Empty Bowls Art Grant recipient Kerry Siderius makes creativity a priority
Icicle River Middle School life skills students Angel (left) and Jonathan (right) look through the kaleidoscopes they made with librarian Kerry Siderius (middle), who recently won an Empty Bowls Art Grant. Kerry uses the grant money to buy supplies for the art classes she teaches to the life skills students once a week, in addition to keeping an art supply closet stocked for the middle school.
Kerry Siderius is certainly a keeper of books for Icicle River Middle School (IRMS), but that is far from her only role there. A professional artist, Kerry is also the keeper of an art supply closet she created that the entire school uses. She is a safe person for a number of students who come to her for support, advice, and snacks. She’s a master at turning upcycled materials into art, and repurposing nearly anything—shipping tubes, fabric, old pots and pans, old picture frames—into materials so that kids can be creative.
Fortunately for Kerry and her students, she’s also one of seven recipients of the Empty Bowls Art Grants for this school year.
Upper Valley Empty Bowls is a beloved yearly fundraiser that primarily raises money for the Community Cupboard food pantry. However, many people aren’t aware that a portion of the money raised at Empty Bowls also goes toward supporting creative projects for youth in the Cascade School District.
Middle school life skills students among Cascade students who benefit from Empty Bowls Art Grants
This year, Upper Valley Bowls Art Grant awarded $3,000 in grants to seven applicants, all affiliated with Cascade schools.
Three years ago, IRMS Life Skills teacher Jason Kramer asked Kerry if she would be willing to teach a weekly art class to the Life Skills students. She readily agreed, but didn’t know about any grants to help with the cost of materials. Despite upcycling as much as possible and buying items at yard sales or getting them for free, Kerry said she was spending $40 a week of her own money on supplies before she got the grant.
Two years ago, she applied for the Empty Bowls Art Grant for the first time, and received much-needed funds to help with the cost of supplies. This year, Empty Bowls awarded her even more money, and all of it is going to good use.
Every fall, the kids make mosaics with dried corn and beans. It’s their favorite project, and Kerry says she’s always amazed by how much time everyone takes to do the project well.
“They went very meticulously, one by one, row by row,” she said. “That’s the art project I thought everyone would lose their patience on, but they stuck with it.”
Kerry brought in an end table she found at a yard sale and one of her students painted it into a chess board, measuring the surface and carefully dividing it into uniformly-sized squares.
“He didn’t even realize he was doing math,” she said. “It’s more fun to learn when you don’t even realize you’re learning.”
The plan is to make chess pieces for the board out of clay on a pottery wheel, using materials Lore Smart, another Empty Bowls Art Grant Winner, bought with her grant money.
Kerry’s eyes light up when she talks about the kids at IRMS. She points to the candid photos she’s placed around the room of the current sixth grade class, meant to help them feel more at home as they adjust to middle school.
“The kids are who I’d prefer to talk to all day long.”
Even if she didn’t get the grant money, she says, “I’d still be buying {supplies} out of my pocket. But it makes me happy, honestly. It makes me happy to help them be successful.”
2024-2025 Empty Bowls Art Grant Winners
Alexis Ciri—Beaver Valley Elementary—school-wide Whimsical Wednesday
Amber Zimmerman—Alpine Lakes—blacklight art
Eric Tiegel—Beaver Valley Elementary—fabric markers for various projects
Heidi Flake—PD First Grade—model magic clay science & art collaboration
Kerry Siderius—IRMS & Cascade High School Library/Life Skills—tie dye; various art and drama projects
Lore Smart—IRMS—ceramic projects
Shanda Holm—Cascade Homelink—silk screens