes. Then, discern new visual representations of your identity, likely with the help of a professional, perhaps even an existing member of your community who works in the marketing or advertising business. You will want to select art and image that communicate who you are and where you stand in the world in such a way that anyone who comes through your door will see this reflected in everything you do. This form of visual communication will support your current membership while inviting new members in to a community that they already know something about based upon what they have seen.

How will I know if it is working? For a parish church, look for increases in 'engagement with your brand.' These could be measured in Sunday morning attendance, financial stewardship for operating expenses, volunteerism for parish programming, and selective stewardship for parish-sponsored areas of personal concern. They could also be measured by attendance from the surrounding community, outreach to civic support centers, and service to local governing agencies. There are also benefits to civil branding that are not so easily measured - stronger personal and community identity, shared vision, a sense of belonging and a sense of well-being.

Why does the church need ecclesial branding now? I think it comes down to different ways of seeing the world, a willingness to look through the eyes of another, and a commitment to honest and open communication. After all, some people will look at The Episcopal Church (TEC) and see ____. Others will look at TEC and see ____. And still others will look and see _____.

"O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds." Psalm 71:17

On View: These images are from an ad campaign titled 'Different Values', designed by JWT, New York and London, for HSBC Bank. Learn more about Civil Branding from the professionals at Brandinstinct.

President Barack Obama has declared October 2009 National Arts and Humanities Month. The Art Blog at Episcopal Cafe wishes to share with you gentle readers some of the President's words, illustrated with images from the National Gallery of Art's "Exploring Themes in American Art: Scenes from Everyday Life" series.

In the official declaration released from the White House press office, the President draws attention to the value of the arts in America's history. "Throughout our Nation's history, the power of the arts and humanities to move people has built bridges and enriched lives, bringing individuals and communities together through the resonance of creative expression. It is the painter, the author, the musician, and the historian whose work inspires us to action, drives us to contemplation, stirs joy in our hearts, and calls upon us to consider our world anew."

Obama's declaration continues, "The arts and humanities contribute to the vibrancy of our society and the strength of our democracy, and during National Arts and Humanities Month, we recommit ourselves to ensuring all Americans can access and enjoy them."

Bravo, Mr. President. And thank you for championing the arts and humanities for today, and for the future.

Click here to download President Barak Obama's Proclamation declaring October 'National Arts and Humanitie Month, 2009" form the White House press office.

Read more about ""Exploring Themes in American Art: Scenes from Everyday Life" at The National Gallery of Art website here.

Editor's Note The images on view this week were created by three American artists, Winslow Homer, George Bellows and Red Grooms. Each man painted scenes from everyday life of the America that they knew. As I was preparing this blogpost, I noticed how little I have in common with Homer, Bellows and Groom. I have never fly-fished from Homer's canoe; I recoil at the thought of attending Bellows' boxing match; and my aesthetic sensibilities are not at all drawn to the naive illustrations of Groom. Yet as an American I share in their heritage and their history. If I do not see reflections of my personal everyday life included in the National Gallery's collection, whose fault is that? It would be mine. And so off to the studio I go.

On View: Homepage masthead and above: Winslow Homer, Casting, Number Two, 1894. Gift of Ruth K. Henschel in memory of her husband, Charles R. Henschel
1975.92.2. Homepage Daily Episcopalian: George Bellows, detail from Club Night, 1907. John Hay Whitney Collection. 1982.76.1 Homepage Speaking to the Soul: Red Grooms, Slushing, 1971. Gift of the Woodward Foundation, Washington, D.C. 1976.56.48 All images courtesy, National Gallery of Art.

Figurative artists illustrate, abstract artists deconstruct, filmmakers shoot and photographers photograph. As art appreciators, we more or less depend on the artists in these categories to stick to their script. We like enough predictability to deliver a sense of the familiar; it's a safety net woven from fulfilled expectation that protects our sensibilities from red-lining too far off center.

I wonder, though, how true the above statements are when examined in the context of faith and the visual arts. Is our spiritual hunger satisfied when we watch a documentary film, or when we view an artist's rendering of Jerusalem circa 5 BC? When the subject of their work is scripture, or the parables of Jesus or personal memoirs of the miraculous, there are just so many directions an artist can go.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

DaVinci's statement acknowledges the role of the spirit in the creative activity of the artist. The quote headlines the blog of artist Roberta Karstetter, whose work is on view this week at The Art Blog. Ms Karstetter creates with found objects. Her discipline is known as assemblage art. I am drawn to the 'visible memories' that I see when I spend time viewing Karstetter's work. When I look at a piece of her work, fragments of my own past detach from their neurological anchors, and begin to once again free-associate in my mind. Karstetter provides me with the gift of reflection, and release, of my very human past.

As a body of work, Karstetter reexamines the Christian story from a highly subjective point-of-view. I say hers is a point-of-view worth meeting first-hand. What Karstetter chooses to emphasize with her assemblage art is, I imagine, as much choice as chance. That's the artist's way, that's the creative life, that's spirit at work with the hand. That's art.

On View: Jesus, Light of the World Assemblage by Roberta Karstetter. More information is available at Karstetter's blog, here.