artist in residence
Pasta maker Linda Miller Nicholson uses vegetable purées and other natural ingredients to create her tinted pasta dough.
Oh, the Pastabilities! Linda Miller Nicholson turns pasta into high art written by Gina Williams | photography by Jim Henkens
“YOU CAUGHT ME in high experiment mode today,” Linda Miller Nicholson said as she made me an espresso in the gleaming kitchen of her home near Snoqualmie Falls. Nicholson, also known as the “Lady Gaga of Pasta” and the “Pasta Ninja,” was a ray of sunshine on an otherwise dark, stormy day, dressed in bright reds and floral prints. She was ready for action, with rounds of crimson and white pasta dough placed on a large wooden work surface. An Instagram sensation (@SaltySeattle) with more than 150,000 followers, Nicholson is known for her highly expressive way with pasta. She created the “Girl with a Noodle Earring” after Johannes Vermeer’s famous work, and made a pasta version of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Katy Perry’s manager asked her to make a pasta portrait of the singer for Perry’s “Bon Appétit” single album cover. Nicholson also contributes to Buzzfeed and the Food Network and teaches pasta-making workshops. She’s appeared on television shows such as “Harry” and “Home & Family.” Her first book, Pasta, Pretty Please, is coming out in October. Although she turned to pasta dough as her medium of choice for high art only several years ago, she first began earning her pasta chops as a kid, making thick noodles with her German grandfather. She also competed on a cooking reality show, “Masterchef,” 36 1889 WASHINGTONS’S MAGAZINE AUGUST | SEPTEMBER
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in 2010 and honed her skills in the kitchens of Italy while living there as an English teacher. Nicholson pulled a handful of crimson dough from the round and began flattening it in her silver pasta machine, handling the dough with easy, flowing movements. “It is mesmerizing, isn’t it?” she said. “During productions, even the camera guys sometimes get caught up in watching the process.” A few minutes later, the project took shape, Nicholson revealing both her artistic talent and her rebellious side. She worked the dough like a dressmaker, carefully pleating it and working deftly with the drape as if it was fine fabric rather than a sticky mixture of flour and eggs. Next, she made little white cones, glancing occasionally at images on her phone to help with styling.
