The relationship between food, plating,
and flavor perception is a diverse network of empirical experiences. Articulating
taste in food within the general area of image-making, however, presents its
own set of problems. Individual discernment and subjectivity create difficulty
in visually defining these elements. Ephemeral by nature, an eating experience
is shaped by personal preference. Unable to visually translate ideas of taste
beyond my own consciousness, I focused on my own interpretation of meals
created by the other resident artists (from Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland,
Estonia, New Zealand, the United States, and Japan).
From a mind and mouth perspective I
interpreted the five universally recognized basic tastes – sweet, sour, bitter,
salty, and umami (savory) into shape templates to make molds of. I chose the
five basic tastes as a comprehensive approach to categorize the cornucopia of
ingredients available for human consumption. I also thought about what food the
pieces were meant to contain as related to each flavor and investigated how form,
color and texture could visually translate these flavor perceptions into
ceramic objects.
Over the course of my six-week residency
at Guldagergaard, I designed and fabricated a mold or a group of molds for each
flavor. I had not done much mold making previously so I was teaching myself
mold making while trying to navigate the project perimeters I invented. It was
a fun and fruitful challenge. The center has great mold making facilities and I
forced myself to stay off the wheel for my entire stay to really dig into a new
process without the distractions of making work I am comfortable making.
In that same spirit I restricted myself to
formulating colored slips for casting that would add visual interest without
any decoration. My goal in making molds was to potentially integrate pieces
into my work that I can quickly reproduce and to explore the importance of
design in my work, why and how I use it as a vehicle to communicate ideas
through my pieces.
After my glaze firing I brought all the pieces
into the kitchen and asked the other residents to play with and arrange them.
Through their play, I realized there was a game-like element to mixing and
matching the flavor forms, creating different and various combinations. I found
this unexpected aspect of the work rather exciting.
The body of work that resulted
incorporated the shapes I felt had the strongest association to each flavor
from my series of food memory drawings. The yellow coffee cup represented Bitter.
The oval bowls were Sweet for fruit or ice cream. Table salt cellars ramekins
were for Salty. Bread and butter dishes with spreading knife to represented the
flavor of Umami. I had some indecision for the Sour form. I ended the residency
making a mixing spoon for lemonade. However, I had earlier iterations of citrus
squeezer forms that I hope to revisit and redesign to include in the
collection. The initial drawing research had a profound effect on the
compositions the pieces took on.
On the whole, I am delighted with how the
collection turned out. As for the pieces themselves, I gifted the other
residents some of the pieces for their involvement in the project and installed
the rest in the kitchen of the resident house to be used for the family meals
that inspired them.
Lastly, I would like to extended a BIG thank you to Northern Clay Center and the 2017 Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award for the support to complete this project!
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