A bowl by any other name still holds soup, but some bowls are more than mere vessels. Some are works of art.

Local artists are organizing an event that will showcase bowls as artworks while raising money to help feed the hungry in Athens and Limestone County.

“People don’t believe here in this area we have hunger and poverty, but we do,” said Alissa Rose-Clark, a local artist and one of the organizers of the event.

Tickets go on sale today for the luncheon fundraiser that will be from noon to 1 p.m. April 21 at Friendship United Methodist Church on Lucas Ferry Road. The $25 tickets include a catered lunch, a bowl to keep, as well as entrance into a silent auction where art bowls will be available for bid.

To order tickets, call Friendship Methodist Church at (256) 232-6687.

Lunch made by Shelley Underhill will include chicken bisque, Mardi Gras potato salad, and coated saltines called firecrackers. Tammy Wilkerson will provide a butter cream cake with pineapple filling.

Proceeds from the show will go to Limestone County Churches Involved, which keeps a food bank and distributes items to locals in need.

Bowls that will be given to guests and bowls available in the silent auction will be made from a variety of materials, Rose-Clark said.

The bowls in the silent auction will be “special pieces,” she said.

“They will be high-art pieces,” Rose-Clark said. “We have one that will be made of metal, another made of antlers and some fine ceramic pieces.”

The bowls given to each ticket holder also are artworks — some of which will be made by local high school and middle school students.

Artists wishing to donate a bowl they have created should contact Rose-Clark at (256) 777-5389, or send an e-mail to alirose76@gmail.com. Bowls can be of any medium but must be handmade, she said.

Rose-Clark said she asked Friendship Church to host the event because of the church’s history of community involvement.