feast: A styled thanksgiving the authors of the southern vegetarian picturing nostalgia: artist meryl truett
savannah designer kay wolfersperger reconstructing historic charleston biking southern trails
November 2013 / Issue 6
Issue 6 / November, 2013
Table of contents 5 Letter from the co-editors 6 Behind the scenes
Currently
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See what’s inspiring the co-editors this month!
10 Kay Loves Candy We chat with artist and designer Kay Wolfersperger
18 Biking the Piedmont One cyclist explores the trails in the heart of the Carolinas page 3
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26 Reconstructing the Past We visit the Nathaniel Russell House Museum in historic downtown Charleston
The Southern Vegetarians
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A Q & A with Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence, authors of The Southern Vegetarian cookbook
40 Feast
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Picturing Nostalgia
The work of artist Meryl Truett
The Gallery Le Cou Rouge and the Art of Home Decor
64 P.S.
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Paprika Southern Recommends if you are interested in purchasing photographs from the magazine, please contact mail@paprikasouthern.com www.paprikasouthern.com
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Letter from the co-editors It is in November that fall truly arrives in the South. Temperatures drop and it is possible to wear a jacket without sweltering, yet there exists every possibility of enjoying Thanksgiving dinner al fresco. This month, the beginning of the holiday season, we were inspired by the idea of home. In this issue, we look at artwork that speaks to a response to place, interview a couple who have published a book of home-cooking recipes, create a lavishly-styled holiday table to inspire your own celebration, and more. Join us as we settle into November.
The Team Bevin valentine Co-editor
siobhan egan Co-editor
Krystal Pittman Baker Advertising
Contributors
Sarah E. Gibbons is located in Durham, NC where she teaches at The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham. Originally from Connecticut, Sarah received her B.A in photography and art history from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA and her M.F.A. in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work explores the construct of personal identity.
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Kelly McCarty has lived in Roanoke, Virginia her entire life. The kind of Southern she is more like Duck Dynasty than Gone with the Wind. She once uttered the words, “Don’t give any moonshine to the dog.” Kelly has a B.A. in Communication Studies and Spanish from Hollins University.
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Behind the scenes in November
Behind the scenes of our styled Thankgiving table shoot (on a warm day in October!) at Southern Pine Co. in Savannah
On October 26 we were exhibitors at the Savannah Food Day Festival. We gave out stickers, koozies, and homemade cheese straws--paprika-spiced, of course! Stay tuned to our blog for the recipe later this month.
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On the grounds of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum in Charleston back in September
Behind the scenes at the Maker Collective in Savannah when we interviewed Kay Wolfersperger at her Starland studio
We love sharing sneak peeks of what we’re up to throughout the month, as well as connecting with our readers! Stay in touch and a get a behindthe-scenes look at what’s coming up by following us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Follow paprika southern
Instagram / Twitter / Facebook page 7
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Currently... See what’s inspiring the co-editors this month! Donna Tartt has a new book out and since she only publishes about once a decade, I’m waiting for just the right moment to begin The Goldfinch. Bevin My beau and I recently adopted our kitten Zooey from the Humane Society. If you’re planning to add a pet to your family soon, consider adopting from a With Pretty Little Lirescue organization. ars on break till January, Witches of East End has become my new guilty pleasure show of choice. A dress with tights, paired with a cozy cardigan, is my uniform of choice in chilly weather. I’d love to add this pretty burgundy frock from Ruche to my closet.
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Who doesn’t love Frida Kahlo? Now you can wear her self portraits on your wrist with this funky bracelet!
The third in the Divergent series! I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!
Siobhan
After picking at Halloween candy through the month of October and feeling pretty terrible I’ve decided to embark on a 3 day juice cleanse. So far it’s going well. I do miss pizza though!
Sure the special effects and some of the acting are a little cheesy, but I can’t help loving this new take on the classic Alice in Wonderland story. page 9
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Kay Loves Candy
text by bevin valentine photography by siobhan egan www.paprikasouthern.com
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W i th
a bu si n ess na m e like “Kay Loves Candy,” it is immediately evident upon meeting owner Kay Wolfersperger that, in the sweet or spicy dichotomy, she identifies with the “sweet” side. We recently had the chance to spend some time with the charming graphic designer, and got to know the sharp and talented mind behind the sweet exterior. We met up in Kay’s studio space in the Starland District of Savannah. The space, which she shares with her fiancé and another colleague, is known as “The Maker Collective,” and serves as a communal working space for the three artists. While Kay works mainly from her home—designing, drawing, and conducting the day-to-day tasks of being an independent entrepreneur—it is in this studio that Kay screen prints the distinctive tea towels for which she is becoming known. Kay grew up in Pensacola, FL and moved to Savannah to study at SCAD. With B.F.A.’s in both graphic design and fibers, she worked in advertising and design before striking out on her own in 2012 as a freelance graphic designer. When wearing her graphic designer hat, Kay works with small businesses in the low country— including Foxy Loxy, The Coffee Fox, and Green Truck Pub—on logo design, branding, and producing print collateral.
craves an artistic release, which she finds in her tea towels. She began making the towels with a friend a couple years ago, and then continued solo. “It’s essentially a canvas for me, and I can draw and do anything on that canvas,” she says. The towels are created through a screen printing process. After creating a design—whether by hand, in Illustrator, with appropriated vintage materials, or some combination of the three—the design is digitally printed on a transparency. The design must then be burned on to a screen, which has been prepared by coating it with light-sensitive emulsion and allowed to dry. The screen, with the transparency flush to it, is then placed in a light exposure unit (a specialized piece of screen printing equipment, which can be loosely compared to a photographic enlarger), which creates a suction that literally burns the image onto the screen. Once a screen is burned, it can be used to make hundreds of prints.
It is the hand-made and procedural, almost ritual, aspects of this process that make it so appealing. While art can be created quickly in programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop, there is something attractive about a process that forces the maker to slow down. Every aspect, from design, to burning the screen, to mixing the paint for the print, is hands-on. Some Kay loves the collaborative nature of things cannot be sped along—the screens working with small businesses, but also must dry, which takes time, the light expage 11
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a masculine aesthetic—work that has a gritty, textural feel, such as that done by Methane Studios. Today, her style blends this handmade quality with a cleaner, more feminine approach for a look that is Screen printing is a technical process, uniquely her own, and a symbiotic match and one that Kay has worked at to devel- to the content of her personal designs. op her technique, but she points out that it is just a process. Rather than spending Kay translates her design aesthetic into excessive time on the technical, she says the home she shares with her fiancé. She “I devote my time to becoming a better describes their living space as “a combiillustrator and a better artist, because you nation of both our tastes” and one that is warm, but eclectic, full of things they have can translate that to anything.” gathered separately and together. HavIt is clear that Kay’s design style has ing both grown up near the Gulf Coast, evolved over time. When she was in col- she and Ben both have an appreciation lege, she was influenced by design with for a coastal aesthetic that is distinguished posure must be a certain time, fabric must be rolled out and stretched, and the physical printing of the fabric must be done with both attention and intention.
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“I devote my time to becoming a better illustrator and a better artist because you can translate that to anything.�
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by faded pastels and bleached out colors. They also enjoy vintage objects that have had previous lives and love repurposing such objects into their own lives and environment.
towels fall. Kay says that as we rush from task to task and day to day “it’s nice to find something that will stop you in your tracks and you can just appreciate it…Those little moments in life are like tasty yummies you can just stop and enjoy.”
When asked about the name “Kay Loves Candy,” Kay explains that the “candy” Kay’s tea towels can be purchased at Foxy references visual candy—those designs Loxy and The Coffee Fox, both in Savanthat are a feast for the eyes. We surround nah, GA. ourselves with functional objects, ones which fulfill some sort of purpose, play visit a role, have a designated job. It is when those objects have a design which pleases Kay’s the owner, though, that they become funcwebsite tional not only practically but also aesthetically—it is into this category that Kay’s tea www.paprikasouthern.com
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biking the triangle: one cyclist explores the trails in the heart of the carolinas
text & photography by sarah e. gibbons www.paprikasouthern.com
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Fall
in the
South
i s There has been much excitement with
a great time to get out and go places. The weather has finally cooled and, if you are lucky, you might even get a chance to see some beautiful fall color. One of the best ways to explore a new area, or to get reacquainted with a familiar one, is from the back of a bike. There is the excitement of speeding along, the ability to go where cars can’t, and the camaraderie of those along for the ride. Having lived in the Durham, NC area for a while now, I have become familiar with a few of the trails here in the Piedmont. The one I ride most frequently is the American Tobacco Trail. The ATT, as it is referred to, is a converted railway known as a “rails to trail.” This trail runs 22 miles through Durham, Chatham and Wake counties in North Carolina and is part of the East Coast Greenway. At this point I have biked a good portion of the ATT. Some areas are paved, while others are hard-packed stone dust. All of the trail can be ridden on a road bike with decent tires. The City of Durham is in the process of building a bridge over I-40 to connect the northern portion with the southern sections and allow for safe offstreet travel through a busy area of the city. As of this writing the bridge is yet to be completed (pictured, right). It is located near the East Coast Greenway Alliance headquarters and is expected to be finished in December 2013. www.paprikasouthern.com
local riders around the building of the bridge. Access to the southern portion of the ATT, which in recent years has been widened and paved, will be much easier, allowing for longer rides and easier access to other trails on and off the Greenway. Another trail I have found recently is the Three Forks Creek Trail. It is about ten miles long and travels through the wooded and marshy area that is Three Forks Creek. This trail is unique in that is has many boardwalks to allow for travelers to pass over low-lying areas. The upside to this trail is that even in an urban area like Durham, you feel as if you are away and out in the woods. The downside, it floods with every heavy rain. There has been more than one occasion I had hoped to ride this trail after a summer storm only to get there and find the access boardwalk under water. Being out in nature comes with a few downfalls. The Three Forks Creek Trail, just minutes from downtown Durham, connects with the ATT in a few places. On the north end a rider can take a bike lane via a busy road, or, near the middle of the trail, a safer route via a few residential streets. At the south end the trail connects with the Woodcroft Parkway trail system. The Woodcroft trails—new to me—are a bit different from the previous two. Part of a planned community, the trail connects different parts of the community page 20
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In-progress bridge over Interstate 40 in North Carolina
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Markers on the American Tobacco Trail www.paprikasouthern.com
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Map of the East Coast Greenway courtesy of www.greenway.org www.paprikasouthern.com page 22
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with paved, off-street trails. Woodcroft Parkway intersects the ATT and with a short on-street ride, you can be back on the ATT and riding traffic-free.
participated in the post ride Zumba demo. She came over to me and told me she was proud of me because I had been the only other woman to ride the whole distance from Raleigh to Durham. Though it felt All of these connecting trails allow for off- like my legs would fall off, my heart soared street bike riding that is not only safe, but al- and my smile beamed. lows a cyclist the ability to explore the area in a unique way. It also allows for longer rides This fall I was able to attempt a similar within a small area of the city, or even the ride, this time 47 miles from Durham to ability to ride between cities. I have had the Raleigh in a cross Triangle Greenway opportunity to do just this on a few occasions celebration ride. While I will admit that with group rides planned in association with I was only able to make it thirty miles, I The East Coast Greenway Alliance. had the chance to meet some great folks. I met a woman who had just bought her The East Coast Greenway, or the ECG, is a first road bike that morning and was very 3,000 mile “firm surface” trail ranging from happy to share the details with me as we Calais, Maine, at the Canadian boarder, to rode. I joked with a few riders telling them Key West, Florida, connecting 25 major I was not too proud to walk up a steep east coast cities along the way. The trail was hill. They laughed and told me the top envisioned to be a traffic-free form of travel and following downhill were close. And I and is open to non-motorized users, from was able to chat with a few people about horses to walkers and, of course, cyclists. It our shared love of bikes. can be thought of as an urban companion to the Appalachian Trail. At the end of my ride that day, I felt defeated that I was not able to finish, but my fellow In past years, I have had the good fortune riders supported me and told me I was makto be able to ride from Raleigh to Durham ing the right decision for me. While waitvia Greenway trails as part of a group ing to take “the car ride of shame” home, ride in support of a few “through-riders.” I had the chance to speak with an amazing These folks were attempting to ride the couple. “Mike and Anne from New Jersey” entire trail from south to north. One of was how they introduced themselves. They my proudest biking moments came at the were on an incredible custom half-recumend of this 50-mile group ride. Standing bent tandem bike and told me that nine there dog-tired, but glad I had made it, I years ago they had biked the whole Greenwatched as one of the through-riders—a way. Of course I began to ask them queswoman who must have been in her 60s— tions. How long did it take? 53 days. What page 23
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Before a group ride on the Greenway in Durham
was the best part? They noted that these were the two questions that people always asked. Mike looked at me and told me I was looking for a section of trail or a pretty view. But he then said to me, not a day had gone by in the nine years since they completed their ride that they have not talked about it in some way, and his answer to that second question is always the same. A city is a city, a town is a town, and a trail a trail; but the best part of their ride was the people they had met along the way. This is what biking is about. It brings folks together, whether it is to raise awareness or funds for a needed cause, to celebrate just about anything, or just for the sheer fun of it. Weather I am riding a rails-to-trail www.paprikasouthern.com
or a busy city street, I have seen amazing things, met some remarkable people and heard their stories and bonded with some of the people closest to me from the seat of my bike. It may have started out as a fun way to get exercise but I have gained so much more then strong legs. Finding a trail near you is not hard. In addition to the East Coast Greenway there are 2,000 miles of trails that connect to the Greenway. The Greenway website has cue sheets and trip planners to help you. Rails to Trails Conservancy is another great resource. Also, check your local city or town website. Take advantage of the beautiful southern fall weather and get out and go for a ride. page 24
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visit the Greenway Website
visit the rails to trails website page 25
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reconstructing the past text by bevin valentine photography by siobhan egan
The
role of an historic curator can be a bit like that of a detective, as we learned when we met Historic Charleston Foundation curator Brandy Culp at the Nathaniel Russell House in downtown Charleston, SC. As curator, Brandy is responsible for overseeing the conservation of the objects under the stewardship of the Foundation and maintaining the collection. In a practical sense, she might do anything during a workday, from dealing with a leak in the gallery, to grant-writing, to comparing nineteenth-centursy textiles. As an American Studies major at Hollins in Roanoke, Virginia, Brandy fell in love with museum work when she had the opportunity to do a summer internship with a curator at the Smithsonian. She continued doing internships throughout her college career, and received a fellowship at the Met upon graduation, where she remained for two years. She attended graduate school at Bard College twhere she studied decorative arts and material page 27
culture. It was while at the Art Institute of Chicago that she attended a symposium on art and antiques in Charleston—her hometown—and found herself invited to apply for the position of curator with the Historic Charleston Foundation, the position she holds today. The Historic Charleston Foundation (or HCF) is a preservation organization that owns and operates two museum houses (including the Nathaniel Russell House Museum, where we conducted our interview); has easements and covenants on historic homes in the South Broad area of downtown Charleston and other structures in the low country that allow them to safeguard the historical integrity of these sites; and, through a revolving fund, purchases endangered properties, places easements and covenants on those properties, and sells them to a conservation-minded buyer. In addition, the Foundation is an advocate in the community for conservation and education, with the two museum houses allowing them to www.paprikasouthern.com
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show “preservation in action” and share the story of historic eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Charleston with tourists and with the community.
so different, it was difficult to understand how they had been used, or how they could be from the same piece of furniture. It was through careful attention to detail, the discovery of cords still pristine in color tucked into the settee, and the discovery of another tassel also tucked under the upholstery, that they were able reconstruct what the furniture piece would have originally looked like, and to understand it in a more rich and full way.
As the curator of a relatively (compared to, for example, the Met) small organization, every aspect of the job is hands-on. Brandy, essentially, wears all the hats, and might do anything from handling art to lecturing to an audience of three hundred. Working in such a hands-on way has allowed her to get to know the collection intimate- This solving of mysteries, this detecting of ly and to begin to truly understand what, the past, trying to figure out what objects to a layperson, might look like a random mean not only in the historical context, but collection of unrelated objects. Of also in today’s context, and her job, she says “I love history, the excitement it engenbut it’s the art of figuring out ders, is the crux of human behavior through “It’s the art of figur- HCF’s educational the objects with which ing out human behavior mission. The two we surround ourselves, museum housthrough the objects with whether it be fine arts es are physical which we surround ouror decorative arts… manifestations The decorative arts are selves...The decorative arts of history, enindicators of the way are indicators of the way we abling the pubwe lived, how we lived, lived, how we lived, what lic to better unwhat we did. “ derstand not only we did.” the microcosms of It was just this sort of mystery the two houses, but that Brandy, working with a texthe role the South played tile historian, had uncovered that very in national history. The Naweek. She showed us a box of tassels that thaniel Russell House, built in the neo-clashad been found at the Aiken-Rhett House, sical style in 1808 by merchant Nathaniel the other of the HCF’s museum’s houses. Russell, has been completely restored to its They knew it was connected to a particular original structural appearance, while the piece of furniture, a settee. Three differ- Aiken-Rhett House, built around 1820 by ent tassels had been found, but they were merchant John Robinson, and acquired in www.paprikasouthern.com
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Curator Brandy Culp shows a tassel remanent for a c. 1840 Demi-lune ottoman. Aiken-Rhett House (c. 1820), Historic Charleston Foundation. The blue cording on this elaborate tassel would have been wrapped in a light gold silk thread. page 29 www.paprikasouthern.com
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visit the Historic Charleston Foundation website
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1827 by another merchant, William Aiken, Sr., exists in an “as-found” state. The Aiken-Rhett House has never been restored, and represents an interpretive methodology to historic education wherein layers deteriorate, revealing evidence of earlier incarnations and appearances.
and muslin, incorporating the color white, with elaborate handwork, would have been distinguishing features of a bedroom at this time. Once this room—as well as the others in the house—is complete, the color schemes will be historically accurate and appropriate to nineteenth-century Charleston, thereby allowing visitors to get a truer sense of how The Nathaniel Russell House (pictured), in people used the rooms through the items contrast, was fully restored in the late 1990s that furnish it. and early 2000s, but Brandy emphasizes that the “built environment” tells only half Charleston was established in the late the story. They are continuing to restore the seventeenth century by King Charles house to an authentically nineteenth-centu- with the intention of it—and the Carory appearance through the elements that linas in general—being a money-making make a house a home—soft furnishings, endeavor. This mindset led to a culturutensils, and décor. Take, for example, a al dynamic in Charleston that emphabedroom we toured. This bedroom, on the sized conspicuous consumption and what main floor of the house, would have been Brandy describes as “a wealth of riches utilized as a public space, adjacent to the that translates into the objects that peoentertaining space, and existed as a sym- ple used and collected.” The ornamenbol of wealth and prosperity. At the time tation of these historic objects is immediof our tour, the carpeting was from 1910, ately evident to the viewer, and serves to and one of Brandy’s ongoing projects is to distinguish them not only as historic, but replace it with historically authentic carpet- also as objects that are imbued with beauing. They found a watercolor painting done ty and give aesthetic pleasure. The value in Charleston at the right time period of a that was placed on making an object both nursery that included detail of the carpet- functional and beautiful was tremendous, ing and, through searching pattern books and is part of what the HCF strives to and other historic sources, discovered a very share with visitors in their museums. Alsimilar carpet they could acquire. Every though the beauty of the objects can be decade, she points out, has colorways that seductive, they also look beyond the suridentify it—imaging a 1970s kitchen versus face appearance to understand how, as a kitchen today, for example. One signifying Brandy states “the evolution of an object trait of this time period is the use of white, reflects the evolution of our social-cultura color that was associated with cleanliness, al behaviors,” and, thus, to reconstruct reflecting the interest in sanitation; cotton the past. page 33
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The Sout hern Vegetarians by Bevin Valentine
Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence are the husband-and-wife team behind the food blog The Chubby Vegetarian and the authors of The Southern Vegetarian, a cookbook published earlier this year. In it, the Memphis-based couple takes on the challenge of adapting iconic southern dishes, from chicken pot pie, to red beans and rice, to chicken and waffles for the vegetarian palate and celebrates the southern taste for vegetables in their own right with recipes like okra fritters, a fried green tomato po’ boy, and artichoke hearts and succotash over smoked cheddar grits--with delicious results. Justin and Amy were kind enough to do a Q & A for us, and their answers have us inspired to get in the kitchen this fall.
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Tell me a little about Why vegetarian? your background and how you got into cook- Amy: I’m not very strict; ing. I like to eat seafood sometimes. I’ve always struggled Justin: From a young to get (and stay) healthy, age, I would come home and focusing on eating from school and make more fruits and vegetables myself hot dog sand- helped me get there. I like wiches and cook dinner vegetarian food because it for my family by making makes me feel great from King Kong shapes out day to day. of hamburger meat and sticking them on mashed Justin: My reasons for potato buildings with staying vegetarian now green peas as the win- are that it makes me feel dows. I was an idealistic healthy, it’s great for the kid, and at 12 years old, environment, and it just I became a vegetarian. seems to be all around a I continued cooking be- pretty good way for me to cause I got really tired eat. We’re not preachers of salad and French fries or proselytizers; we just and lettuce-and-tomato think it’s a good diet and sandwiches, and there like to share the delicious weren’t as many options recipes we make in our back in those days. kitchen. Amy: Growing up, I liked to bake chocolate chip cookies, marble cake, and banana pudding, but when I was older, I branched out. In college, we would cook for all our friends, and they seemed to like it, so I just started working the kitchen more after that. page 35
Can you explain your philosophy of vegetarian meets southern cooking? Justin: It’s really just the intersection of who we are. As crazy as it sounds, it’s really not that big of a stretch! Overall, Southern
cooking really originates from the garden. Amy: I guess it is unusual to some people since in the South there can be an emphasis on things like barbecue and bacon, and really, just meat in general. Even in Memphis, though, there have always been people interested in vegetarian food and trying to eat healthier. Hey, I like biscuits, grits, poundcake as much as everybody else, but there’s plenty of other stuff we make here! How did you transition your blog into a cookbook? Justin: We actually didn’t set out on a journey to write a cookbook. We really just wanted to share the recipes we were making in our home kitchen in order to inspire people to cook with vegetables they find at the farmers market or the stuff their neighbors dropped off at their door. The book came about as a result of our true professions, Amy www.paprikasouthern.com
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as an English teacher and a writer, and me as a photographer. My relationship with Thomas Nelson, our wonderful publisher out of Nashville, resulted in them asking for a proposal from us. We turned one in, and they loved it.
even gotten into making deviled eggs from smoked eggs. Vegetarian barbecue does take a little more thought and creativity, but it’s no less delicious. We definitely revere the old ways of classic barbecue, and we learn a lot from pit masters and chefs and Amy: We barely did any- friends to cook in this way. thing on the weekend ex- We just try and take those cept work on this book for ideas and translate them. over a year, and because we wrote it, photographed Amy: I think it’s all about it, and edited, it was a a smoky flavor, so as long lot harder than writing a as the right flavor’s there, blog—but it was worth it. anything is going to taste pretty great! Barbecue is a food held dear by southerners, What is your favorand fiercely defend- ite recipe in the book? ed region by region. (And why?) In your book you do a Memphis-style tofu Justin: Honestly, it changbarbecue. How did es almost every day. The you go about adapting strange thing is, we actusuch an iconic south- ally cook out of our book ern food? now! It has become our handbook for family meals Justin: Honestly, we don’t and romantic dinners do much tofu these days, it alike. We’re really loving has a certain, well, reputa- the migas for breakfast, tion. We do barbecue lots the smoked coconut bacon of things. We love barbe- for lunch, and our gumbo cue portabella mushrooms, makes a fantastic dinner. we smoke dates, and we’ve www.paprikasouthern.com
Amy: I like the Super Moist Banana Muffins and make them often. I love the 20-Minute Tamales and have gotten pretty fast at making them. In a bowl wrapped in a dishtowel, they were a sweet Christmas gift for family members last year. Can you tell me about any attempted recipe adaptations that have been epic disasters? Justin: If you just look at the blog or the book, it appears as though everything we cook comes out perfectly. The truth is, there’s probably one mediocre dish or more for every couple of great-looking ones. I can recall one that was made with forbidden black rice and a cracked coconut and vegetables; it seemed like a good idea at the time but was an absolute disaster on the plate. Once I also added baking powder to an eggplant dish instead of cornstarch to thicken the sauce—let me tell you, that does not taste good. page 36
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Amy: If I have to attempt to make a healthy oatmeal cookie one more time this week, I might lose my mind. The amount of butter and oil that you really need to put into them to make them taste decent is slightly horrifying to me. As a husband-andwife cooking team, how do you work together in the kitchen? Amy: Sometimes only one of us is cooking if the other one has less energy or no interest in the dish quite yet, that person will just be helping. Other times, we’re creating a recipe together because we both want to have it as meal, and we’re pretty agreeable in the kitchen. Justin: Apart from brainstorming most dishes together, it’s really a series of checks and balances! Whatever I make, Amy is very honest about whether it’s good or not, if it page 37
needs more seasoning or less, or if the texture is off. I am equally as honest with her about the things that she makes. There aren’t a whole lot of emotions, and we just want to make sure that we get the best possible outcome in the end.
place home-cooking has in our culture?
Amy: Home cooking is everything to me. It’s always hard for me to believe that it’s a bother or a chore for anybody. My favorite place to be is in the kitchen, and I love making a meal for friends for Our theme for Novem- family or just for Justin ber is “home.” Can and me. I think it’s pretty you talk about the much the best part about www.paprikasouthern.com
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life. I wish everybody believed that! Justin: All cooking starts in the home. Everyone has “All cooking starts in the memories of the things that their mom would home...It’s a steady comfort make them or their grandthat comes from food, and mother would make for we’re all trying to recreate them when they were not feeling well or when they that whether it’s at home or need to be cheered up or in a restaurant.” when they wanted to celebrate. It’s a steady comfort that comes from food, and we’re all trying to re-create that whether it’s at home Amy: I think pumpkin for Thanksgiving or in a restaurant. dessert. Hopefulcan be so high pressure ly, all of this will happen It’s almost Thanks- for most people, so some outside on a pretty sunny giving! What are your years we try to do some- day—late November is Thanksgiving tradi- thing different. Sometimes rarely wintertime in the going to low-key route is tions? best. I don’t really care South! Justin: Our family is what we eat as long as we Justin: We love stuffed kind of wacky! We’re hav- all get to make some mem- squash. It’s such a beautiful ing pre-Thanksgiving on ories and enjoy the time dish and can easily rival any Wednesday, which has al- together. turkey that someone may or most become a tradition. may not bring this year. We This year, we’ll be having What you will you be always look for something a pizza party and making serving? new and different. You can pizzas and our traditionfind one of our stuff squash al pizza oven that we just Amy: Lots of pizzas, some recipes in the Southern Vegefinished at the end of the vegetable sides made with tarian cookbook. That one summer. It’s been a great the fall harvest from my in particular was featured dad’s Mississippi farm, place to celebrate so far. and probably something on The New York Times Well chocolate and something blog last year. www.paprikasouthern.com
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thing from cooking magazines to novels and nonfiction, the newspaper, really anything I get my hands on. I paint my nails crazy colors, Amy: One thing that I go jogging, walk my dogs, learned last year is how fix up our 1950‘s house, and great it is to make things read my students’ writing. like my rosemary lemon cookies or hazelnut black Justin: We have three pepper cookies and roll the dogs, so that takes up a lot dough in parchment paper. of our time. We love them I stick them in the freezer dearly! Also I play drums and break ‘em out when in a band called the Perfect it’s time to make some- Vessels, I train for and run thing for a party. I also like in marathons, and I run my to have some big meals own photography business. made ahead and frozen for having people over or for Now that you have one taking to someone’s house. book published, what’s next? Justin: Have fun! Don’t be afraid to mess up a dish. Amy: I have loved having Just try it early enough—a the opportunity to cook few days before your par- with so many fun and talty or your dinner—and ented people we admire do a run-through. Then and I can’t wait to introon the day you can relax, duce more folks to the kind and you’ll know that you’ll of dishes Justin and I create. have a new great dish under your hat. Care to share any protips for home cooks this upcoming holiday cooking season?
When you’re not cooking or developing recipes, how do you spend your time?
visit the chubby vegetarian blog
Justin: Of course we would love to do another book! We are working on ideas to pitch to our publisher right now. We have had so many great opportunities; because of the book, I am going to judge the World Food Championship in Las Vegas in November, and we’re both going to speak at the James Beard House in New York City on December 4th. We like to describe our readers as sweet or spicy—which are you? Justin: I’m spicy and just a little salty. I love a spicy element in almost everything breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and even dessert...with a little pinch of cayenne or sprinkle of togarishi. Amy: I used to try to be sweet, but in reality, I’m spicy.
buy the southern vegetarian online
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Feast
photography by siobhan egan
styling by bevin valentine
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TABLE & BENCH COURTESY OF SOUTHERN PINE CO. VINTAGE SWAN AVAILABLE AT TWO WOMEN AND A WAREHOUSE NAPKINS & LEATHER TRAY AVAILABLE AT PIER 1 IMPORTS www.paprikasouthern.com
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Picturing Nostalgia: The Work of Artist Meryl Truett by Bevin Valentine
T abby
ruins in the low country, the slow sway of Spanish moss, miles of cotton fields, and railroad tracks to nowhere all exist as the motifs that populate the work of Savannah photographer and mixed media artist Meryl Truett. The intertwining motifs, sometimes rendered in black and white, other times in color, travel alongside each other, sometimes blending, at other times diverging, to create a picture of the South. A picture that is not yet complete, and can never be completed by one individual, but can contribute to the larger patchwork of a visual language that speaks about the South. Meryl Truett grew up in South Carolina, with time split between Florence and the Charleston low country area. It was while completing her graduate degree at the University of South Carolina in Columbia in the late 70s that she www.paprikasouthern.com
fell in love with the photographic medium. Upon graduation she, with her husband, John Meyer, moved to Nashville, TN. In addition to serving as the Executive Director of a film festival at Vanderbilt University, Meryl also spent these years developing her photographic style by turning her camera toward Nashville’s disappearing history. As a city that experienced a good deal of growth in the 1980s and 90s, and without the historic preservation standards in place in cities such as Savannah and Charleston yet in place, historic architectural elements were vanishing in the face of progress. The time Meryl spent photographing in Nashville—a city she is fond of, describing it as lively, with a thriving art scene—might be compared to Eugene Atget’s nostalgic images of old Paris documenting the areas of the city untouched by the nineteenth-century widpage 56
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Knife and Fork, from the Highway 17 series / courtesy of Meryl Truett
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ening of the boulevards. The process of photography has a singular relationship with the past; it is, with its documentary association with the “real,” the ideal medium with which to capture and preserve images of the past, yet it is also a mechanical medium, associated with the future, inherently subject to progress, and constantly morphing with the changes in technology. The photograph serves as proof that something existed, looked a certain way at a certain time, and as Meryl began photographing disappearing Nashville, the project started almost as a collection, as evidence of change over time. The theme expanded, though, to one that would possess her photographic career. In 1997, Meryl and John moved to Savannah. The choice was based largely on their interest in the historic nature of the city, and its potential for preservation and renovation. They had been involved in historic renovation in Nashville, renovating a turn-of-the-twentieth-century Queen Anne home, and saw the possibilities in Savannah, which, in the late 90s, was a blank canvas for restoration. Currently, Meryl has multiple bodies of work that exist and evolve simultaneously and independently. Her roadside Americana project, which she has been working on for ten years—and we can exclusively announce is soon to be www.paprikasouthern.com
Artist portrait courtesy of Meryl Truett
published as a book to be called Utopia for Sale—travels Highway 17 from Punta Gorda, FL north to Virginia. As an alternative route to Interstate 95—and the main north/south thoroughfare prior to the construction of the interstate system—this road represents the slow vanishing of independently-owned gas stations and restaurants that depended on the business generated by travel on the highway. These “mom and pop” businesses—full of character and individuality—give way to fast food chains, contributing the homogenization of the South. page 58
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Meryl remarks that “Since photography began there have been photographers who were interested in the South…It kind of started with Walker Evans, the work he did, the documentary photography of the South, and I think people, artists, photographers, saw that work… and thought, the South looks different from other parts of the world.” It is this uniqueness, this sense of a way of life, of a certain existence that distinguishes itself from any other time or place, that the Highway 17 works strives to capture and preserve.
You would think there would be more things being torn down or disappearing or demolished, but I’m finding that it’s a pretty vital highway, that people are traveling it more, maybe.” Whether it be due to a growing dissatisfaction with the congestion of 95 or an interest in nostalgia, the result is a continuation of the rural iconography of roadside produce, kitschy signage, and a remarkable amount of cars on sticks.
Another body of work in Meryl’s oeuvre—one which, at first glace, seems visually disparate from the medium forAnd, perhaps, it does. Although some mat, color prints of the Highway 17 areas—such as around Brunswick, work—she calls “Relics and Ruins.” This GA—are in danger of losing their in- project consists of black and white landdividuality, Meryl observes that, for scapes adhered to antique ceiling tiles. the majority, “It’s amazingly steady. Although the work is visually a departure from the neon glow of Highway 17, upon closer inspection, the subject matter remains the same. A sense of place, and a response to land, to home, to a shared southern memory is ever at “Since photography work. The nostalgia evoked here is different, though—while the Highbegan there have been way 17 work speaks to a roadside photographers who were the kids in the back of the interested in the South...The “pile station wagon” mentality, the RelSouth looks different from ics series is a low rumble, evincing a other parts of the world.” more distant past, one that whispers of crumbling ruins, Faulkner, and slowly fading memory. Photographs that attest to a low country culture of tabby ruins, Spanish moss, and endless marsh are melded to vintage decorative page 59
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Left, Ossabaw Gates / right, Ossabaw Slave Cabins, photographic transfers to vintage tile, from the Relics and Ruins series, courtesy of Meryl Truett
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Cotton Field with Steeple, from the Highway 17 series, courtesy of Meryl Truett
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visit Meryl’s website
tiles and take on a three-dimensional objectness that subtly removes them from the gallery-slick world of contemporary color photography to another realm that is uniquely southern and uniquely nostalgic. This process, so at odds with aesthetic of her Highway 17 series, betokens Meryl’s interest in inserting the hand of the artist into her work. The advent of digital photography removed the hands-on aspect of photography, and the process of slowly working the photographic image into a tile, so the image is almost sculpted in relief, and then adding toning and varnish to enhance the antique look, allows her to reclaim the hand-made element of the process. These pieces are slow and heavy—both figuratively, with the denseness of languid black and white southern iconography, and literally, with the hand-worked process and physicality of the tiles themselves. It is this slowness and deliberateness which perhaps characterizes southern art and distinguishes it as a genre, along with a nod to the past, and a deep connection to the land. It was William Faulkner who said “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Meryl Truett’s work demonstrates a deep-seeded interest in interpreting her surroundings through the lens of the past, and connecting that past to the present.
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Le Cou Rouge and the Art of Home Decor by kelly mccarty
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Classy, sophisticated people
have plenty of places to go to for home decorating advice—HGTV, Better Homes and Gardens magazine, Martha Stewart, and the granddaddy of them all, Southern Living. All of these sources feature homes where children never grind peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into pristine white couches, dogs never track mud across clean carpets and no one ever leaves dirty cups or half-eaten bags of chips next to the easy chair. I always wonder if these homeowners have a shed out back stuffed to the ceiling with dirty shoes, junk mail and unfolded laundry. But what if your style is more Here Comes Honey Boo Boo than Gone with the Wind? What if you are more familiar with Southern Comfort than Southern Living? What if you are living in a double-wide trailer, not a spacious McMansion? What if your neck is various shades of crimson? Fear not, because I have all the redneck home decorating types that you need.
Keep your Christmas lights on your front porch. all year long.
were happy about were Cinco de Mayo and Memorial Day. Another neighbor’s grandchildren chalked the words “Happy Easter” onto the side of their house, where it stayed long into the summer. If it had lasted until Christmas, I was going to find a way to call the Pope and report it as a miracle. You may be thinking, “What does your homeowner’s association have to say about these out-of-season decorations?” If you live in a neighbor with a homeowner’s association, you might not be a redneck. My grandmother was upset that her neighbors wouldn’t stop parking their cars on top of the bank that bordered her property. So she dug the bank completely away—using a shovel—even though she was in her early seventies at the time. This is how rednecks resolve neighbor disputes; not with complaints to homeowner’s associations.
No matter what the problem is, duct tape is the solution. Broken chair? Duct tape. Dog chew the stuffing out of the sofa? Duct tape. I’ve even seen someone use duct tape to reattach a car bumper. If you don’t let your dog on the sofa, then you’re not a redneck. If you don’t let your dog in the house, you’re not a good person.
This is number one covenant of redneck home decorating. Rednecks do not take down their holiday decorations in a timely fashion. My next-door neighbors left their plastic candy canes up past Valentine’s Day. The candy canes were just stuck into the ground; it is not like they needed to climb a Utilize Duck Dynasty décor. ladder to remove them. The neighbors up For the uninitiated, Duck Dynasty is a reality the street kept their red and green “Happy television show about the family that owns Holidays” lit for so long that the holidays we Duck Commander, a company that manpage 65
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ufactures duck calls. Everyone in my life is enamored of this show, except the actual duck hunter. Go figure. Apparently, there is not enough money in duck calls and reality TV, because Duck Dynasty is more merchandised than a boy band. They have T-shirts, hats, mugs, posters, pillows and blankets. Decking your home out in Duck Dynasty products is definitely redneck.
Dead animals can be fun and festive.
Never throw anything away. Through some combination of engineering experience, mechanical know-how and perhaps black magic, my grandfather has kept a dryer running for twenty years. My parents have had the rug in their bedroom longer than they’ve had me. I’m assuming that they’ll have the rug until it disintegrates.
Go shopping on the side of the road.
For as long as I can remember, my grandfather has displayed the head of deer that he killed above the stairs. When I was a little girl, he would always tell me that the rest of the deer was standing in the bathroom. He also used to tell me that there was such a thing as black rattle spiders and that they would get me. I’m not sure why; I suppose to insure that I had the requisite amount of childhood trauma.
Non-rednecks throw away tons of perfectly good furniture, appliances and children’s toys, and they are yours for the taking. True rednecks don’t wait for the cover of darkness to start stealing their neighbors’ trash. I once even saw someone driving around with a washing machine shoved in the trunk of a regular car. Presumably, they wanted to sell it for scrap metal so badly they were willing to defy common sense and the laws of physics.
My grandmother decorated the deer with little sombreros on the tips of his antlers and lights at Christmas. Depending on whether or not the hunters in your household have a sense of humor, stuffed dead animals can be decorated for all kinds of holidays. What about Mardi Gras beads around your deer’s neck? Or a Santa suit on a stuffed fox? Or draw a heart on your mounted bass to show your wife you love her on Valentine’s Day. Paint your deer’s nose red and be proud that you bagged Rudolph, although I wouldn’t advise that if there are small children in your house.
When my uncle was a bachelor, his home was the ultimate example of redneck décor. He had five couches that he had found on the side of the road in his basement. The carpet was stained in multiple places by non-house-trained dogs. His pet rabbit roamed free in the laundry room, which doubled as the bunny’s toilet. He had a screen door with no screen, and—I swear that I am not making this up—a mud dauber’s nest inside the house. If you can get any more redneck than allowing insects to nest inside your home, I’m not sure I want to know about it.
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The Gallery
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Uncle Walter’s Silver / Donna Rosser / digital photography / Fayetteville, GA
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Home is No Longer Home, Portrait 1 / Ann Van Epps / digital photography / Cinncinatti, OH
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Home is No Longer Home, Portrait 2 / Ann Van Epps / digital photography / Cinncinatti, OH
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Starla Little / Whenever I’m With You / digital photography / Beaufort, SC
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Donna Rosser / May 29 / digital photography / Fayetteville, GA
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Sarah Jones / Nest in the Yard / digital print / Winchester, VA
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Each month we dedicate a portion of Paprika Southern to reader-submitted artwork. We love having the opportunity to curate work and share it with our readers. This month’s theme, to go along with the rest of the issue, was “home.” Next month our theme will be “wonderland.” Whether you’re walking in a winter wonderland or falling down the rabbit hole, we want to see your work inspired by the idea of “wonderland.” To submit, please email up to three jpegs to mail@paprikasouthern.com with the title “Wonderland Submission.” Jpegs should be no smaller than 12 inches on the shorter side at 150ppi. Please include the following information in your email: -Artist name -Title of piece(s) -Medium -Hometown -Website or portfolio link (if you have one) -A brief statement about the work (optional) Please note our next issue will be a December/January double issue. We accept all mediums of artwork. Deadline is November 27. Please email mail@paprikasouthern.com with questions. We look forward to seeing your work! page 75
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P.S. Paprika Southern recommends
richmond The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will present Hollywood Costume, an exhibit that brings together costumes from iconic motion pictures of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Superman, The Wizard of Oz, The Birds, and more. November 9, 2013 - February 17, 2014
Columbia
The Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC presents Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage. This solo exhibit, featuring one of the most well-known photographers of our time, represents a departure from Leibovitz’s recognizable commercial style and delves into her personal artwork. Show runs through January 5, 2014
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savannah
Currently on view in the Jepson Center is the show Warhol/JFK, which commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination with a selection of prints by Andy Warhol. Show runs through March 9, 2014
district of colubmia The Hirschhorn Museum in DC presents Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950. This show, chronicling the latter half of the twentieth century, explores the anxiety of the nuclear age. Show runs through May 26, 2014
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Follow along with Paprika Southern throughout the month: Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest See you in December!
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