The Dining Room Project Catalogue/Cookbook

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

1

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

1

The Dining Room Project

A collaborative project initiated by the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art’s Museum Without Walls program in partnership with the Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project The Dining Room Project: Art, Food, & the Ritual of Eating March 20 – May 15, 2011

Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art Epsten Gallery | Museum Without Walls 5500 W 123rd Street, Overland Park, KS 66209 www.kcjmca.org

The Dining Room Project: A Potluck Smörgåsbord March 18 – May 7, 2011

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project Paragraph Gallery 23 E 12th Street, Kansas City, MO 64105 www.charlottestreet.org Front Cover Image: Peter Warren with Chef Patrick Ryan: The Dining Room Project Table (1 of 2) (detail), 2011, (courtesy the artist and the Epsten Gallery) Inside Facing Page (front) Image: Jeanne Friscia: swordfish, 2004 Inside Facing Page (back) Image: Jeanne Friscia: NY steak, 2004, (courtesy the artist and George Billis Gallery, New York, NY) Back Cover Images, left to right, top to bottom: Melissa Eder: Fave Foods: Tacos, 2011, (courtesy the artist); Dame Osaurus: De Humani Corporis Fabrica: Halo Plate, 2011 (courtesy the artist); Rain Harris: Bauble, 2011, (courtesy the artist); Victor Vazquez: Invaded Space, 2006, (courtesy the artist and Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA); Tom Gregg: Cocktail No.2, 2010, (courtesy the artist and George Billis Gallery, New York, NY); Julie Blackmon: Dinner Party, 2005, (courtesy the artist and Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL); Julie Malen: American Place Setting, 2011, (courtesy the artist); Meredith Host: Dot Dot Doily Dinner Setting, 2011, (courtesy the artist); Design Ranch: Dining Room Project Wallpaper, 2011, (courtesy the artists and Custom Color)

© 2011 Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art

2

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Page 3: Title Page

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

3

A very special thank you to all those who participated in The Dining Room Project!

Design, Fundraising, Organization, Research, Writing: Patrick Alexander, Marcus Cain, Sydney Cooper, Sherry Cromwell-Lacy, Design Ranch, Charles Ferruzza, Eileen Garry, Kate Hackman, Liz Hansen, David Hughes, Regina Kort, Beniah Leuschke, Abby Rufkahr Catalogue Cookbook Artists-as-Cooks Recipe Contributors: Deanna Dikeman, Gloria Baker Feinstein, Lynne Hodgeman, Christopher Leitch, Linda Lighton, Susi Lulaki, David Pier, Jason Pollen, Jim Sajovic, Susan Tinker, Gerry Trilling, Susan White Catalogue Cookbook Recipe Testers and Photographers: Gloria Anderson, Carol Bayer, Marcus Cain, Harriett Charno, Regina Kort, Sherry Cromwell-Lacy, Vicki Laessig, Tony Glamcevski, Jennifer Lacy, Linda Lighton, Cindy Meeker, Judy Roth, E.G. Schempf, Tekia Thompson Photo and Video Documentation: Patrick Alexander, Kevin Bryce, Marcus Cain, Sean Church, Jason Comoto, Paul Ingold, Kate Hackman, Megan Mantia, Aaron Osborne, Abby Rufkahr, EG Schempf, Elizabeth Woodfill

4

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Non-Profit Agencies and Businesses: Custom Color, Kansas City, MO; Design Ranch, Kansas City, MO; facebook; Harvesters, Kansas City, MO; Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; National World War I Museum, Liberty Memorial, Kansas City, MO; LaMar’s Donuts, Kansas City, MO; Salvation Army, Kansas City, MO; U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, MO; Whole Foods, Overland Park, KS; Charlotte Street Foundation/Urban Culture Project, Kansas City, MO; Village Shalom, Overland Park, KS Galleries and Museums: Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL; George Billis Gallery, New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA; National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial, Kansas City, MO; Pomegranate, Inc. Fine Judaica, Leawood, KS; Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis, MO Private Collections: Drs. Solomon & Mickey Batnitzky; Dr. Jonathan & Ellen Chilton; Michael Klein; Linda Lighton & Lynn Adkins

Images, above: Co-Curators Marcus Cain and Kate Hackman conduct studio visits and select work from artists in preparation for The Dining Room Project, 2011 (courtesy Epsten Gallery)

Visual Art: Talila Abraham, Michal Aram, Roni Roth Beshears, Julie Blackmon, Jennifer Boe, Lonnie Stern Boninger, Judy Chicago, Janice Childs, Kate Clark, Laura Cowan, Tara Dawley, Paul Donnelly, Melissa Eder, Andrew William Erdrich, Abbe Findley, Andrea Flamini, Ryan Fletcher, Jeanne Friscia, Mireille Green, Tom Gregg, Rain Harris, Joseph Havel, Alison Heryer, Meredith Host, Stephanie Kantor, Ritchie Kaye, Tammi Kennedy, Michael Krueger, Jerry Kunkel, Judtih Levy, Julie Malen, M. Andy Maugh, Johnny Naughahyde, Beth Nybeck, Dame Osaurus, Steve Resnick, Mallory Serebrin, Barbara Shaw, Margaret Shelby, Sean Starowitz, Irma Starr, Aaron Storck, John C. Sutton III, Victor Vazquez, Peter Warren, Chris Wright, Carol Zastoupil Performance: Alberto & Sonia Aguilar family; Lisa Marie Evans; PEASANTRY (Jessy Abid, Lee Heinemann, Cheyenne Craig); Reach…a movement collective, Inc. (Bobbi Foudree, Marisa MacKay, Maggie Osgood Nicholls, Richard Parsons, Crystal Robins, Chelsea Shaw, Jo Wertz); Super-Taster Society (Megan Mantia & Christopher Good); B.J. Vogt; Corrina West a.k.a. “The Chocolate Fairy”

Chefs, Food Preparation and Catering: Alberto Augilar, Chef Carmen Cabia of Lill’s, Chef Heather Hands, Kerstin Kolbe, Chef James Nickle and Sharon Lab of Village Shalom, Chef, Patrick Ryan of Port Fonda; Tekia Thompson Farmers and Growers: Green Dirt Farm (Sarah Hoffman, John Spertus, Jacqueline Smith, Tony Glamcevski); Peas on Earth (Natasha Karsk & Julie Coon) Volunteer Services: Amy Fredman, Sandy Brooks, Debbie Carey, Zachary Cobb, Matt Davis, Kristen Donnelly, Raquel Donnelly, Katherine Eickhorst, Karen Freeman, Debbie Gwaltney, C.J. Jackson, Kelly Jander, David Johnson, Tity Kpandeyenge, Sarah LaFontaine, Cindy Littrell, Jackie McNeal, Major Jon Meredith, Michelle Miranda, Major Jimmy Phillips, Major Sarah Marsh Reed, Robin Rosenberger, Major Peter Sinclair, Paul Smith, Curt & Nedra Sparks, Lea Williams

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

5

6

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

TABLE

of contents Acknowledgements

4

Salivating at the Museum, a foreword by Sherry Cromwell-Lacy

9

The Dining Room Project Exhibition Catalogue

11

The Dining Room Project, a curatorial statement by Marcus Cain

12

Memories of A Table, a personal essay by Marcus Cain

14

The Dining Room Project Events

16

The Dining Room Project Artist Cookbook

35

Restorative Spirits, an essay by Charles Ferruza

37

Cookbook Artist Bios

40

Cookbook Artist Recipes

42

Project Research by Kate Hackman

73

Image, left: Chris Wright: Delicious Chinese Food, 2005, oil on linen mounted on panel, 14x15” (courtesy the artist and George Billis Gallery, New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA)

DESIGN & LAYOUT BY ABBY RUFKAHR

Abby Rufkahr is the Administrative Assistant and Graphic Designer for the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary as well as the On-call Graphic Designer for Charlotte Street Foundation. She received her BA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design from the University of Missouri – Kansas City in 2009. Abby currently resides in Kansas City, MO, where she also works as a Freelance Graphic Designer for local and regional businesses.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

7

8

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

SALIVATING AT THE MUSEUM

a foreword by sherry cromwell-lacy

We planned to meet at the museum for lunch on Thursday. There’s hardly a museum any more that doesn’t include a café, in fact some of my most pleasant moments have been in these various restaurants. Often it’s an experience while traveling, a time to reflect while writing notes on the back of museum postcards. Although this day was neither vacation nor travel as I decided to arrive at the museum early and roam about before lunch.

Since childhood I’ve been going to museums; I never tire of revisiting certain works, but there are other times I just let myself be drawn to a culture, style or media for no particular reason.

On Thursday, this free association pulled me onward and I happened into the European galleries, filled with beautiful domestic narratives of events and fable-like scenes. A Dutch still life painting at first captured my gaze, I stood looking through the proverbial painting window upon an epitome of realism, a luscious snack of wild strawberries, a goblet sweating cool white wine, and a juicy lemon, its yellow peel coiling off the plate’s edge seeming to scent the air.

Image, left: Installation view of The Dining Room Project (Art, Food and The Ritual of Eating) at the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom, 2011 (courtesy EG Schempf and Epsten Gallery)

Across the corridor, in a gallery to the right, was a painting I hadn’t remembered, a spectacle of fruits, melons, peaches, grapes, raspberries, apples, plums, limes and more. I began thinking about all the artists whose paintings are filled with fruit. Henri Matisse mixing Cadmium and Hansa Yellows, a speck of violet for shadow and an edge of umber for, Lemons on a Pewter Plate at the Chicago Art Institute. In Florence at the Uffizi Gallery, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s, Bacchus wearing a heavy crown of lush purple grapes, dark as the blackness of a Mark Rothko painting. All of Paul Cézanne’s apples, and Pierre Bonnard’s cobblers, tarts, and bowls of golden apricots served at tables covered in linen so crisp as if made from a thousand whites. Who can surpass the frothy white meringue Wayne Thiebaud heaps on a generous wedge of lemon pie. Few artists concoct a richer, more sumptuous array of cakes and confections than Thiebaud in his elegantly decadent, sugar-oozing paintings. The physicality of his surfaces seems slathered down with a spatula more than with a paintbrush.

Contemporary artist Damien Hirst muses about paint in Martin Gayford’s book, Man With a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud, “I decided that a layer of paint on the surface of a canvas is just the same as an object in the room. You know, the deliciousness of

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

9

it, the thing that makes you love the painting, the physical thing, the building up of layers. You want to eat it, as if it were ice cream or something.”

Along with the fruit, there are vegetables, fish, meats, breads, all appearing in works of art. Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin especially treated the goods of the market in his sensuous paintings of fish and plump game, and what of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s powerful hanging carcass of beef; of Vincent Van Gogh and potatoes, how one sees the smell of their earthiness, their gnarly brown overcooked skins, their dry starchy bland color in the midst of humble gloom. Imagine Paul Gauguin preparing potatoes for lunch with Vincent, pale ivory ones like ocean pearls to nestle next slender French green beans, tomato rounds, and fat anchovies.

Food in the hands of an artist becomes the substance of inventive compositions having shape, texture, color and contrast; not only do we respond with our taste buds but also with our eyes. Making works of art can be instinctive, ask an artist why something has occurred in the work and they may say it just “felt” right, and making a great soup might be just as instinctive reaching the point where it just “tastes” right. The fact is, there are parallels in the life of an artist between their studio and their kitchen.

From the kitchen of the museum, restaurant recipes are created that become classic favorites; some comprise cookbooks with reproductions of art such as those I partook of in my before-lunch wandering. For here, in the reality of the museum café, they have exhibited a tempting visual array of desserts with all the deliciousness Hirst finds in the properties of paint layers. The food is presented buffet style, where someone has made an astute connection between the eye and the appetite. I’m oh so ready for the sensation of tasting a delightful little creation, so without hesitation I reach for a tart brimming with fruit, à la Bonnard.

Sherry Cromwell-Lacy, is an artist and independent curator who has since the early 1970’s been professionally involved with organizations, museums and institutions, as a curator, arts administrator and educator.

Image, right: Judith Levy: You Never Dine Alone, 2011 (installation view) video loop, monitor, table, chairs, cloth, lamp, dimensions variable (courtesy EG Schempf and the Epsten Gallery)

10

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

11

The Dining Room Project is the culmination of over three years of development together with the efforts of more than 160 individuals and professionals within the fields of visual and performing arts, the culinary arts, agriculture, design, commercial businesses, non-profit arts and museum organizations and private collections, local business, photo and video documentation and volunteers services. Over the course of eight weeks, The Dining Room Project drew more than 4,500 visitors to its two exhibitions and more than 30 related events held in Kansas and Missouri from March 18-May 15, 2011.

THE DINING ROOM PROJECT a curatorial statement by Marcus Cain

I have had a desire to create an exhibition surrounding the social space of the dining room and the relationship between food and art for quite some time, and The Dining Room Project only begins to set the table for what is deserving of a much longer conversation.

There are certainly many precedents for a project such as this within the contemporary art world (see Co-curator Kate Hackman’s wonderfully researched glossary and text beginning on page 73 of this book placing this project into a larger context). It is food’s fundamental role within our lives and the spaces we create for its consumption as well as the sense of community it engenders that compel me to address its relationship on levels both personal and universal in the initiation of this project.

The Dining Room Project is conceived as a series of meaningful forums in which the public may contemplate its multifaceted relationship with food, art and the ritual of eating. The traditions, formalities and conviviality of the domestic dining room become a platform for the exploration of issues of hunger, sustenance and consumption, the origins of food we eat, its history of cultural symbolism within various traditions, and its usefulness as a vehicle for communication and creative expression.

Unfurling over the course of eight weeks, from March 18-May 15, 2011, The Dining Room Project encompasses two art organizations and group exhibitions across two state lines (KCJMCA’s Epsten Gallery in Kansas and UCP’s Paragraph Gallery in Missouri), more than 30 community-based projects, and this catalogue cookbook. As you will see from the extensive list of participants and acknowledgments, this project exists at a community level that is reflective of the spirit of the region from which it originates.

12

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Image, above: Installation view of The Dining Room Project (Art, Food and The Ritual of Eating) at the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom, 2011 (courtesy EG Schempf and Epsten Gallery)

The Dining Room Project seeks to identify collaborators among the culinary, visual and performing arts while also reaching beyond the context of the contemporary exhibition space to discover new and passionate audiences. Its aim is to examine and challenge actual and perceived boundaries between state lines and urban and suburban communities as well as between people from different generations and cultural, ethnic, social and religious backgrounds.

The Dining Room Project also hopes to highlight the creative output and generative work of artists working today in ways that are helping to bring art to life as something to cultivate, share and consume for its sustenance.

Within this book is visual documentation of the more than 30 original events and projects hosted at the Epsten and Paragraph galleries and throughout the community during The Dining Room Project, the aforementioned glossary and text by Kate Hackman, an essay by food writer and critic Charles Ferruzza, and an essay and recipe

section by contributor Sherry Cromwell-Lacy. Also included are numerous delicious recipes by some of Kansas City’s most well known artists, who share with us their creative endeavors outside the studio and in the kitchen.

In the spirit of The Dining Room Project this book is dedicated to those who…

- Realize their own creative potential - Preserve and pass down family recipes - Participate in a CSA - Donate to a community food pantry - Grow their own food - Host dinner parties that include someone they don’t know - Eat at least one meal a day at the dinner table

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

13

MEMORIES OF A TABLE a personal essay by Marcus Cain

I suppose it begins with a late 20th Century childhood, and what sometimes feels like the last generation of families to still eat a meal together at the table. We had an informal dining room that opened onto both the living room and the kitchen thus every meal was consumed at the dinner table and social activities spilled onto its surface as well. There was no eat-in kitchen, breakfast bar, or formal dining room, and on some nights we were occasionally allowed to eat dinner on TV trays in a downstairs den (a slippery slope as this cultural phenomenon would soon become the norm).

Our table was simple yet sturdy — an Early American hardwood variety with an oval configuration and six barrel-back spindle chairs, one for each member of the family plus an extra chair always ready for a visiting relative or guest.

In the coming years since childhood something seemed amiss in other households, with dining rooms more formal than ours — self-contained spaces of such matching accoutrements as a china cabinet, buffet, long dining room table, armchairs and side chairs, chandelier, and the ubiquitous pair of candlesticks. Closer inspection would reveal dust collecting on centerpieces, dulling varnish on tabletops, and darkening drapes rarely pulled back. It seemed that the dining room was at risk of becoming a thing of the past, a rarefied space from a previous era when such occasions were but a stage for displays of formality, etiquette and refined social

graces. Hospitality was becoming perhaps less about putting on your best and more about feeling comfortable via the casualness of a private space for leisure. It seemed that in many households the sofa had quietly replaced the dinner table as the new social center of family life, if only to move closer to the television.

Our dinner table was, in many ways, at the center of our lives. It was a place to do homework, fold laundry, hold council, pay bills, drink Kool-aid, eat popsicles, make cookies, wrap presents and blow out birthday candles, talk on the phone, pray, and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Memories of that family table persist with its varnish worn through, scuffed, scratched, and stained with life. Over the years I have come to cherish such evidence of personal history, the food that has nourished me into adulthood, and the family rituals that have brought it forth time and time again like a living pulse.

Marcus Cain is an artist and freelance writer who has served as Curator of the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art from 2007-2011.

(In 2012, he will become KCJMCA’s Executive Director.) Former positions include Owner/Co-Director of SATELLITE Exhibitions, Editor in Chief for Review magazine, Instructor of Painting and Drawing at the Kansas City Art Institute, and Assistant Director of Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art. Cain’s artwork is featured in several public and private collections, he exhibits regionally and nationally, and Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art represents him in Kansas City.

Images, right: Peter Warren in his studio during fabrication of The Dining Room Project Tables, 2011 (courtesy Epsten Gallery)

14

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

1400 Guinotte went through major changes in its 105-year history before becoming raw material for Peter Warren’s two Dining Room Project tables for the Epsten and Paragraph galleries. The building was constructed in 1905 as a cannery in the industrial east side of downtown Kansas City, and was continually used as a warehouse space for storage services. In 2005, California developers bought the deteriorating building and tried to convert the warehouse into condominiums in 2005. Failing to do so, they sold the warehouse to a local real estate agency that planned to convert the warehouse into lofts in 2007. After minimal restoration, previous fire damage on the top floors made any hopes of restoring the building impossible, and structural engineers had to condemn the old cannery. 
One aspect of the warehouse that went unnoticed to the public until 2006 when restoration began, was a basement tunnel rumored to lead right to the nearby banks of the Missouri River.

During prohibition, Kansas City bootleggers and mobsters used this tunnel to smuggle liquor in and out of Kansas City. It was during this time that Kansas City had a sizeable speakeasy culture. In 2010, the building was dismantled for its raw materials when Peter Warren purchased some hardwood beams that were being sold as scrap. Those scraps became the principal elements of the two beautiful Dining Room Project tables.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook 15 Research by Hallie McCormick, Charlotte Street Foundation Intern

opening RECEPTION The Dining Room Project (Art, Food, & the Ritual of Eating) Curated by Marcus Cain

EXHIBITING VISUAL ARTISTS

Talila Abraham, Michal Aram, Julie Blackmon, Jennifer Boe, Lonnie Stern Boninger, Judy Chicago, Janice Childs, Laura Cowan, Tara Dawley, Design Ranch, Paul Donnelly, Yair Emanuel, Andrew William Erdrich, Ryan Fletcher, Jeanne Friscia, Mireille Green, Tom Gregg, Rain Harris, Stephanie Kantor, Michael Krueger, Jerry Kunkel, Dame Osaurus, Steve Resnick, Mallory Serebrin, Barbara Shaw, Irma Starr, Victor Vazquez, Peter Warren, and Chris Wright

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

16

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

FEATURED EVENTS Andrew William Erdrich: Andy Cakes The exhibition opening at the Epsten Gallery was a lively event that drew visitors from across the Kansas City region, who were first eager to find a seat for a cooking show by artist and Bread! Partner and Chef-in-Residence Andrew William Erdrich. In his first appearance during The Dining Room Project, Erdrich’s Andy Cakes was an edible performance that took the form of a pancake-making demonstration with a twist. Erdrich’s custom-forged, cast-iron skillet embossed each pancake with his portrait, and guests happily munched on these delicious, free syrup-covered limited editions.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

Johnny Naugahyde: Turkey Carving

Visitors to the Epsten were also treated to a humorous family-style holiday dinner tradition via artist Mark Spencer’s alter ego “Johnny Naugahyde” who presented Johnny Carves a Turkey. In this demonstration, Johnny offered two holiday turkey-carving techniques: “The Norman Rockwell” and “Freestyle” methods for carving a whole turkey, freshly prepared, still steaming, and laid out on brown paper. Naugahyde’s tasting was made complete by a preparation of National Public Radio personality Susan Stamberg’s favorite cranberry sauce recipe as a side dish and the delectable smell of a golden-brown, freshly roasted bird.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

17

opening RECEPTION

The Dining Room Project (A Potluck Smรถrgรฅsbord) Curated by Kate Hackman EXHIBITING VISUAL ARTISTS Kate Clark, Design Ranch, Paul Donnelly, Melissa Eder, Lisa Marie Evans, Abbe Findley, Andrea Flamini, Ryan Fletcher, Christopher Good, Rain Harris, Alison Heryer, Meredith Host, Stephanie Kantor, Kersten Kolbe, Julie Malen, Megan Mantia, Dame Osaurus, PEASANTRY, Aaron Storck, and Peter Warren.

Images courtesy Paragraph Gallery & the Epsten Gallery

18

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

FEATURED EVENTS Chef Carmen Cabia & Ryan Fletcher: Comfort Food The festive exhibition opening at Paragraph drew a diverse crowd of adventuresome – and hungry! – visitors, who sampled gorgeous traditional Spanish tapas incorporating beef tongue, stomach and heart, prepared and served on custom sculptural porcelainware by artist Ryan Fletcher, with recipes and instruction provided by Chef Carmen Cabia.

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

Megan Mantia & Christopher Good: The Super-Taster Secret Society Collaborators Megan Mantia and Christopher Good affirmed guests with discerning palettes, awarding memberships in their Super-Taster Secret Society to those who completed blacklists of offending foods.

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

Corrina West: The Chocolate Fairy Corrina West made her first appearance of the show as the Chocolate Fairy, delivering dessert and a poem to end the evening.

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

19

Alison Heryer: Calorie Count Over the course of a four-day silent performance, artist Alison Heryer, dressed in an apron-coverall of her own design, methodically circled around the 16-foot dining table distributing corn kernals (gathered from a feed sack placed nearby) onto plates and onto the floor, one per plate, 10 to the floor at each stop around the table. Herself invoking both farmer and food preparer, the performance offered perspective on the energy invested in producing and bringing food to the table, while also alluding to the amount of waste and/or excess embedded in the manner in which we consume.

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

Ritchie Kaye: The Groaning Board Artist Ritchie Kaye’s vision of a table that would groan under the weight of donated items gathered on behalf of the needy and accumulated on top of it came to life and then some, as individuals and businesses contributed a bounty of clothing, accessories and bedding supplies, which filled the table to overflowing and spilled onto the floor. On the last day, items were bagged and picked up by the Salvation Army.

Image courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

20

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Friends of KCJMCA Art On-Site: Kansas City Collects Judaica Art Crawl

Over the course of an afternoon, Friends of KCJMCA members visited three wonderful and diverse private collections of contemporary and ancient Judaica and contemporary art at the homes of Drs. Solomon & Mickey Batnitzky; Michael Klein; and Dr. Jonathan and Ellen Chilton.

Guests enjoyed tours with a focus as Judaica for the Seder table and ended the afternoon with an artful and delectable brunch prepared by Pomegranate Fine Judaica Gallery owner Ellen Chilton.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

21

KCJMCA ARTicipation Workshop KCJMCA hosted a day of art, education and fun in an afternoon of three sequential children’s workshops, starting with Color My Pyramid – Eating Right with Colorful Foods. Artist and professional dietitian/nutritionist Roni Roth Beshears taught children how to make better food choices and consume healthy “colorful” foods based on the recently released food pyramid from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Beshears’ attendees also created drawings on paper plates depicting their most recent meals while also drawing from observation some of their favorite “colorful” foods. Following was artist and educator Carol Zastoupil, who taught children how to make their own organic play-doh from a simple recipe and use it to make miniature food sculpture. Finally, The children had a chance to try their hand at creating drawings with dark chocolate and writing and performing spoken-word poetry with Corrina West who reprised her role as the Chocolate Fairy.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

Meat & Other Savories On a warm, sunny spring afternoon, a small but enthusiastic group channeled Thanksgiving as they joined artist Johnny Naugahyde for a reprisal of his turkey carving demo and sampling, followed up by another appearance of the Chocolate Fairy. Bellies full, they watched a selection of online videos, including Sam Taylor Wood’s Still Life (2001), a time-lapse video portraying the complete rotting and decay process of a bowl of fruit, and Game Over by PES, using food in the recreation of a series of much beloved early video games.

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

22

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Fast Talk: Short Presentations

Two series of consecutive 10-minute digital talks and demonstrations featured Paragraph exhibiting artists, Meredith Host, Stephanie Kantor, Ryan Fletcher, and Julie Malen, and Epsten Gallery exhibiting artists Tara Dawley, Paul Donnelly, Dame Osaurus, Rain Harris and Irma Starr.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

Jennifer Boe & M. Andy Maugh: The Twin Peaks Doughnut Experience

In between and after these Fast Talks at the Epsten Gallery, the many visitors flocked to the dinner table to feast on artists Jennifer Boe & Andy Maugh’s Twin Peaks Doughnut Experience, an edible 16-foot long display of 12 dozen of Kansas City’s famous LaMar’s donuts and regular and decaf coffee. Filling the gallery with the smell of sweet dough, and inspired by David Lynch’s classic characters Secretary Lucy Moran and Special Agent Dale Cooper from the 1990’s classic television series Twin Peaks, Boe and Maugh’s installation was a sweet-tooth, sugar fantasy come to life.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

23

Kerstin Kolbe: Creative Cookie Decorating Arriving with dozens of sugar cookies, a cooler stocked with a rainbowcolored array of frostings in piping tubes, and her kids, husband and friend in tow, multi-talented Kerstin Kolbe provided the tools and inspiration for a committed, creative crew of guests to embark on a fun afternoon of creating beautiful and tasty fish, stars, hearts and more, many of which were consumed on the spot during two programs at Paragraph and Epsten galleries!

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery and the Epsten Gallery.

Julie Malen: Bounty

At the Paragraph gallery program, the decorating unfolded around Bounty, a sculptural centerpiece by artist Julie Malen, which injected a bit of critical perspective on consumer excess into the sugar-filled afternoon.

Image courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

24

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

A Surprise Smörgåsbord Visiting from Chicago, multimedia performance artist Alberto Aguilar arrived at the gallery with bags full of ingredients, from cumin to star anise, chocolate to walnuts, and lots of peppers, as well as giant printed signs for gallery windows advertising 50-ingredient Molé. With the help of visitors, he set about creating exactly that in the gallery kitchen, making a series of audio recordings with guests along the way – all in preparation for the off-site dinner party he would be hosting the following night. As the aroma of the sauce filled the gallery, Andrew Erdrich served up tasty, organic potato-based mashes in yellow, red and blue hues, while Aaron Storck, in the persona of The Wizard, offered a towering fruit salad and oratorical in keeping with the ripe spirit of the evening.

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

25

Alberto Aguilar: A Personal Dinner Invitation

With his 50-ingredient molé preparation in hand, artist Alberto Aguilar received his wife and their four children at a private and previously undisclosed Kansas City home where they prepared and hosted an interactive social feast experience for guests invited anonymously via facebook. Challenging the ease by which virtual strangers become acquainted through “friending” one another, Aguilar tested the boundaries of his guests’ comfort zones by placing them in an intimate, multisensory environment where they were given a tour of the home, served a fragrant hybiscis tea, listened to a soundtrack of multicultural music, ate a delicious family-style meal prepared by Augilar from family recipes, played the Catchphrase board game, and received temporary henna hand tattoos by the artist. At the end of the evening guests departed with special gifts from Alberto that included an original drawing, a bracelet made especially for them by his mother, and fresh memories of a magical evening shared by a group of newfound friends! The following day, Aguilar and his family arrived at Village Shalom for an artist talk during which the artist literally sang the results of his experimental projects in Kansas City while showing a digital slideshow of recent work and plans for future projects.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

26

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

BREAD! BREAD! leaders Sean Starowitz, Andrew Erdrich and Joy Costa hosted a fantastic meal of split pea soup (with ham or vegan), salad, focaccia and cucumber water for some 40 guests at the Paragraph Gallery, generating a $360 kitty granted by popular vote to support The Minister of Information’s American Bike Flag Project. The vivid green soup was served in lovely handmade bowls by Kansas City artist Roberto Lugo, created specifically for BREAD!

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

27

Rebecca Blocksome: AB OVO Lawrence-based artist Rebecca Blocksome provided dozens of hardboiled eggs and an array of richly colored dyes taking their vibrant hues from cumin, blueberries, beets and more for a pre-Easter egg-dying workshop. Drawing from methods learned while living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rebecca and visitors got their fingers wet dunking the eggs in the dyes, a process which required some patience but which ultimately yielded beautiful results. She also offered recipes to participants wishing to create dyes themselves.

Images courtesy the Paragraph Gallery.

Kugel, Kugel, Kugel Demonstration Village Shalom Chefs Sharon Lab and Jimmie Nickel took time from their busy schedules to share with visitors the finer points of making a great kugel during this afternoon cooking demonstration. A traditional Jewish noodle-based dish made either sweet or savory and served on the Sabbath, the kugels at this demonstration warmed guests hearts as they sampled three delicious variations that included a traditional cinnamon and raisin kugel, almond encrusted kugel, and a pineapple up-side-down kugel.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

28

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Tekia Thompson: Breaking Bread – A Soul Food Communion A generous portion of southern hospitality greeted more than 90 guests at this free, homestyle community buffet dinner served at the Epsten Gallery and hosted by cook, caterer and Southern Comfort Food Fest creator Tekia Thompson. Thompson, who also serves as Director of Communications at American Cancer Society, worked with an enthusiastic team of family, friends and other volunteers to prepare this free public meal and invited guests via facebook with only one stipulation: they had to sit with someone they did not know. To this end, each guest was assigned a seat randomly and intentionally separated from those with whom the arrived.

Conversations blossomed over passed baskets of fresh bread and a menu of delicious fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroniand-cheese, collard greens and a bevy of homemade desserts from recipes passed down within Tekia’s family. On the occasion of Breaking Bread, Thompson also published her own cookbook with recipes from the dinner and invited artists John C. Sutton III to design the cover and sculptor Beth Nybeck to present a centerpiece for the buffet line. By the end of the evening guests lingered long after their meals, engaging in rich conversations with newfound friends.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

29

Reach...a movement collective presents The Dinner Party Six Reach dancers presented a playful, spirited, in-the-round performance around each of the two exhibition’s dining room tables, graduating from the arrival of the guests to the unfolding of napkins, to a decadent dining bacchanal, complete with fantastically sculptural food and on- and underthe-table dancing. Each dancer assumed a radically different persona, then switched it up again for a distinctly different second performance a half-hour later. Pure pleasure!

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery and Paragraph Gallery.

30

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Peas on Earth: Dining in Perspective On a picture-perfect, sun-glistening weekend afternoon in the upper West Side neighborhood of downtown Kansas City, 22 guests learned the value (and health benefits) of an alfresco dinner in Peas on Earth’s urban organic farm owned and operated by Julie Coon and Natasha Karsk. This tasty meal of all local ingredients was prepared by Chef Heather Hands from that morning’s garden harvest, and Karsk and Coon shared a wealth of information on the impact of factory farming and the potential land-use value of converting the city’s empty urban lots into urban gardens like Peas on Earth.

Guests left enlightened, inspired and satiated from a dinner that closed the gap between field and plate.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery and Peas on Earth.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

31

Farm Tour at Green Dirt Farm Nestled in the bucolic hills of northern Missouri’s Weston township sits Green Dirt Farm, which in a few short years has become one of the region’s most well-known and respected organic sheep’s milk cheese producers. Winning first place awards and accolades at cheese competitions nationwide, and housing one of the Midwest’s best seasonal series of chef-inspired farm-table dinner venues, Green Dirt Farm was a perfect destination for Dining Room Project fans to share an enlightening tour of the farm with Farm Manager Tony Glamcevski. Highlights included meeting one of Livestock Owner Jacqueline Smith’s lamb born upon the group’s arrival, seeing Farm Owner and Cheese maker Sarah Hoffman decked out in scrubs in a hermetically sealed, laboratorylike glass enclosure, and tasting some of the farm’s awardwinning tangy, fluffy white fresh sheep’s milk cheese.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

32

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

B.J. Vogt: You’re Invited (1980 – 2011) In this edible performance installation, St. Louis-based artist B.J. Vogt offered visitors an opportunity to share no less than 14 reenactments of his earliest birthdays at an installation that included his family’s original dinner table, vintage decorations saved by the artist for decades, and cakes baked in the likeness of each year’s birthday theme. Vogt was surprised by each birthday proclamation, which came complete with extinguishing birthday candles, song and the cutting and serving of cake. Vogt performed each age relative to the given birthday and donned costumes while cutting and sculpting cakes into a mishmash of 1980’s and 90’s Pop Culture boyhood fantasies such as He-Man & Skeletor, Sesame Street, hockey and racecars. Underlying all the surreal humor of the event was a poignant acknowledgement of the significance of these birthdays — they represented the only years Vogt’s family documented such occasions before his mother developed and succumbed to a degenerative disease.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

Margaret Shelby: Now Serving – Food as Munitions In this multimedia presentation, artist Margaret Shelby offered a compelling narrative detailing the history of food service in the military through a moving projected video composition of patriotic advertisements, vintage footage, recorded interviews and period music from World Wars I & II, Vietnam, Korea, Gulf War and other conflicts. Afterwards, visitors listened to stories told firsthand by a panel of military personnel from the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, MO: Major Jon Meredith; Major Jimmy Phillips; Major Sarah Marsh Reed; and Major Peter Sinclair. Many questions were asked about their experiences in and out of combat and stories were recounted with visitors under a camouflage ghillie net installed for the event, which cast intricate shadows across the walls of the Epsten Gallery. At the table, a buffet of freshly prepared pouches of MRE’s (meal ready to eat) awaited brave and hungry visitors who dished out their own tastings in an improvised camp kitchen setup.

Images courtesy the Epsten Gallery.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

33

34

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Page 35: Intro Title Page to Cookbook Section

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

35

36

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

RESTORATIVE SPIRITS

Kansas City’s Entwined Arts and Culinary Legacies

an essay by Charles Ferruzza

A fresco unearthed in the ruins of Pompeii—a still life dating back to 63 A.D.­­— captures a glass bowl filled with shiny, juicy apples, figs and grapes. Like visual representations of food created long before and long after this date, the painting evokes very real visceral responses: hunger, desire—even lust. After all, an array of succulent fruits and vegetables can look remarkably sexy in the right circumstances; painter Wayne Thiebaud’s rows of Technicolor iced cakes and slices of pie could be as alluring as a chorus line of Vegas showgirls. To evoke an image as mouth-watering can inspire a wide range of appetites.

The connection between art and food is ancient. As soon as humans could create meals that were as visually stimulating as they were delicious, the art of culinary was born. Never forget that the word restaurant comes from the French verb restaurer: “to restore.” Wonderful food, like great art, restores both the spirit and the soul.

Image, left: Jerry Kunkel: Breakfast, 2009, oil on canvas, 29x36” (courtesy the artist and Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art Kansas City, MO) .

There’s a vital link between the visual and the culinary arts in the history of Kansas City dining. Fred Harvey (1835-1901) commissioned the murals for the Westport

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

37

Room at Union Station from artist Hildreth Meière (18921961), who created the breathtaking mosaics for New York City’s Temple Emanu-El. Harvey understood that it wasn’t enough to serve excellent fare when his patrons could also dine in a space filled with beauty.

Years later, several local restaurants—including the Athena on Broadway and Café Allegro on 39th Street—became alternative gallery spaces for local artists to exhibit their work. And two of the city’s most famous restaurants, Rozzelle Court of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and Café Sebastienne of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, are actually inside art museums, stimulating both the appetite and the imagination.

When Rabbi Max Bretton (1897-1979) left his position as Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City in 1946, it was to follow a dream of owning his own restaurant. The beloved Bretton’s, at 1215 Baltimore, not only created visually sumptuous dishes for nearly 30 years, but was a place where celebrated visual and performing artists from all over the world­—Arturo Rubinstein, Van Cliburn, Maria Callas, Edward G. Robinson —would come during their Kansas City appearances and be restored.

Max and Mary Bretton had an affinity for all artists anyway: Mary Bretton had formerly toured the country as opera singer Mary Powell.

Bretton’s kitchen staff prepared a menu of elegant French dishes (the Châteaubriand was legendary) and soothing traditional Jewish immigrant fare: matzo ball soup, kreplach

38

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

soup, potato pancakes. When no other local restaurant was offering the most dramatic of all post-war desserts, the flaming Baked Alaska, Max Bretton’s namesake restaurant was serving it every night. Bretton’s restaurant was across the street from the old Orpheum Theatre: he understood that food wasn’t just an art form it was theater, too. He named his Bali Hai dining room, the first Polynesian restaurant in town, after a song from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical South Pacific.

Today, at least one visual artist in Kansas City owns restaurants, like Jeff “Stretch” Rumaner (of Grinders and Grinders West) and a generous supporter of Kansas City’s cultural community, philanthropist Shirley Bush Helzberg, owns Webster House, a dining room surrounded by beautiful art and antiques.

There’s a fine art, indeed, to restoring the spirits of others, whether through a painting or a sculpture – or a bowl of chicken soup.

Charles Ferruzza is the award-winning restaurant reviewer for The Pitch, Kansas City’s alternative weekly. His work has been read in a variety of local and national magazines, including Genre, Borderline, Kansas City Home Design, Kansas City Magazine, Ingram’s and Kansas City Live! For 15 years, Charles was the feature editor of the Sun Newspapers where he covered a wide gamut of topics, ranging from home design to film, theater, and local personality profiles. He began his radio career doing book reviews for WFYI-FM in Indianapolis in the early 1980s.

Image, right: Tom Gregg: Yellow Eaten Cake, 2010, oil on panel, 21x18.5” (courtesy the artist and George Billis Gallery, New York, NY) .

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

39

Deanna Dikeman has been a photographer since 1985. Her work is in the collections of The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS, Sprint Corporation, American Century Corporation, Corporate Communications Group, Overland Park, KS, and The Federal Reserve Bank, Kansas City, MO. Most recently, she has been photographing ballroom dancers and their rhinestone-encrusted clothing in movement. Deanna received a 2006 Charlotte Street Award. She is represented

by Dolphin Gallery in Kansas City, MO. Gloria Baker Feinstein obtained her MA in photography from the University of Wisconsin in 1979 and subsequently went on to study with mentors such as Keith Carter, Andrea Modica and Mary Ellen Mark. Her work has been exhibited in juried and invitational shows across the country and can be found in the collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The High Museum, the Center for Creative Photography, the Sprint Corporation, the Nerman Contemporary Gallery of Art and H&R Block World Headquarters. She has published three books: Convergence, Among the Ashes, and Kutuuka.

With a background of linguistics and mathematics, Lynne Hodgman creates language-like symbols she calls Glyphs, which are language metaphors whose interpretation varies with the viewer. Hodgman has made tens of thousands of Glyphs in many mediums (more recently paper and textiles). She has shown work in the Midwest, Arizona, and China, and has enjoyed many gallery shows, most recently at Pi Gallery, Thornhill Gallery at Avila University, and Epsten Gallery. Hodgman currently maintains a studio in Kansas City, MO. Christopher Leitch is an artist and designer who lives and works in Kansas City. He is director of Kansas City Museum at Corinthian Hall, the city’s museum of history, working to make the venerable institution accessible to diverse contemporary audiences. Leitch has been published frequently, in Art in America, New Art Examiner, Ceramics: Art and Perception, ArtPapers Atlanta, American Craft, and International Textile Design. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City and is a member of the Johnson County (KS) Public Art Commission.

Linda Lighton received a BFA with honors from the Kansas City Art Institute, studied painting and ceramics at the University of Idaho, and attended The Factory of Visual Arts in Seattle, WA. Lighton has had numerous solo shows, participated in over 100 group exhibitions all over the world, and her work is in many national and international collections. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and has had the opportunity to represent the United States at numerous symposiums and residencies. Linda is elected as the Artist for the State of Missouri and is a fervent arts advocate and activist. She has served on many boards in her community and administers the Lighton International Artists Exchange Program at the Kansas City Artists Coalition. Currently, she works in a large warehouse in Kansas City and rents space to other artists.

Susi Lulaki is currently painting walls at Operation Breakthrough, a daycare for over 600 children near 31st & Troost in Kansas City, MO. One room of dolphins, turtles, and fish is completed, and a cinder block wall of birds, butterflies, and flowers is underway. Susi has been painting animals for some 50 years, even slipping in a number of sheep between the model & still life setups of art school. When not painting guinea hens, goats and forest animals, Susi illustrates books and cooks, currently as an amateur, but professionally as owner chef of Athena from 1981 to 1995.

40

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

David Pier was born and raised in Palo Alto, CA. He now lives in Chapel Hill, NC with his wife Sarah and their tiny dogs, Jumbo and Rumpus.

He came to Kansas City in 1996 to teach the Clay & Glaze courses at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) after completing his M.F.A. at Penn State (preceded by a B.A. in Chemistry and Art at Pomona College). He taught at KCAI and at Johnson County Community College (JCCC) for seven years before returning to California, where he met Sarah. He now spends much of his time on his business of HoundRound dog exercise wheels, but is still active in ceramics.

Jason Pollen received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in painting at The City College of New York City. He was on the faculty of the Royal College of Art in London, Parsons School of Design, and Pratt Institute before serving as Chair of the Fiber Department at the Kansas City Art Institute. Pollen exhibits his fabric constructions internationally. He has designed textiles for dozens of fashion and home furnishings firms and regularly collaborates as scenic designer for the Kansas City Ballet. He was named Fellow by the American Crafts Council in 2006 and is President Emeritus of the Surface Design Association.

Jim Sajovic’s works have been exhibited at galleries and museums, nationally and internationally, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Paris, Edinburgh, Milan, Rome, and Venice. His works are held in many public and private collections in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Jim Sajovic is represented by Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA, and Opera Gallery, Paris, France. He was awarded a Self-directed Creative Residency at The Banff Center, Alberta, Canada, 2010. Exhibitions in Kansas City, 2009-10, include: Dream Bodies: Transformative Figures, Epsten Gallery of the Kansas City Jewish Museum; WORD, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art; and Witness: Perspectives on War, LeedyVoulkos Art Center.

For 45 years, Susan Tinker has been making art in many varied forms: fine art painting, design, illustration, quilting, doll making, and gardening—a personal and private art. She received her BFA from the University of Kansas and her MA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Tinker worked as a card and product designer for Hallmark Cards until 1990, and then in 1995 put her focus towards studio painting and exhibiting. She also serves as an Advisory Board member for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

A Saint Louis native, Gerry Trilling currently lives in the Kansas City area. She constructs paintings utilizing vinyls, paint and fabrics based on a mid century coverlet pattern. Trilling’s work is exhibited here in Kansas City and regionally. She has received multiple awards, including the Kansas Arts Commission Mini Fellowship in 2001 and a Professional Development Grant from the Creative Capital Foundation in 2008.

Susan White is a multi media artist who works with pyrographs or burn drawings, constructions made from honey locust thorns and video/ installation. She has received a Lighton Grant (L.I.A.E.P) to support an upcoming artist residency in Tokyo in the fall of 2010. Her work is widely exhibited and in numerous corporate and private collections.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

41

HOMINY SALAD ARTIST Deanna Dikeman WHAT TO USE 1 can yellow or white hominy, drained 1 medium tomato, chopped 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion 1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper 2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro 1/4 tsp cumin seeds

WHAT TO DO Combine hominy, tomatoes, onion, pepper and cilantro in medium bowl.

Combine cumin seeds, paprika, lime juice, oil, and salt and pepper in cup.

Pour over hominy mixture, toss gently.

Prepare at least half-hour before serving for flavors to blend.

Serves 4.

1/4 tsp paprika 2 tsp lime juice 1 Tbsp olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste

NOTES 42

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

BLUEBERRY OATMEAL MUFFINS ARTIST Deanna Dikeman WHAT TO USE WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Fill 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Combine rolled oats and orange juice and set aside.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt.

Whisk together egg and oil.

Add orange juice and oatmeal.

Stir into flour mixture with wooden spoon.

Add blueberries.

Divide batter into the 12 muffin cups.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: Baking time will be slightly longer if blueberries were frozen.

NOTES

1/2 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup orange juice 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 vegetable oil 1 egg, beaten 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen I have always loved to cook, and it has been an integral part of my family’s life in Sioux City, Iowa. I remember cutting out recipes from my mom’s Better Homes and Gardens magazines when I was a teenager.

I have great memories of summertime homemade ice cream and cake at my aunt’s house. Uncle Earl cranked the ice cream, and Aunt Evey made a cake. Aunt Margee gets stuck on a recipe and makes it over and over again: chocolate eclairs, crazy cake, pumpkin ice cream pie, Danish puff are just a few. All this food has made its way into my artwork.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

43

RHUBARB DESSERT ARTIST Deanna Dikeman WHAT TO USE 1/2 cup sugar 3 Tbsp butter 1/2 cup milk 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 4 cups chopped rhubarb 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tbsp cornstarch

WHAT TO DO Cream the sugar and butter.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add flour and milk alternately to the creamed mixture.

Place the rhubarb in a 9x9 inch greased Pyrex baking dish.

The photographs I have taken over the Pour the sugar and cornstarch mixture over the rhubarb. years show the cakes being served and the turkeys being carved. Steak on the Spread the cake batter over this. barbecue grill has been another favorite food/subject for me. I don’t think the grill ever got used except when I came home Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over all. to visit in the summer. Then Dad would get it out, line it with aluminum foil, grill some Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees.

T-bone steaks, and we would have a meal on the patio. I kept my camera close by and alternated between taking photos and helping to set the table. If I am lucky, there is a rhubarb pie waiting for me when I arrive.

NOTES When it is time to for me to drive away, we go to the garden and pick a big bunch of 44 thetoDINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook rhubarb for me take back to Missouri.

KUGEL ARTIST Gloria Baker Feinstein WHAT TO DO TOPPING: Mix and crush brown sugar, corn flakes, and butter KUGEL: Blend butter, cream cheese and sugar until creamy.

Add sour cream, vanilla, beaten egg yolks and cottage cheese. Mix well.

Fold in drained noodles and stiffly beaten egg whites.

Grease large baking pan. Pour in mixture.

Sprinkle on topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

WHAT TO USE KUGEL: ¼ lb. margarine or butter 8 oz. cream cheese ¾ cup sugar ½ pint sour cream 1 tsp vanilla 6 eggs, separated 12 oz. cottage cheese 8 oz. broad noodles, cooked and drained TOPPING: 2 Tbsp brown sugar, ½ cup corn flakes 1 Tbsp butter

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

45

HAWAIIN RICE PILAF ARTIST Gloria Baker Feinstein WHAT TO USE 1 large onion chopped (1 cup) 1 clove garlic minced ½ stick butter 2½ cup chicken broth 1 cup uncooked long grain rice ½ cup parsley ½ cup raisins

WHAT TO DO Sautee onion and garlic in butter in large saucepan until onion is tender, but not brown.

Add chicken broth, bring to boil, stir in rice with a fork, and cover.

Lower heat and cook until done (about 25 minutes.)

Add raisins, parsley, pine nuts, salt and pepper.

Serves 6.

¼ cup pine nuts ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper

The creation of food is a kind of artmaking. It entangles the senses and stimulates our curiosity. It has structure and subtlety. And like art, it is an act of experimentation. It brings friends and family into primitive/ essential, communal, sharing activity. What could be better? I think that experiencing powerful art can evoke the same feelings.

46

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

MEATBALLS ARTIST Gloria Baker Feinstein WHAT TO USE 2 lbs. ground round, veal, or turkey ½ grated onion dash garlic salt SAUCE:

WHAT TO DO Bring sauce to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer.

16 oz. ketchup 16 oz. VERNORS Ginger Soda ½ grated onion

Mix meat with ½ grated onion and salt.

Form meatballs about 1” in diameter.

Drop meatballs into the sauce, cook covered at low simmer for one hour.

NOTES

The meatballs were quick, easy to prepare and the grandchildren loved them! To take the meatballs up a notch I’d add salt and pepper, a touch of cayenne pepper, minced garlic and a little oregano.

– Cindy Meeker (DRP Taste Tester)

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

47

PASSOVER NUT CAKE

ARTIST Lynne Hodgman WHAT TO USE 6 eggs, separated, at room temperature

1 cup sugar 2 oz. brandy, rum, or vodka 1 oz. melted unsweetened baking chocolate 1 Tbsp cocoa powder 8 oz. finely ground toasted walnuts 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp instant coffee powder, (optional)

WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven 325 degrees.

Beat whites with mixer in very clean bowl (no traces of fat) until soft peaks form.

Set aside.

Beat yolks well in electric mixer in another bowl.

Add sugar gradually, beating slowly.

Add remaining ingredients, beat until combined.

Remove bowl from mixer and fold in the egg whites gently.

Gently pour the mixture into a 8-9� spring-form pan, lightly greased with butter, Crisco, or Pam. Place pan on cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes.

Cool and dust with confectioners sugar.

Serve with whipped cream and/or strawberries.

NOTES 48

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

LOW-FAT SALAD DRESSING

WHAT TO DO

In blender, place all ingredients except oil. Blend until smooth.

Pour oil in slowly through the top while running blender at low speed.

Add pepper if desired.

This has half the fat of usual salad dressings.

Note: I often put fruit (fresh strawberries, grapes, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries or dates) into my salads, and we have them *after* the meal.

This supposedly helps avoid dessert by finishing the meal with something slightly sweet.

Note: You can substitute orange juice, the juice from canned mandarin oranges, or grapefruit juice for the cider. You can also substitute freshly squeezed lemon juice for the vinegar.

NOTES

ARTIST Lynne Hodgman WHAT TO USE

1/4 small onion, chopped 1 – 2 Tbsp dijon mustard

1/3 cup apple cider (the real thing)

1/3 cup rice wine or other light vinegar 1/3 cup light olive oil

1/4 tsp ground black or white pepper (optional)

Making and transforming gives my life meaning. Making art is transforming vision – inner or outer – into tangible form. Making a meal is transforming raw materials into visually attractive and consumable forms. I think of them as parallel processes, as complementary; “making” is the operative notion, and cooking is a form of art-making.

The materials are different but the significance of process is common to both. Recipes are guides or suggestions, to be re-interpreted, just as art is re-interpreted metaphor.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

49

ORANGE-CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING ARTIST Lynne Hodgman WHAT TO USE 2 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk 2 Tbsp nonfat half and half 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/8 tsp cinnamon Scant 1/8 tsp cardamom Dash nutmeg 1/4 cup cut-up canned mandarin oranges 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven 350 degrees.

Spray 8� square baking dish with Pam. Beat together all but last three ingredients.

Stir in oranges, chips, and bread and let stand a few minutes or until most of liquid is absorbed.

Pour into pan.

Bake about 45 minutes, or until slightly browned on top and inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Serve warm with whipped cream.

8-10 slices white bread, torn into about 8 pieces each

NOTES 50

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

SWEET & SOUR BAKED BEANS ARTIST Christopher Leitch WHAT TO USE WHAT TO DO Lightly cook the onions in the oil.

After several minutes, add the dry spices, stir well.

Next add the vinegar, and dissolve the sugar into this mixture. Slowly simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes.

Olive oil or butter 4 medium-large yellow onions, sliced 1 tsp dry mustard ½ tsp garlic powder 1 tsp salt ¾ cup apple cider vinegar 1 cup brown sugar

Then mix together, all drained: butter beans, lima beans, kidney beans and baked beans.

2 cans butter beans,

You can use, really, any kinds of beans you like. The point is to get a variety of sizes, colors and textures all together. If you prefer and you can find them, use frozen beans, 1-1/2 cups will equal 1 can.

1 can kidney beans,

1 can green lima beans, 1 jar B/M Boston baked beans or vegetarian baked beans

Mix all together, then stir in the onion compote and mix thoroughly.

Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for about 1 hour.

For variety, stir in some cubes of queso fresco or Indian farm cheese right before baking.

These cheeses hold their shape and add a nice counterpoint to the beans.

NOTES

This was my mother Hazel’s recipe, and we ate them mostly in summer time. These beans are a delicious alternative to pasta salads or mashed potatoes. Serve hot or cold, as a side dish or over rice for dinner.They can be frozen, but there won’t be enough left over to worry about that!

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

51

GARLIC ROAST BEEF, WITH DEMIGLACE ARTIST Christopher Leitch WHAT TO USE A cut of beef suitable for roasting.

Note: Almost any cut will do, but I prefer to use one with a bone in, or even a standing rib roast.

Two full garlic buds, all the cloves peeled and ready

WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Note: Make sure it is blasting hot before introducing the roast.

Start by standing the roast, and with a small sharp knife make a puncture in the surface.

Insert a whole garlic bud (separated into cloves) all the way until all the garlic you desire is inserted evenly all over beef.

Rub the exterior of the roast with kosher salt.

Place the roast in a large-enough pan to hold the potatoes around the roast. Sprinkle some celery seed on the potatoes, and salt-and-pepper minimally.

4-6 medium potatoes, washed and sliced across or length-wise, cottage style and rubbed in some olive oil

Place the roast, exposed, into the very hot oven for 10-15 minutes until the surface is seared nicely. Then cover with foil or lid and reduce heat to 325 degrees and cook for another 20-25 minutes per pound (for medium-done roast with a bone in). Note: You can check while it is cooking and remove the potatoes when they have reached the doneness you like.

1 cup decent red wine,

Remove from oven at least 20 minutes before you want to serve, and residual heat will cook through. Remove the roast from the roasting pan, and pour off all but 1 cup of the liquid in the bottom of the pan. Make sure it is a good mix of the fats, waters and spices, and any stray bit of roast that might have stuck to the pan.

(not too much!)

(with extra for the cook!)

Celery seed, salt, pepper

This roast starts out in a very hot oven, to sear the surface, then you turn the oven down and cover the roast and slow cook from that point.

This prevents over cooking.

Cooking time will vary depending on the size and density of your cut. A good rule of thumb is 25 minutes per pound, after searing, for a medium-done roast.

52

Set the pan over medium high heat on the stove top and, stirring rapidly with a whisk or Foley Food Fork®, add the cup of wine to deglaze the pan. Reduce the mixture by ½, to one cup total. It should be rather thickish, depending on the fattiness of your beef and how much bone there was. Note: If your cut was not too fatty, add a little butter or olive oil to the pan before adding the wine. Don’t season the demiglace – it is already very intense.

Serve the demiglace over slices of the beef, and on the potatoes if you like.

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

GRANDMA HARLEY’S DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE WHAT TO DO

CAKE

Grease and dust with flour two round 8” pans or 1 oblong 9 x 12” pan.

Toss the butter pieces in the cocoa, and then pour the hot water over this.

Note: Do not cook the mixture – simply stir to melt the butter and develop a kind of liquor. Allow to cool slightly.

Sift the dry ingredients together. Separately, mix the milk, vanilla and eggs together.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.

Then pour in the chocolate/butter mix, and mix throughly. Note: It’s better to stir by hand, I think.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool before icing.

ICING

In a medium-sized sauce pan, toss the butter with the cocoa. Pour the hot water into this mix, and, over slow heat, pour on the sugar and mix thoroughly.

When the butter is melted and somewhat hot, add the milk.

Stir CONSTANTLY and DO NOT OVERHEAT.

Note: This process can take up to a ½ hour. Use a whip or a good wooden spoon. You will begin to note a change in consistency of the mixture – it will stiffen slightly – and the surface will begin to appear to solidify.

Add the vanilla and stir a few more times to mix in. Note: The icing will begin to set up immediately.

For the 9 x 12” pan, simply pour the icing onto the top. Note: Try to distribute it evenly by pouring and tilting the cake pan back and forth. This allows the icing to pool nicely in the corners.

For the 8” rounds, prepare them on a plate before starting the icing. Note: If you’re going to stack

them, pour some on the first layer and quickly stack, then pour the remainder over the top layer. Don’t try to “frost” as the marks will remain visible in the icing. Pour quickly and evenly and if the cake or room are not cold, it should settle nicely.

Serve with whipped cream, or berries if you like.

ARTIST Christopher Leitch WHAT TO USE CAKE

½ cup cocoa powder

½ cup butter, cut into pieces 1 cup boiling water 2 cups white sugar

2 cups all purpose white flour 1½ tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt

½ cup soured milk

(or, use buttermilk if you have it, or equal parts skim milk & whole yogurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs, beaten ICING

1 cup sugar

(if using sweetened condensed milk, omit the sugar)

2 Tbsp very hot water 2 Tbsp cocoa

1 “lump” of butter in small pieces (about 6 tablespoons) 1/2 cup condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract or amaretto

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

53

LINDA’S BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

ARTIST Linda Lighton WHAT TO USE

1 cup sifted flour

1 can sweetened condensed milk, (lowfat works fine) 1 stick butter 1 package semi sweet chocolate chips, or 12 oz. better chocolate chunked 1 tsp vanilla

WHAT TO DO Melt chocolate and butter in microwave, slowly, not too hot.

Add flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.

Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees, 8-10 minutes.

Note: Wait for a minute to remove from cookie sheet. They are fragile.

NOTES 54

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

GRANNY LIGHTON’S BING CHERRY MOLD

WHAT TO DO Mix juice from cherries with 1 1/2 cup orange juice, sherry and sugar to a boil.

(Save the sherry if you want full-effect booze to add after sugar melts).

Bring to a boil in small sauce pan.

Soak gelatin in remaining orange juice.

Add to hot fruit syrup.

Stuff the cherries with the nut meats.

Add to gelatin and fruit syrup mixture.

Pour into a wet mold.

Note: For best results, 1/2 way through jellying time stir the mixture so the cherries are not all at the top of the mold. Unmold after jelled or overnight.

You may serve with fruited mayonnaise.

FRUIT MAYONNAISE: Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, orange or grapefruit juice, and Paprika , dash for color and to bring out flavor.

ARTIST Linda Lighton WHAT TO USE 1 can bing cherries 1 cup pecans 2 cups orange juice 1 1/2 cup good cream sherry 1/2 or 3/4 cup sugar 3 Tbsp gelatin FRUIT MAYONNAISE: 1 cup mayonnaise Juice of 1 lemon Juice of 1 orange or 1/2 grapefruit Paprika

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

55

COLD SESAME NOODLES ARTIST Linda Lighton WHAT TO USE

1 lb. fresh Chinese egg noodles 4 quarts water 2 tsp salt 2 Tbsp soy sauce 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil 3 Tbsp Rice Vinegar 1 tsp sugar 1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced fine 6 scallions, sliced in thin ringlets, 1/3 cup sesame seeds toasted 1/3 bunch cilantro leaves

WHAT TO DO Boil noodles in water and salt until al dente.

Drain and rinse well.

Combine remaining ingredients.

Save some scallions, seeds and cilantro to garnish.

Mix the cold noodles with the sauce well. Serve.

NOTES 56

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

BEAUTIFUL BEET DIP

ARTIST Susi Lulaki WHAT TO USE

1 pound beets, cooked & peeled

WHAT TO DO Puree in food processor until smooth.

Add more vinegar to taste.

Add more yogurt to change the color from brilliant beet red to pink.

Serve as dip or spread.

2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 minced shallot 1/2 tsp dry mustard 1 tsp dry herbs like thyme, tarragon, or oregano sea salt to taste

Note: Thin with vegetable stock and heat without boiling to serve on pasta or cooked grains.

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

57

FINE-LOOKING SQUASH SOUP ARTIST Susi Lulaki WHAT TO USE

2 Tbsp oil

2 onions, chopped 3 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks 3 apples, peeled, cored, and quartered 1/4 cup uncooked, old-fashioned oatmeal 3 Tbsp minced fresh ginger 2 Tbsp curry powder 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste 4 cups water

WHAT TO DO Cook onions in oil for a couple of minutes.

Add rest of ingredients.

Bring to boil.

Simmer until squash is tender.

Puree soup.

Add more water as needed.

NOTES 58

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

ALL DAY PANCAKES ARTIST Susi Lulaki WHAT TO USE DRY INGREDIENTS: 1 cup quinoa 1 cup buckwheat groats 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 tsp baking soda

WHAT TO DO Grind quinoa & buckwheat in a coffee grinder.

Mix wet & dry ingredients.

Cook as pancakes.

Eat on plate with toppings.

Note: Treat as empty canvases & add colorful fruit. Carry around remaining pancakes and eat them all day. I like them as is — room temp & plain, but they combine with all sandwich & snack toppings.

1 tsp baking powder WET INGREDIENTS: 2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt 3 or 4 eggs 3 Tbsp oil 2 Tbsp water, or more to desired thinness

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

59

MINT / KAFFIR-LIME / GINGER PESTO ARTIST David Pier WHAT TO USE

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp cardamom seeds

2-3 tsp black peppercorns 1½ tsp salt

8-10 kaffir lime leaves, coarsely chopped

1 1/3 cups roasted cashews 8 oz. fresh mint leaves

1 oz. fresh basil leaves (or additional mint leaves if no basil available)

1 tsp ascorbic acid powder (Vitamin C powder) 4-6 cloves garlic

1½ Tbsp honey or sugar Juice of 1 small lemon

5 grams fresh thyme (optional)

1 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional) 1 Tbsp rosewater (optional)

WHAT TO DO Grind spices (cumin, cardamom seeds, and black peppercorns) and salt in spice grinder, or use pre-ground spices Grind lime leaves and cashews with spices in food processor until it forms a paste

Add all ingredients except oil to food processor. Start processing and dribble in the oil to keep everything moving. Note: Too much oil too soon will prevent mint leaves from being ground finely enough.

When the pesto becomes a smooth paste, add any remaining oil.

Add ginger and then add salt to taste. Don’t under-salt!

Makes a little over 4 cups of pesto. May be frozen in air-tight containers indefinitely.

This savory use of mint can simply be used as a pasta sauce, or it can be used as a relish on meat (this is a dairy-free pesto). It also makes an excellent pizza sauce, especially if the oil is reduced a little bit. Use ½ cup to 1 cup of pesto per pound of dry pasta.

Note: Kaffir lime leaves can be obtained fresh-frozen at most Asian grocery stores. Their flavor cannot be approximated by any other citrus.

Note: Vitamin C powder can be obtained at Whole Foods. It is one way to keep pesto from turning brown. If you don’t use the vitamin C powder, reduce the honey or sugar to 1 tsp.

1¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

4 ¼ oz. minced fresh ginger

Additional salt, up to 1 Tbsp

NOTES 60

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

VEGAN COCONUT MILK “ICE CREAM” WHAT TO DO

Mix dry ingredients, including cocoa, if present. Note: It is important to mix the xanthan gum with the other dry ingredients to prevent clumping.

Empty coconut milk from cans into small saucepan. Heat to about 122 degrees.

Note: Unlike dairy milk, coconut milk cannot be boiled for ice cream, as it separates around 194 degrees.

If using vanilla pod, scrape seeds into coconut milk and put pod into milk to steep.

Whisk dry ingredients into coconut milk and add liquid flavorings.

Remove vanilla pod, if present, and refrigerate mix, if necessary.

Process in ice cream maker.

When suitably stiff, place in freezer to further solidify.

Makes a little over a quart.

While not low calorie, this “ice cream” will not clog your arteries.

Except for the coconut flavor, most people wouldn’t guess that this isn’t real premium ice cream.

Note: To make it even richer, or to compensate for the added liquid in the saffron recipe, you can remove some water from the coconut milk by refrigerating it first. After a day, open the can from the bottom and drain off the almost-clear water, using the remaining coconut “cream”.

Note: Xanthan gum is useful to reduce ice crystal size. It is a flavorless dietary fiber (available at Whole Foods, I use the Bob’s Red Mill brand).

WHAT TO USE ICE CREAM BASE:

28 oz. regular (not light) coconut milk 1 cup sugar

¼ tsp baking soda Pinch salt

½ tsp xanthan gum (optional) 2 Tbsp inulin (optional) FLAVOR ADDITIONS: Vanilla: 2 Tbsp vanilla extract 1 vanilla pod (or another Tbsp extract) Chocolate: 2.5 oz. cocoa (non-Dutch process) Mint: ½ tsp peppermint oil Saffron: 1.5 grams saffron (steeped in 2 oz. very hot water for an hour) 3 Tbsp. vanilla extract 3 Tbsp. rosewater (optional) 1 Tbsp. sugar (additional)

Food always brings me pleasure, whether I am eating it, thinking about it, preparing it, or serving it to family and friends. Being of limited means, it is one of the few things that I am able to give to the people I care about; the care I put into the food I prepare shows how much I care for them. Cooking for myself gives me a feeling NOTES of control over my life and it is how I most often reward myself for completing work. the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook 61

Note: Inulin is a vegetable source soluble fiber that also aids in reducing ice crystal size and will further reduce the glycemic index (Fibersure is one brand).

ARTIST David Pier

LENTIL / LIME / CASHEW / SAFFRON HUMMUS ARTIST David Pier WHAT TO USE

¾ lb. red lentils ½ gram saffron

1½ tsp cumin seeds

1½ tsp black peppercorns ¾ tsp oregano

1/8 tsp cardamom seeds 1/3 tsp coriander seeds

¼ tsp dry rosemary leaves

1/3 tsp ascorbic acid (Vitamin C powder) (optional)

1½ tsp salt 4 limes

4 oz. of roasted & salted cashew butter, or 4 oz. of roasted & salted cashews 2 serrano chilies

or 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) ¾ to 1¼ extra virgin olive oil 1½ Tbsp rosewater

WHAT TO DO Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil (no salt!). Add lentils and boil for about 6 minutes.

Drain in a small-holed colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Grind spices (saffron, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, oregano, cardamon seeds, coriander seeds, dry rosemary leaves) and salt in a spice grinder, or use powdered spices. Add to food processor.

Zest 2 limes into food processor. Juice all 4 limes and set aside juice.

Add cashew butter to food processor. If using cashews instead of cashew butter, run food processor until smooth paste.

Add chilies and all of the cooked lentils to the food processor with ½ cup of the oil.

Process for about 30 seconds, then add the lime juice. Slowly dribble in the remaining oil to keep it moving. Process until smooth.

Add remaining ingredients and then add salt to taste. Don’t under-salt!

Makes about 6 cups of hummus. May be frozen in air-tight containers indefinitely.

Serve with warm flatbread or pita bread wedges or with crackers such as Sesame Thins.

It also makes a good sandwich spread.

Note: Vitamin C powder can be obtained at Whole Foods. It helps keep the hummus from turning brown. If you don’t use the vitamin C powder, reduce the honey to 1 Tbsp.

2 Tbsp honey

1½ Tbsp minced fresh ginger

up to 1½ tsp additional salt to taste 62

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

JASON’S CABBAGE SOUP ARTIST Jason Pollen WHAT TO USE

In large stock pot, saute onions and carrots in olive oil for ten minutes over medium high heat.

Add garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté for 30 seconds.

Add vegetable stock, cabbage, celery, kale and bay leaves.

Cook 1 hour, covered.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Turn off heat and leave covered for 10 minutes.

Add cooked brown basmati rice and ½ cup of green peas and let stand for 5 minutes.

Serve and add grated freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Sprinkle on hemp seeds (optional).

Note: If soup is left over, I add sautéed shitake mushrooms and zucchini to give it a second life.

WHAT TO DO

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 head of Napa cabbage sliced into 1/2” rounds

1 small bunch of Italian or other tender green kale chopped (hard stems removed) 4-5 carrots, 1/2” rounds

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 large onions, sliced thin 6 cloves garlic, chopped ½ tsp red pepper flakes 2 bay leaves

2 quarts vegetable stock

½ cup fresh or thawed frozen green peas 1 cup cooked brown basmati rice

Freshly grated parmesan cheese Salt and pepper

Hemp seeds (optional) I cook almost every day and have always reveled in the vast palette that nature offers up us to transform through the alchemy that occurs in the stock pot and the skillet.

Both my artwork and approach to cooking embody the collage concept.

Combining textures, colors, shapes and ingredients are inherent in both activities as well as a sense of play and the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook an imaginative concept.

63

CARAMELIZED ONION TOMATO SAUCE ARTIST Jim Sajovic WHAT TO USE 2 lbs meatballs or coarsely cut sausages or skinless, boneless chicken pieces 1 large, finely chopped, sweet onion 1 - 2 Tbsp olive oil 4 - 8 minced garlic cloves (to taste) ½ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ tsp ground cumin 1 Tbsp honey 2 lb tomatoes, skinned, seeded, and chopped (or two 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes) Salt and coarsely ground black pepper (to taste)

WHAT TO DO Brown the meat in olive oil and set aside.

Sautee the onion in the remaining oil and pan drippings until translucent.

Add the garlic, cinnamon, cumin, and honey and stir until caramelized.

Add the chopped tomato, chicken broth, tomato sauce, mint, basil, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add meatballs, sausage, or chicken pieces and simmer for 30 minutes.

Garnish with parsley and feta.

2 cups chicken broth 1 8oz can tomato sauce 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh or dried mint 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh or dried basil 1 tsp finely chopped oregano ¼ tsp cayenne (or to taste) ¼ cup coarsely chopped, flat leaf parsley ½ cup feta cheese (or to taste) 64

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

MARSALA CHICKEN WITH FIGS ARTIST Jim Sajovic WHAT TO USE WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade, arrange them in a heavy roasting dish, and sprinkle with salt and spices.

Distribute the onions, garlic, bay leaves, and figs over and between the chicken pieces, pour in the wine, and cover.

Cook in a oven for 20 minutes, and then stir in the lemon zest and juice and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes longer.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve with saffron rice.

Serves 4.

Note: This is a slightly sweet, flavorful, and subtle taste.

The original, Greek recipe calls for whole, skinned, cut-up chicken and mavrothaphne or ruby port wine. I prefer boneless, skinless chicken breasts and Marsala wine.

NOTES

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (marinade in olive oil) 1 tsp ground coriander ½ tsp ground cumin (or to taste) ¼ tsp cayenne (or to taste) Coarsely ground black pepper and salt (to taste) 1 large, thinly-sliced, sweet onion 6-10 whole garlic cloves (to taste) 2 bay leaves 8-12 fresh figs 1 cup Marsala wine Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon ¼ cup finely chopped, flat leaf parsley

Cooking for friends can be an act of personal expression, very much like painting, whether sensuous, erotic, or just plain workman-like. I sometimes smell color relationships like herbs and roll them around my tongue to test the flavors.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

65

CHOCOLATE WALNUT BISCOTTI ARTIST Susan Tinker WHAT TO USE 2 cups sugar

1 cup melted butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 2 Tbsp water 2 cups chopped walnuts 6 large eggs, beaten 5½ cups flour 1 Tbsp baking powder 1 Tbsp cinnamon (optional)

WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix, using dough hook, sugar, melted butter, vanilla, water and chopped walnuts.

Add 6 large eggs, beaten.

Blend into mixture flour, baking powder and cinnamon (optional).

Turn dough into greased bowl, cover and chill well.

On floured surface, cut dough into FOUR pieces.

Shape each piece into a long loaf (2 x 14”).

Bake on two greased cookie sheets, two loaves per pan for 30 minutes.

(Note: Do not make less than four loaves.)

Cool for 15 minutes, then cut diagonally into ¾” slices.

Lay slices flat on cookie sheet and toast for 15 minutes until brown.

I have an affinity for food—a wonderful gift I cherish alongside my love for painting. Both traits were inherited from a long line of exceptional women in my family who, not only were fabulous cooks, but talented quilters, seamstresses and knitters.

Several years ago I became so obsessed by artful food that I began making pictures of it, akin to the opulent 17th century Dutch still lifes.

66

Cool until hard—this can be done in a turned-off oven for several hours.

Cool and store in container.

Drizzle one side with melted GHIRARDELLI dripping chocolate.

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

WILD RICE SALAD

ARTIST Gerry Trilling WHAT TO USE 1 lb. wild rice cooked 2 pints cherry tomatoes halved

WHAT TO DO Combine first 7 ingredients in large bowl.

Mix well.

Stir in dressing and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Serves 20.

2: 6oz. jars marinated artichoke hearts, undrained, cut up 1: 10oz. pkg frozen peas, slightly cooked 1 green pepper sliced 1 bunch scallions sliced 1/2 cup slivered almonds 1: 8oz. bottle Italian dressing

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

67

BRISKET

ARTIST Gerry Trilling WHAT TO USE 1 brisket of beef garlic powder barbeque sauce whole celery seed whole mustard seed

WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Place brisket fat side up in roasting pan.

Sprinkle lightly with garlic powder.

Liberally cover with barbeque sauce (Maull’s).

Generously sprinkle with celery seed and mustard seed.

Add about 2 inches of water to pan.

Bake, basting occasionally and adding water if necessary.

Note: If top gets too dark, loosely cover with foil.

The brisket was moist, tender, easy to prepare and delicious.

Bake till really soft when pierced with a fork (3-4 hours depending on size of brisket).

– Sherry Cromwell-Lacy (DRP Taste Tester)

NOTES 68

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

AL’S TEMPTATIONS

WHAT TO DO Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt chocolate in hot water over low heat.

Add sugar and stir till dissolved.

Add dates and cook over low heat until thick, about 5 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup butter.

Blend in vanilla; cool.

Cream remaining 3/4 cup butter with brown sugar till light and fluffy.

Sift flour, salt and soda together and add to creamed mixture, blending well.

Stir in nuts and oats and mix till crumbly.

Press half this mixture into bottoms of 2 greased 8” square pans.

Spread with date-chocolate mixture and top with remaining nut mixture.

Bake for 30 min.

ARTIST Gerry Trilling WHAT TO USE

2 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate 2/3 cup hot water 1 1/3 cup sugar

1 1/3 cup chopped dates 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine divided 1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1 1/2 cup sifted flour 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped nuts

1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats

Cool and cut into bars.

Freezes well.

NOTES

This recipe comes from Gerry’s cousin’s sister-in-law’s mother’s neighbor whose husband was Al.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

69

MUSHROOM SOUP ARTIST Susan White WHAT TO USE

1 lb mushrooms 6 Tbsp butter

2 cups finely chopped onions ½ tsp sugar ¼ cup flour 1 cup water 1¾ cups chicken broth 1 cup dry vermouth ½ Tbsp salt or to taste ¼ tsp pepper

WHAT TO DO Slice 1/3 of the mushrooms and finely chop the rest.

In large pot melt butter. Add onions and sugar. Saute over medium heat stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes or until golden.

Add sliced and chopped mushroom and sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in flour until smooth and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Pour in water and stir until smooth.

Add remaining ingredients and heat to boiling, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Note: May be prepared in advance to this point. Cover, refrigerate. To reheat, heat to boiling, cover, simmer for 10 mins.

I have found that the dialogue with the materials is as critical in the kitchen as it is in the studio.

Listen to the lettuce.

70

NOTES

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

CHOCOLATE PIE ARTIST Susan White WHAT TO USE 3 eggs, separated

WHAT TO DO

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch in pan; add milk and well-beaten egg yolks.

Cook over medium heat, stirring until thick.

Cool.

Add butter and vanilla.

Pour into baked pie shell.

MERINGUE: Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.

Add sugar gradually; add lemon juice last.

Spread over pie, making sure that meringue touches sides so that it won’t shrink.

4 Tbsp cocoa 1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla 1 cup milk

1 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp cornstarch Baked pie shell MERINGUE:

3 egg whites

6 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Lemon juice

My work as an artist is intuitively driven. There’s a great deal of heading down the road and finding out. And a great deal of Brown 12-15 minutes. the pleasure is in the privacy of the process.

My relationship to cooking is similar in certain ways. I’m less interested in the everydayness Note: I guarantee that this is the best chocolate pie that you’ve ever had! of it (didn’t we just do this yesterday?) and more interested in those private moments when the light falling on the counter is just right, when the colors, forms and textures of the vegetables are alluring, in and of NOTES themselves, and there’s a calm, rewarding quietude in the process of preparing. the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook 71

AN INVITATION TO SHARE…

The Dining Room Project Cookbook In November 2009, a group of artists was invited to participate in the cookbook portion of this Dining Room Project book. Their names were solicited based on both first-hand knowledge as well as word-of-mouth praise for their cooking ability beyond their skills in the studio.

Each artist was asked to provide up to three recipes for dishes they personally prepare and consume, a self-portrait image (photograph, drawing or otherwise), and a brief biographical statement. They were also asked to respond to the question: “How does food enrich your life, and what relationship exists between the food you prepare/consume and your artwork?”

The only guidelines given to the participating artist-cooks were that their recipes needed to be “kosher-friendly” meaning that the dietary restrictions of no pork or pork products, no shellfish, and no preparation or cooking combinations of dairy with meat were observed. Additionally, the recipes they provided needed to be an original creation or a significant modification or reinterpretation of a preexisting recipe, and each recipe would be independently verified by our taste-testers. Finally, each contributor was given the opportunity to recommend another artist-cook from the community to participate in this project.

A simultaneous invitation was sent out to our would-be taste-testers with a request to prepare a selection of recipes using the ingredient list and guidelines provided and report their findings (good or bad) back to the KCJMCA staff. They were asked to provide “tasting notes” as well as any suggestions they may have for altering the recipe to achieve an optimal result. We sincerely appreciate their commitment of time and resources shopping for and using the ingredients listed, finding someone to taste the dish in order to capture an objective response, and for documenting their experience for this book. (For a complete list of all the Dining Room Project participants, including our recipe contributors, taste-testers and documentarians, please see Pages 4 – 5.)

72

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

project RESEARCH

From the beginning, one of my core interests in The Dining

Room Project was the opportunity it presented to further consider the dynamic, evolving field of artist-driven activity centered around food and the meal. Indeed, in keeping with the recent proliferation of socially-engaged art practices, artists and culture producers everywhere have resourcefully adopted growing, harvesting, cooking, serving and sharing food as strategic, productive, creative—and pleasureful!

—means of addressing global and community-specific concerns, including political, economic, environmental, cultural and health-related issues. Whether foraging food as means of mapping neighborhoods, building relationships and modeling alternative economies (Fallen Fruit, Temescal Amity Works), or using the meal as a structure and platform for generating and awarding micro-grants to other artists (Sunday Soup), fostering cross-cultural awareness and exchange (Enemy Kitchen, Conflict Kitchen), or re-presenting history (Raul Ortega Ayala)—artists have smartly realized that food and its consumption present ripe opportunity for doing more than simply feeding the belly (though importantly that too!).

As these types of activities have become so prevalent of late, artists of prior generations who mined this terrain seem especially relevant, and their influence is apparent in many of these endeavors. Marinetti’s over-the-top, manifesto-infused Futurist Cookbook, for example, is

picked up and channeled through the environmentallyconcerned agendas of OpenRestaurant in San Francisco and Natalie Jeremijenko’s Cross Species (X-Species) Adventure Club, yielding equally spectacular but far more sustainable dining experiences, while also providing a point of reference for the decadent, aesthetically-and sociallydriven food-based installations and productions of Jennifer Rubell. Agnes Denes’ Wheatfield is certainly a precursor to urban agriculture projects such as Fritz Haeg’s Edible Estates, among others. And the influence of Gordon Matta Clark’s FOOD is virtually omnipresent, hovering over most all endeavors in which artists are undertaking the creating and serving of meals with intentions beyond commercial.

Presenting profiles (excerpted here) of a diverse selection of artists, collectives and collaboratives using food and dining as vehicles for creativity and activism became a central component of the exhibition. This inclusion was driven by the desire to highlight this rich field of activity, establish a broader context for artworks and activities included in The Dining Room Project, and spark consideration of how intention and invention might be more widely applied to the invigoration and transformation of the everyday. In addition to wall texts with images, an interactive web station at Paragraph allowed visitors to further explore the websites of these entities as well as related blogs, videos and other documentation.

– Kate Hackman, Co-curator Kate Hackman is Co-Director of the Charlotte Street Foundation, where she has worked since 2004. Previous positions include Director, Art in the Loop Foundation, and Editor in Chief, Review magazine, both in Kansas City, as well as Assistant Director of Exit Art, New York.

FOR COMPLETE PROJECT RESEARCH TEXTS Visit www.charlottestreet.org/urban-culture-project/spaces/paragraph-project-space/past-programming-paragraph/ the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook 73

AGNES DENES

BORN: 1931 (Budapest); based in New York, NY ABOUT: A pioneer of the environmental art movement as well as in the field of Conceptual art, Agnes Denes has created drawings, books and monumental artworks around the globe that draw from her wide ranging interests in both the physical and social sciences, mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, poetry and music. In addition to the iconic Wheatfield—a project in 1982 in which Denes planted a 2-acre wheat field on a landfill in lower Manhattan, two blocks from Wall Street and the World Trade Center, facing the Statue of Liberty—publically engaged projects have included reforestation of endangered tree species in Australia and planting crops in downtown Caracas, Venezuela.

CONFLICT KITCHEN | www.conflictkitchen.org

FOUNDED: May 2010 by Jon Rubin & Dawn Weleski; ongoing | LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA ABOUT: Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries that the United States is in conflict with. Food is served from a take-out style storefront rotating identities every four months to highlight another country. Each Conflict Kitchen iteration is augmented by events, performances and discussion about the culture, politics and issues at stake with each country it focuses on. Through food, wrappers, programming and daily interactions with its customers, Conflict Kitchen creates an ongoing platform for first-person discussion of international conflict, culture and politics. In addition, the project introduces a rotating venue for culinary and cultural diversity in Pittsburgh.

THE CROSS SPECIES (XSPECIES) ADVENTURE CLUB | www.environmentalhealthclinic.net/ooz/projects/xspecies FOUNDED: 2010 by Natalie Jeremijenko & Mihir Desai with Emilie Baltz; ongoing | LOCATION: New York, NY

ABOUT: The Cross Species (xSpecies) Adventure Club is a supper club which enlists humans to, among other things, explore a biodiverse and delicious future, engage in culinary experiments, invest in food innovation, and participate in its attempt to re-design our collective relationship to natural systems. The Cross Species (xSpecies) Adventure addresses the challenge of designing food systems that promote, augment and remediate ecosystems that could amplify the positive androgenic effect, rather than simply lessening the negative.

DANIEL SPOERRI | www.danielspoerri.org

BORN: 1930 (Galati, Romania); currently based in Hadersdorf am Kamp, Austria ABOUT: Trained as a dancer, Daniel Spoerri emerged as a visual artist in the early 1960s as a member of the Nouveaux Réalistes. A major theme of his artwork has been food; he has called this body of work Eat Art. He is best known for his “snare-pictures,” in which a group of objects, such as the remains of a specific meal, including the plates, silverware and glasses, are captured in situ, fixed to the table top, then displayed on the wall.

He is also acclaimed for Topographie Anécdotée du Hasard (An Anecdoted Topography of Chance), a book in which he mapped all of the objects on his table at a particular moment, describing each with personal recollections and associations. Spoerri increasingly integrated sculptural works with performances in the form of meals and banquets, as well as organizing barter markets and pursuing many other Fluxus-inspired activities.

74

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

EDIBLE ESTATES | www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates

FOUNDED: 2005 by Fritz Haeg; ongoing | LOCATION: International; 11 regional prototype gardens to date

ABOUT: Artist Fritz Haeg’s Edible Estates proposes the replacement of the American lawn with a highly productive domestic edible landscape: food grown in our front yards will connect us to the seasons, the organic cycles of the earth and our neighbors. The banal lifeless space of uniform grass in front of the house will be replaced with the chaotic abundance of bio-diversity. The Edible Estates project will gradually be implemented in various communities throughout the United States. Each project will respond to the unique qualities for both land and people.

EMPTY BOWLS | www.emptybowls.net

FOUNDED: 1990 by John Hartom; ongoing | LOCATION: International

ABOUT: Empty Bowls is an international grassroots effort to fight hunger. The basic premise is simple: potters, craftspeople, educators and others work with the community to create handcrafted bowls. Guests are invited to a simple meal of soup and bread. In exchange for a cash donation, guests are asked to keep a bowl as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world. The money raised is donated to an organization working to end hunger and food insecurity.

ENEMY KITCHEN | www.michaelrakowitz.com/projects/enemy-kitchen

FOUNDED: 2004 by Michael Rakowitz; ongoing | LOCATIONS: Chicago & New York, NY ABOUT: Collaborating with his Iraqi-Jewish mother, Michael Rakowitz compiles Baghdadi recipes and teaches them to different public audiences. It began as Rakowitz cooked with a group of middle school and high school students who lived in Chelsea, NY. Some had relatives in the U.S. Army stationed in Iraq. In preparing and then consuming the food, it opened up another topic through which the word ‘Iraq’ could be discussed—in this case, attached to food, as a representative of culture and not as a stream of images shown on CNN of a war-torn place. The project functioned as a social sculpture: while cooking and eating, the students engaged each other on the topic of the war and drew parallels with their own lives.

FALLEN FRUIT | www.fallenfruit.org

FOUNDED: 2004 by David Burns, Matias Viegener & Austin Young; ongoing | LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA ABOUT: Using fruit as a lens, Fallen Fruit investigates urban space, ideas of neighborhood, and new forms of located citizenship and community. From protests to proposals for new urban green spaces, Fallen Fruit aims to reconfigure the relations between those who have resources and those who do not. It strives to examine the nature of the city, and to investigate new, shared forms of land use and property. Fallen Fruit is an art collaboration that began with creating maps of public fruit – the fruit trees growing on or over public property in Los Angeles. Over time, interests have expanded to include Public Fruit Jams, in which citizens bring fruit and join in jam-making; Nocturnal Fruit Forages, nighttime neighborhood fruit tours; Community Fruit Tree Plantings; and Neighborhood Infusions, taking the fruit found on one street and infusing it in alcohol to capture the spirit of the place.

FOOD

FOUNDED: 1971 by Gordon Matta-Clark & Carol Goodden; operated through 1973 | LOCATION: Corner of Prince and Wooster Streets, SoHo, NY ABOUT: Intimately connected to Gordon Matta-Clark’s art practice, FOOD was a restaurant founded by, staffed with, and catered towards artists.

Featuring an open kitchen and exotic ingredients that celebrated cooking, FOOD was unique in a number of ways, including its lack of any concern for profit. FOOD transformed the site of a failed Puerto Rican restaurant into an alternative space of sorts that questioned art and also explored the potential of economic models based on something other than profit growth.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

75

FOODPRINT PROJECT | www.foodprintproject.com

FOUNDED: January 2010 by Nicola Twilley & Sarah Rich; ongoing | LOCATIONS: New York, Toronto, Denver, to date ABOUT: Foodprint Project is an exploration of the ways food and cities give shape to one another. The project was born out of a shared frustration that, despite the current proliferation of food-themed events, conferences and debates, the hidden corsetry that shapes food and cities is very rarely discussed.

Zoning, economics, infrastructure, culture, history, transportation, demographics and access are all forces intersecting within our food systems, which in turn shape and are shaped by the cities in which we live. As humankind becomes an increasingly urban species, Foodprint Project is concerned with how cities solve the pressing and unsolved challenge of how to feed citizens sustainably at scale.

THE MANIFESTO OF FUTURIST COOKING

PUBLISHED: 1930 by Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti ABOUT: The Futurist movement recognized that “men think, dream and act according to what they eat and drink,” so cooking and eating needed to be subservient to the proper aesthetic experience that Futurism favored. Revolutionary in its expectations of overturning set patterns and beliefs, the Manifesto of Futurist Cooking called for: No more pasta, as it causes lassitude, pessimism, and lack of passion; Originality and harmony in table setting including implements, food aesthetics, and tastes; Absolute originality in the food, and so on. It also proposed that the way meals were served be fundamentally changed; in the same manner, proposed settings for these meals incorporated the Futurist love of machinery and dishes represented unusual combinations and exotic ingredients.

JENNIFER RUBELL | www.jenniferrubell.com BORN: 1970; currently based in New York, NY

ABOUT: Jennifer Rubell creates participatory art that is a hybrid of performance art, installation and happenings. The pieces are often huge in scale and employ food and drink as media: 1,521 doughnuts hanging on a free-standing wall; a room-sized cell padded with 1,800 cones of pink cotton candy.

Viewers are encouraged to partake in the work, engaging senses often forbidden or absent from museum and gallery contexts.

JUDY CHICAGO | www.judychicago.com BORN: 1939; currently based in Belen, NM

ABOUT: Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, and educator with a career spanning over five decades. Chicago pioneered Feminist Art and art education in the early-1970s through several unique programs for women at California State University-Fresno and later (with Miriam Schapiro) at the California Institute of the Arts, including producing with their students the ground-breaking Womanhouse project. Her seminal project was The Dinner Party (1974-1979), which comprises a massive ceremonial banquet, arranged in the shape of an open triangle—a symbol of equality—measuring 48 feet on each side. Upon the table are a total of 39 place settings (13 per side), each commemorating an important woman from history.

TATTFOO TAN | www.tattfoo.com

BORN: Malaysia; currently based in Staten Island, NY ABOUT: Tattfoo Tan’s art practice seeks to find an immediate, direct, and effective way of exploring issues related to the individual in society through which to collapse the categories of ‘art’ and ‘life’ into one. He works through a framework of collaborative events, dinners, exchanges and eclectic everyday rituals, in which minds and bodies are engaged in actions that transform the making of art into a ritualized and shared experience. Using organic, living materials as transitional elements that live, grow, die and decompose, through his interventions he intends to reposition these materials at the same hierarchical level and with the same innate complexities as the viewer.

76

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

OPENRESTAURANT | www.openrestaurant.org

FOUNDED: 2009 by Stacie Pierce, Jerome Waag & Sam White: ongoing | LOCATION: San Francisco, CA ABOUT: OPENrestaurant is the project of a collective of restaurant professionals who sought to move their environment to an art space to experiment with the language of their daily activities. This displacement turns the restaurant, its codes, and its architecture, into a medium for artistic expression which is made available to cooks, farmers, artists and activists as a way to explore issues around food and society. Held once every few months, it is a forum focusing on a specific issue.

RAUL ORTEGA AYALA | www.rokebygallery.com BORN: 1973 (Mexico); currently based in Mexico

ABOUT: The methods Raul Ortega Ayala draws upon resemble the work of an ethnographer. Immersing himself as a ‘participant observer’ in environments such as those connected with food, gardening, office work and statistics, he uses the materials and experiences resulting from these immersions to produce works that he calls ‘souvenirs’. The artist’s ongoing engagement and research into the world of food has included undertaking cooking and butchering courses in Mexico, London and New York. Raul Ortega Ayala received an MFA from the Glasgow School of Arts and Hunter College in New York. He also studied philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA | www.thelandfoundation.org

BORN: 1961 (Buenos Aires, Argentina); currently based in New York NY & Bangkok

ABOUT: Tiravanija’s works combine traditional object making, public and private performances, teaching, and other forms of public service and social action. Interested in exploring the social role of the artist, he often produces installations in the form of stages or rooms for sharing meals or cooking.

Some of his first projects of the 1990s involved cooking meals for gallery visitors. Currently a professor at Columbia University (NY), Tiravanija is also a founding member and curator of Utopia Station, a collective project of artists, art historians and curators; and is President of The Land Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

SUNDAY SOUP/THE SOUP NETWORK | www.sundaysoup.org

FOUNDED: 2007 by The Institute for Community Understanding Between Art and the Everyday (InCUBATE); ongoing LOCATION: Chicago; with active chapters around the country and internationally

ABOUT: Sunday Soup is a grassroots model for funding small to medium sized creative projects through community meals, and an international network of meal-based microgranting initiatives. The basic formula is that a group of people come together to share a meal and that meal is sold for an affordable price. All income from that meal is given as a grant to support a creative project. Grant applications are accepted up until the meal, then everyone who purchases the meal gets one vote to determine who receives the grant.

TEMESCAL AMITY WORKS | www.fieldfaring.org

FOUNDED: July 2004 by Susanne Cockrell & Ted Purves; operated through January 2007 | LOCATION: Oakland, CA ABOUT: Temescal Amity Works facilitated and documented the exchange of backyard produce, conversation, and collective biography within the Temescal Neighborhood of Oakland, CA. Having lived in the neighborhood since 1999, the founders conceived of the project as a way to localize attention and restructure their practice toward their own community. Considering the project a social sculpture that also drew upon historical models of mutual-aid societies, barn-raisings, DIY collectives and urban communism, they were interested in how a specific community builds relationships through personal as well as casual economies. To accomplish this, they created two interlocking programs:The Big Back Yard and Reading Room.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

77

Established in 1991, the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art (KCJMCA) is a longstanding member of the Council of American Jewish Museums (CAJM), founded under the auspices of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

The purpose of KCJMCA is to provide innovative art exhibitions and related programming that engage seniors and diverse audiences from all segments of our community to enrich lives and celebrate our common humanity through art.

KCJMCA defines this intent largely through its Epsten Gallery and Museum Without Walls programs. Established in 2000, Epsten Gallery draws more than 7,200 visitors each year to its museum-quality exhibitions and social and educational programs, while representing a strategic partnership with Village Shalom, an innovative, continuum-care campus that houses the Epsten Gallery. KCJMCA also has a long history of facilitating collaboration with other venues through Museum Without Walls, a program that has been sharing cultural, intellectual, and collection resources and developing site-specific and traveling exhibitions, programs, and cultural events of original thematic content since 1991.

78

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

Charlotte Street Foundation was established in 1997 in response to needs articulated by artists and those who saw the arts as a valuable creative, social and economic resource to the city. At that time, Kansas City, in spite of a rich creative environment, was losing many of its artists and creatives. Charlotte Street Foundation’s vision describes a vibrant city where artists are cultivated, respected and admired by leaders in the business, political, philanthropic and civic communities, as well as by a significant segment of the general public. The resulting support for artists leads artists to participate more fully in our community and attracts artists from other cities and the region.

Charlotte Street Foundation supports and recognizes outstanding artists in Greater Kansas City; presents, promotes, enhances and encourages the visual, performing and interdisciplinary arts; and fosters economic development in the urban core of Kansas City, MO. In all endeavors, CSF places artists at the center of its mission and has built an infrastructure that depends on and reflects their involvement. As a result, CSF is an organization that continually evolves in response to artist input and in relation to the city’s larger cultural ecosystem.

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

79

80

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook

80

the DINING ROOM project Catalogue/Cookbook