Feast: Call and Response with the Fitchburg Art Museum

Yemẹsẹ̀ Ajaré

The Prince's Feast: Eating Death

watercolor and ink on cold press paper, 12" x 6", 2021, $222

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries and Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth

Based on a Yoruba Mythological story, where the sloppy, yet competent, Babaláwo (Ifa Priest) divines to provide a cure for the Prince's sickness; but the Oba (Ruler) doesn't believe Sloppy Babaláwo because of his appearance. Oba calls the Fancy Babaláwos who charge a high price and tell Oba what he wants to hear. The Prince dies. Oba keeps the Prince's death a secret and prepares a Feast for the Babaláwos. Oba tells the cooks to prepare a stew with his son’s corpse.

I draw the Yoruba Mythologies to remember and share them with my daughters in a children’s illustration style.

@yemeseajare

Keri Anderson

Avalanche

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2024, $800

inspired by Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

When I think of the American chicken industry, I can see this massive avalanche of chickens in overwhelming quantities, touching each other and suffocating other chickens in their path. Chickens that are raised for their flesh are treated like inanimate objects and are confined to massive sheds that hold tens of thousands of birds each. Frustrated birds peck at one another and cause injury or even death. Such intensive confinement also breeds filth and disease. Avalanche became a metaphor to me about the devastation and challenges that factory chicken farming industry brings to our environment. You are what you eat.

@kerianderson68

Taylor Apostol

Siena Day Trip Pile

hand-carved alabaster, 10" x 16" x 12", 2023, $7,000

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Carved by hand in alabaster, Siena Day Trip Pile is a mass of discarded gelato cups, water bottles, cigarette packets, and pigeon feathers. Removed from their usual place in a trash bin, scattered on the ground, or being driven to a dump or waste processing plant, I give them a life of their own. Much like Henry George Todd’s painting, Study of Strawberries, my sculpture is a still-life of a seemingly innocuous pile. On closer inspection, my pile examines the close relationship between food and the endless accumulation of trash.

@taylorapostol

FAM SELECTION

Doug Ashby

The Virtue Of Solitude

pen and ink, 13" x 19" (framed), 2024, $3,100

inspired by Unknown Artist, English Teapot

The togetherness that can be experienced in sharing a good cup of tea is exquisite. However, when one is consumed in the correct manner, while in chosen solitude, the experience can be quite sublime. Even bordering on the transcendent if one is open to the beauty found in uncertainty. A certain gravity of that moment can be felt and appreciated. It is this moment that I strive, so ever humbly, to imbibe. For solitude is not loneliness and can be intoxicating.

Boden Azora-Minda

Happy Meal

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24", 2024, $600

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

Matt Siber's McDonald's made me contemplate the way that Americans consume food particularly fast food and how food is presented to consumers. McDonald's to me represents our current food culture of instant gratification and how big industry works on convincing us that we want something that is not healthy for us. Happy Meal has the undertone of Night of the Living Dead as it depicts Ronald McDonald as a zombie laying in wait for the boy who is eating his Happy Meal.

FAM SELECTION

Heather Barros

Butternut Squash/Nutmeg

oil on canvas, 20" x 16", 2024, $440 (sold)

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage: I didn’t taste the lemon and salt nor smell the sage until I read this title. Now, I can’t undo those sensations. They come back every time I see this image.
For me, the white shape within the yellow rectangle alternates between concave and convex. In my kitchen, something seemed familiar when I placed cut squash into a rectangular pan. My colors and forms matched his but in an unexpected way. I knew I had to paint it.
I named my piece Butternut Squash/Nutmeg. With a nod to David Seltzer, I never added the nutmeg.

FAM SELECTION

Ricardo Barros

Three Photographers Honor a Fourth: Stephen DiRado, Frank Armstrong, Ricardo Barros - After Jules Aarons

photograph, digital print on cotton rag paper, 20" x 24" (framed), 2023, $1,500

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

Jules Aarons is known for his mid-century photographs of immigrants in Boston’s West End. He often photographed from a distance; his presence was acknowledged yet unobtrusive. He had an appreciative eye for cultural heritage.
Fitchburg, where I now live, boasts a similar richness in history and ethnic diversity. If renewed prosperity has thus far eluded Fitchburg, adding resident artists to the mix may be its salvation. I pay homage to Jules Aarons’ work with this photograph and invite other artists to explore Fitchburg’s potential.

Click here to view an accompanying video for Three Photographers.

Lisa Barthelson

you are what you eat, plastic! eating the rainbow? family debris

found object assemblage, repurposed plastic family debris and thread, 16" x 16" x 7", 2024, $1,000

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonalds, Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries, and Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

Todd’s Study of Strawberries, Siber’s McDonald’s, and Walker’s Daddy Bruce all speak to the warning that what you eat may not be food you imagined! Fraught with meaning from life spans, to consumerism and its byproducts, including everlasting plastic, to the health we pursue when seeking nourishment. In a warming and toxic world, what are we eating, the healthful rainbow? All the plastic ever made still exists, breaking down into smaller particles over time. Some scientists have estimated that the average person may eat 5 grams of microplastics in a week, about the weight of a credit card, bon appetite!

@lisa_barthelson

Anne Beinecke

Red Bull with Roses

acrylic, pencil on cruelty-free watercolor paper, 18" x 24", 2020, Not For Sale

inspired by Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran, Matt Siber, McDonald's, and Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce
In Red Bull with Roses, the billowing pulses of crimson reds and sap greens belie a more threatening substrata of heat and blood - the existential threads that tie together the cruelty of animal exploitation in the meat industry with the callous violation of Earth’s lush landscapes, contributing greatly to the progression of the climate crisis. This work does not shy from the fact that for all creatures the heart pumps red blood, whether in light or in mourning.

@anne_beinecke

FAM SELECTION

Ray Bernoff

Safe Foods

aluminum foil, stone clay, Hershey’s kisses wrappers and plumes, found objects, cardstock, spray paint, acrylic paint, glass microbead paint, 12” x 24”, 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

With celiac disease, every meal is a risk. Gluten hides everywhere, from restaurant griddles to soy sauce and licorice. Since my diagnosis, I’ve identified “safe foods” I can always trust not to set off an intestine-destroying immune response: whole fruit, plain potato chips, most hot dogs, Hershey’s chocolate. When I’m stranded and hungry, I look for them. Drawing on the bright colors and abstract inedibility of David Seltzer’s Sea Salt/Lemon Sage, I made my safe foods easier to find by rendering them in an ANSI-inspired worksite safety palette. Use the headlamp for the full high-visibility experience.

@rmhbernoff

Susan Black

Meals on Wheels

collage on paper, 12" x 9", 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

Food and sex take on different forms to address our changing needs. Walker's photo tantalizes; this collage comforts. Young or old, body and soul continue to seek satisfaction.

Chelsea Bradway

Chelsea Market

black and white photograph on fine art paper, 26" x 32" (framed), 2023, $575 (sold)

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

Growing up in the Berkshires I have always found NYC a bit daunting. It wasn’t until my son’s 13th birthday when he asked to go to New York that I fell in love with it. Gone was my fear and in came an explosion of wild excitement.
My Angels of New York Series was born. There is something magical about walking through the streets of New York and not being noticed or being noticed. People’s faces lit up, they had let go of fear even if for a moment just as I did when I first embraced NYC.

@offical.all.things.sparkley; /All things Sparkley Photography

Lisa Bramhill

The Hanging Deer

acrylic paint on gallery wrapped canvas, 16" x 20", 2024, $400

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market and Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

The Hanging Deer reminds me of when I was young. My father was a hunter and venison was part of our diet. Especially the venison stew feast with my family of six eating at the dinner table. There are layers of paint and mixed emotions here. I’m also reminded of the cold butcher shop with meat hanging and butchers in their white coats. It all seemed so normal. Today I think of how little I know about where my food comes from and how it is processed. I miss those simpler times of the bakery, milkman, farmer, and the butcher.

@lisabramhill; /Lisa Bramhill Art

Leslie Breault

Family Threads

mixed media collage, 14 3/4" x 18 3/4", 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Unknown Artist, English Teapot and David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

Shared experiences, oral and written accounts, heirlooms, music and food are some of the many threads that make up a family’s history. The English teapot evoked images of recipes passed down through generations, becoming an ancestral food “quilt.” Sea Salt/Lemon Sage informed my color palette. After copying personal family recipes, I dyed the papers with tea, coffee and spices before cutting and arranging them, along with antique fabrics, into a mid 20th century scrap quilt pattern.

@lbreault

FAM SELECTION

Aaron Brodeur

As the Farms Wane

carved TruCast mounted on cradled board, 30" x 36", 2024, $550

inspired by Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern, David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage, and Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

As the Farms Wane alludes to the decline of agriculture and the rapid disappearance of family farms, and how that predicament impacts society. Historically, civilizations grew out of agriculture which enabled the establishment of complex societies. What will happen when the farms vanish? What will be of the farmers and their livelihoods?

@aaron.brodeur_studio

Joseph Cantor

Heirloom Apples

photograph, 11" x 14", 2022, $225

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Over the last few years I have been expanding and challenging my technical skills to broaden my approach to photography. One area of study has been in still life, with an interest and homage to the Dutch Masters still-lives. When I saw Henry George Todd's Study of Strawberries, I was struck by the similar nature of composition and muted colors. What Todd and the Dutch Masters have done in oil, I am attempting to recreate in a photograph.

Brooke Cardwell

Candyland

chalk pastels on paper, 36" x 21.5", 2019, Not For Sale

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

Fast food may not be the first thing someone conjures up when imagining candy, but this work challenges the viewer to consider the food we consume and its effects on our bodies. A candy land has been created using sweet treats and decadent morsels, caught somewhere between enticing and repulsing.

@starbrooke.art

Aldona Casey

Ravished

spray paint and acrylic paint on stretched canvas, 18'' x 24'', 2024, $450

inspired by Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

Walker's piece places an unappetizing meal next to a helpless woman equating her, visually and narratively, to meat. I have created lesbian imagery, a pornographic category devoured by men, as the "meat" of my piece. Walker's character has no autonomy or control as to where the viewer gazes, similarly, the eyes in my piece eat away at the privacy of the characters. I incorporated food into the literal fabric and infrastructure of my piece. The pomegranate carpet suggests sexuality, placed directly under the bed with a bright yellow and red pattern. The pear wallpaper is overbearing, wrapping around the characters.

FAM SELECTION

Maria Cazzato

St. Agatha's Breasts Dissected

hand carved basswood bowls, oil on wood, gold, table sugar, 9" x 9" x 16", 2024, $700

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl and Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

This piece is an interpretation of the story of St. Agatha, a venerated Christian martyr whose breasts were famously ripped off with tongs. Recasting her breasts as bowls of sugar questions the female body as a vessel of martyrdom. This sculpture situates martyrdom in a contemporary context by examining how women are forced to utilize pain to access salvation. By transforming the breast into a vessel for food, the sculpture portrays self-consumption as a form of penance and considers womanhood as a state of cannibalistic devotion. The female body becomes a holy vessel to be dissected, consumed, and torn apart.

@maria.cazzato.art

Ben Cline

Kosher Table

woodworking, 16" x 16" x 30", 2024, $1,495

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

Hand gilded glass "window" set in a hand crafted and distressed frame inspired by the photo West End Meat Market by Jules Aarons. The "window" sets upon a hand crafted cherry side table.

@clinecraft

Christine Croteau

Sugar-Free SimplicitEE

sculpture: found objects , 12” x 12” x 3”, 2024, $175

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

My piece is in response to David Seltzer's Sea Salt/Lemon Sage painting. I enjoy the simplicity of his work and the visceral nature it exudes. I can taste and smell the sea salt and lemon when viewing it. In my piece, Sugar-Free SimplicitEE, I chose to use simple shapes and colors, yet tried to convey a similar visceral experience. I am a person living with Type 1 diabetes, so I had at my disposal plenty of sugar free candy. I found the color, combination and placement of the candy and marble slats echoed Seltzer’s piece nicely.

@croteauchristine

Jessica DeHaemer

Hold the Pickle

handwoven mixed fibers and recycled fabric, 11" x 14", 2024, $375

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Inspired by Henry George Todd’s Study of Strawberries, DeHaemer’s Hold the Pickle is not only a still life, but expands on the themes of creeping decay and our mortality. Hold the Pickle illustrates the delicious, gluttonous feast of a double cheeseburger, while incorporating the symbolic warning of the modern decay of nutritious meals. While our mouths water and we feast on these meals, the overabundance of fats, chemicals, and calories is ultimately leading us to a very unhealthy place.

@LerayjessDesigns

FAM SELECTION

Alice Dillon

Dabey's Apple Pie

quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread , 12" x 26", 2023, Not For Sale

inspired by Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern

We affectionately call my grandmother Dabey, and this is a fully hand-stitched version of her apple pie recipe. At every holiday, we gather around the table, eat ham and lasagna and turkey until we can’t anymore- but there’s always room for a slice of Dabey’s apple pie.

@adillonart

Kristi DiSalle

When Life Gives You Lemons...

acrylic, lemon peel, and wax on canvas, 20" x 30", 2024, $525 (sold)

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Food insecurity is a problem for far too many in our nation and the world, and yet, while people starve, according to the USDA, "food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply." This piece calls attention to the problem of food waste by being made in part of that waste. The colors and composition harken to the pieces from FAM's collection. The theme tells a story of fresh food being used to its full extent.  

@kristileighcreations; @kristileighillustration; /wonderandwhimsy

Maia Dolphin-Krute

Untitled

gum bichromate print (photograph), 24" x 21" (framed), 2023, $800

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and Matt Siber, McDonald's

This series of prints was inspired by the 1903 book The Book of Bread. It was a reference manual for bakeries and featured bread portraits: a series of chromolithographs showing the ideal structure and size of different types of bread. This series features images of homemade breads, reproduced in gum bichromate prints, one of the oldest forms of color photography.

Annie Dubois

The Blue Ladle

acrylic on plywood, 9" x 24", 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Unknown Artist, English Teapot and Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth

The gesture of hands ladling and reaching for food mostly evokes institutional or charity meals. The long stem establishes a physical distance; otherness is inherent to the gesture and the setting.
But in our Andaluz village, where multiple generations randomly gather at her kitchen table and must be fed, the matriarch holds the ladle low on the stem. The utilitarian utensil becomes a vehicle for nurturing and togetherness.

James Dye

Mother Minds the Chickens

dip pen and India ink, 28" x 21", 2024, $4,000

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market, Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran, and Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern

Through the art of storytelling, human kind attempts to understand the universe and divine our place and purpose within it. Our elemental narratives draw from a communal well of primal imagery which forms the basis of a shared subconscious language spoken through our dreams and manifested in our creative expressions. Building upon these foundational archetypes, I create works of the imagination that speak to the human need for narrative while exploring the subjective nature of art and the symbiosis of image and story.

Kate Egnaczak

McMud Meal (Park Picnic)

debris found in Elm Park's mere ponds: take-out container, McDonald's cup, bottle safety ring, waxed bag, single use shopping bags, caution tape, dirty, and leaf litter, mud burger made with Elm Park mud, 12" x 12" x 12", 2024, $300
inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries, Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl, and Matt Siber, McDonald's

One all-mud patty, special "sauce", lettuce, cheese, tomato, served on a plastic bun, with caution tape fries, and an extra large dirt drink. The "extra value" in this recognizable fast food meal is an abrupt reminder of the consumerism that motivates our tastebuds, yet are as nutrient-deficient as mud and trash it is made from. The mud burger patty, baked in the sun, may have the highest nutrient content. It's absurd, yet so close to reality. Ubiquitous, almost ceremonial, vessels in the grab-and-go culture, still muddy from the mere ponds in Elm Park, inspired the culinary creation.

@train_by_living

Madge Evers

Equinox, Oak Spring I

cyanotype and acrylic gesso, 18.5" x 21", 2024, $850

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl and David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

All food begins in the soil. A wild and edible plant, onion grass appears in early spring; online advice about how to eradicate Allium vineale from one’s lawn abounds. Like the Mixteca-Puebla artist Tripod bowl, the work contains comforting patterns and forms that could be interpreted as snake-like. Both works suggest the many connections between all beings in the natural world. Like David Seltzer’s Sea Salt/Lemon Sage archival print, Equinox, Oak Spring I uses a photographic process to present an abstracted version of familiar ingredients.

@_sporeplay

Jakob Fioole

oops

oil on linen, 10" x 8", 2024, $800

inspired by Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth and Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern

Both works I'm responding to show settings from everyday life. People in a scene where food or drink plays a central, joyful role, making it feel familiar.
It inspired me to use food as a disarming layer in my own painting.

@jakobfioole

Melody Fortier

Sacred Cadence of Decay and Genesis

watercolor paint and watercolor pencil on acid free cold pressed paper, 28" x 22" (unframed) 29" x 23" (framed), 2024, $950

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

My painting is a celebration of the rhythm, the cadence if you will, of the life process. Desiccation and decay coexist along side the promise of regeneration that resides in the dried kernels. For me this sacred design of nature is beyond miraculous, I am an avid gardener and my gardens are my sanctuary. I chose to paint a single cob, floating, perhaps ascending, as a nod to the mystery, the power and the divine that is interwoven into this cycle. We cannot exist without it.

 /Artist Melody Fortier

Sharon Freed

Central Part Of Anything

digital photography, 12" x 12", 2019, $350

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market and David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

@sharonfreed

Timothy Gannon

I’ll Grab Dinner

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 35", 2024, $500

inspired by Unknown Artist, English Teapot

@timgannonart

Alana Garrigues

When They Feast, We Eat

acrylic gouache on canvas, 16" x 20", 2023, $875

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market, Matt Siber, McDonald's, and Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Looking at the FAM artwork, I was struck by how separated the act of eating and feasting was from the environment and the way our food grows. The study of strawberries looked the most wholesome and brightly colored, and I thought of the pollinators and land necessary to grow them. In my own garden, I plant a floral feast to attract and entertain bees and butterflies so I may eat. This is in stark contrast to the cold industrial McDonald's sign. Butterflies and bees as symbols of migration and workers, "they" is also a political call for equitable human rights.

@alanaofloveandlight

John Garton

Empty Pilsners

oil on gesso panel, 15" x 20", 2024, $800

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries, Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern, and Matt Siber, McDonald's

In setting up and painting the still life Empty Pilsners, I drew inspiration from Henry George Todd’s Study of Strawberries and Adriaen van Ostade’s Company in a Tavern. Rather than ripe berries, I selected tumbling empty glasses, but set up and painted in a theme of vanitas painting. A cool emptiness prevails. The Dutch etching celebrates companions in a tavern, but my image captures the stillness of drinking glasses afterwards.

Leonard Gerwick

The Red Table

acrylic on canvas, 24.5" x 29.5", 2020, $500

inspired by Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth

Jeri Gillin

Pass the Cotton Candy

Saori style weaving, 30" x 31" (plus fringe), 2024, $175

inspired by Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth

Can anything bring more joy than cotton candy at a long-awaited summer fair? The faces of the children speak of their delight and of their eagerness to sample the ethereal treat; looking carefully, I continue to be intrigued by the fact that regardless of ethnicity, only males are visible in the photograph.
A variety of yarns were used to represent the diverse faces in the photograph. While the pink of the cotton candy is implied in the monochromatic image, it came to life in my weaving. Unspun roving is used to represent the wispy nature of the confection.

Francine Gintoff

POTUS

acrylic paint on silk dress, 56" x 18", 2020, $450

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

This dress is 1 in a series of 65 dresses that reference a particular person through a painted symbol. The name of the person is on the hanger. The piece connects to Matt Siber's McDonald's C-Print. It is a painting of a Big Mac.

John Gintoff

Frookty

inkjet print collage, 36" x 24", 2024, $1,500

inspired by Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

These images are part of an ongoing exploration that I have been conducting for the past two years. Originally the marks were randomly drawn over the collages employing different colors, widths, and transparencies responding to the shapes beneath them.

After dabbling with this procedure, I decided to do a series of images which were loosely based on A Clockwork Orange. In these images I decided that the title of the image which had been predetermined would be written over the image using the above technique. In this way the image’s title would become an actual part of the image.

FAM SELECTION

Henry Glennon

Fraises et Fixatifs

oil on canvas, not varnished, 12" x 12" x 1/2", 2024, $200

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

A still life inspired by Study of Strawberries by Henry George Todd. That Henry added touches of blight to the plants' leaves to represent mortality. This Henry added some of the most poisonous chemicals he had lying around to the composition, with the same intent. He then ate the strawberries, so as not to be wasteful.

Robert Grady

English Teapot and Biplanes

oil on linen, 36" x 36", 2023, Not For Sale

inspired by Unknown Artist, English Teapot

While the teapot in the Fitchburg art collection is thought of as an object of luxury, the English teapot in this still life speaks about war and deprivations during war time. The pastoral theme on the teapot contrasts to the weapons of war on the tea towel.
The teapot is empty, reflecting the grim realities of wartime - lack of food, absence of luxury and disruption of routine, such as quiet tea times.

Deborah Griffin

Strawberries

acrylic paint on paper, 11" x 15", 2024, $200 (sold)

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Finding my way back to being an artist who is viewed rather than an artist who only makes in private. I am an acrylic paint artist who enjoys abstracting pop culture into precise geometric paintings on paper breaking down objects and imagery into their representative colors. Upon viewing the works from the Fitchburg Art Museum, I was immediately drawn to Henry George Todd's Study of Strawberries. The colors seemed to perfectly fit with my idea of fresh wild strawberries. They looked too delicious to not try my own study.

@iamdgcreates

Samantha Hansen

Dessert

acrylic paint and paint marker, 8" x 10", 2024, $100 (sold)

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries and Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

This piece was inspired by Justin Walker's Daddy Bruce and Henry George Todd's Study of Strawberries. It combines the concept of commercial appetite from the former, with subtly deteriorating strawberries from the latter. What can initially appear delectable may really be rotting-which is an aspect of (and problem with) our society's excessive consumerism. We have all been reduced to a meal meant to be devoured.

@Femmegremlin.art

Meaghan Hardy-Lavoie

amuse-bouche

digital inkjet print, 11" x 14", 2024, $300

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries, Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce, and David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

Taking inspiration from Justin Walker’s photograph, amuse-bouche is a conceptual still-life, meant to challenge the conventional perception of ‘Feast’. It invites the viewer to examine the ideas of nourishment and pleasure which can both aim to satisfy various tastes and desires. Highlighting the juxtaposition between physical sustenance and corporeal sensuality, here a feast can also represent the fulfillment of desires, the satisfaction of cravings, and the enjoyment of life's pleasures.

@meg.does.things

Lisa Hayden

Plate Collection

acrylic on canvas , 12” x 12” x 1.5", 2024, $475

inspired by Unknown Artist, English Teapot and Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

People have always liked to collect plates and bowls, and as the English Teapot shows we have also always liked to show them off. My painting is on a square canvas to indicate the modern way of showing off our collections on social media.

@meltedtheory

Nikki Howland

Three Sisters Rattle

dried pumpkin gourd, wood burning and water based markers, willow and lilac branches, twine, leather, beans and dried corn, 10” x 5” x 5”, 2023/24, $320

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

Indigenous objects and myths fascinate me which is why I chose the Tripod Bowl as my inspiration. The Native legend of the “Three Sisters'' tells of squash, beans and corn - gifts from the Sky God. These three vegetables were not only a nutritious source of food, it is also a successful planting technique that is still practiced today. These three plants thrive when planted together. Inside the gourd are dried beans and corn; a ceremonial object of ritual expressing the magical gift of the three sisters.

@nikkihowland

Elijah Johnson

Cows

acrylic on teabag, 6 1/2” x 8 1/2”, 2022, $200

inspired by  Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran, Unknown Artist, English Teapot, and Matt Siber, McDonald's

The importance of cows in our culture is immeasurable. Where would we be without cows and their big, beautiful eyes? So add a splash of milk to your breakfast tea, grab an ice cream and say a hearty “thank you” to cows, we salute you.

Timothy Johnson

Daily Dose

photograph (archival inkjet print), 14" x 14" (unframed), 20 1/4" x 20 1/4" (framed), 2023, $450

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

When I am preparing meals, I habitually put the fruit/vegetable sticker on the kitchen cupboard door above my work space, in the same spot, making a little stack. Every six months or so the stack falls off from accumulated weight, and I just set it aside. The stacks are curious little objects - colorful and funny. They also make me think about the larger implications of what it takes for me, or anyone, to have access to fresh fruit and vegetables on a daily basis. My image is of ten years worth of these stickers (2013-2023).

Matthew Kamholtz

Cattle Crossing, Nogales, AZ, 2018

digital photograph, archival pigment print, 20" x 26", 2018, $850

inspired by Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

In peak season, over 1,500 cattle cross daily at Nogales from Mexico into the United States for slaughter. Migrants will often cross through the same gate.

@mkamholtz

Fiona Kennedy

Life of a Strawberry

painted paper collage, 20" x 20", 2024, $400

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

I created this piece in response to Henry George Todd’s Study of Strawberries. Todd’s painting was meant to show some disease or decay on the berries noting mortality, our own mortality. I used heavily painted papers and carefully selected color palette to demonstrate not only the vibrant fresh fruit but also a traitorous decay that will eventually take over the berry.

@fionakennedy.art

Patricia King

Folded Strawberry

hardcover book, colored pencil, 8.5" x 5" x 5.5", 2024, $125

Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Unlike the creeping decay in the Study of Strawberries, my strawberry springs to life from the pages of a discarded book.

Christopher King

Raspberry Chenille/Macrame Button Drizzle

macrame with nylon cord and buttons attached to a woven rayon chenille panel, 25” x 12”, 2024, $300

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

I am inspired to make “tasty art” by Sea Salt/Lemon Sage, “… inviting the viewer to yield to sensory stimulation.” From secondhand, stash-house chenille yarn, I found a thick, sherbet raspberry weft and wove it into a multicolored warp to create the base layer.
I decorated with two strands of macrame button drizzle, one with a spiraling half knot, the other with a four strand braid, both with inherited buttons. A dragon shape can be seen in some orientations.
Functionally a table runner, this weaving brings joy to the table, inviting the diner to sample visually and through touch.  

@kingchrisg

Oleksii Kradetskyi

Boston 1948 - 2024. Rivka, Naka, Joel

oil on canvas, 24” x 30”, 2024, $660

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

 A 1950s urban renewal project razed a large Italian and Jewish enclave and displaced over 20,000 people in order to redevelop much of the West End.

Teresa Lamacchia

Deconstructed Teapot

acrylic paint and paper collage on canvas, 14" x 14", 2024, $175

inspired by Unknown Artist, English Teapot

The original is a small, delicately glazed teapot with Chinese influenced designs and a handmade twisted handle for pouring. Tea served from this pot is an elegant experience. The painting, however, mercilessly deconstructs the pot. The orange motifs from the glaze are now loosely applied, dripping brushstrokes of background color. The pot itself has been sliced into ascending bands of disconnected strips. There is a shadowy outline of the original pot.

Walter Landry

Adam's Apple

drawing and mixed media, 16" x 20", 2023, Not For Sale

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

In my still life drawings I arrange and illuminate commonplace objects to suggest poetic narratives.

Michele LeMaitre

Black Tea, Poured

2D interactive sculptural mixed media, 12" x 12", 2023, $540

inspired by unknown Artist, English Teapot

Water is the base element used to brew tea. Once poured, the tea water flows from the tea pot into the cup, creating swirls and reflections, which change in color depending on the tea water's movement and surrounding light.

This piece is an observation of the tea water's surface movement and light, within the cup of Black Tea, Poured. The viewer is invited to move from side to side, and up and down, to experience the colors changing on the tea water's surface.  

@the_water_artist; /MicheleLeMaitreArt

Marybeth Lensel

Potluck

mixed media, 12" x 3" x 12", 2024, $350

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

Potluck: Everyone is invited but what do you choose to bring to the table. There is more than food at a feast, we bring ourselves & make decisions on what to share. Like symbols, we are perceived in multiple ways through the eyes of others.  

@mlsomewhere

Ted Lilley

Place Setting

micro-cracked glass vessels, 15" x 15", 2020, Not For Sale

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

I have worked with glass art for a number of years but rarely showed it. From my professional materials science back ground I have had an interest in the fracture of brittle materials especially high tech ceramics. That work was to understand the failure of the ceramic. Glass fracture is more interesting than ceramic fracture because crack branching occurs in glass leading to numerous fracture lines. This is demonstrated in the micro-fracture of the repurposed vessels shown here.

 https://tedlilleystudio.com/

Madeleine Lord

No More Dinner

photograph, 18" x 18", 2019, $300

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

Plates, forks spoons should be on the table to serve the dinner, not abandoned in the mud. This is the antithesis of Feast, implying the end of a kitchen and family that would gather there. The empty ceremonial tripod bowl, Mixteca-Pueblo was used to invoke a prayer for plenty and gratitude when it occurred. The decorations on the stems of the forks and spoons elevated their daily utility. David Seltzer’s Sea Salt/Lemon Sage illustrates the memory of favorite food. Dinnerware abandoned to puddles still holds memory of diners once all connected sharing a meal.

@madeleinelordmadimetal

B. Lynch

Waiting

paper, wire, foil, paint, cardboard, 13" x 8" x 6", 2019-2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market, Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl, and Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

Waiting is a tableau, the elderly man sits with his bowl/pot awaiting the finishing of the cooked fish on the coals. His surroundings are bleak. The graffiti and uncomfortable seating signal his lack of agency. No comfy cheerful kitchen for him. The tripod cooking pot, the waiting and watchfulness of the West End Meat Market and the rough utility of Loading Cattle all spoke to me as I created this tableau.  

@blynchstudioart

Ashley MacLure

Bone and Paper

stoneware, glaze, 12 " x 12 " (both bowls), 2022, $500

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl and Unknown Artist, English Teapot

My mother’s “safe foods” were meat and chocolate ice cream. It wasn’t until I got older that I heard her vomiting at night in her bedroom. She used newspaper delivery bags– the long skinny ones that hold papers– then tied them in a knot and left them beside her bed filled with whatever she ate that day. I don’t remember the meals, or my mom’s weight, but the feeling of helplessness. Her bones, and the paper bags. These tea bowls are sharp, jagged like bones, inky like newspaper. My mealtime ritual.  

@ashley.maclure

Caterina Maina

Hairy Fruit

archival inkjet print from 4x5 large format color negative, 16" x 20", 2023, $800

inspired by Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce and Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Hairy Fruit came about while thinking about how still lives of fruit have often been used to depict or suggest the female form, sensuality, and the reproductive system. Using the hair I shaved off my head two years prior, I wanted to connect it to body hair. As in Henry George Todd's Study of Strawberries, the brown discoloration disrupts/questions the beauty of the strawberries, as does the hair in my image. I use food in connection with the female form, even though no form is present in my work, which evokes Justin Walker's Daddy Bruce.

 @4x5junkie

Jillian Masi

January Harvest

oil on canvas, 9" x 12", 2024, $450

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Inspired by Henry George Todd’s Study of Strawberries, this piece shows strawberries in the way most people today experience “gathering” them: that is, at the grocery store, stacked neatly in near identical, glimmering plastic packages. While Todd’s piece hints at diseases which would taint an already limited fruiting season, January Harvest seeks to make the viewer consider their detachment from modern food production, what fruit may be "in season", and the plentiful availability of fresh produce year round that the average American might take for granted.

@jmasi_art

Rebecca McGee Tuck

The Day After

collected sea debris: netting from a beach game, wood from a beach chair, and blue foam from exploded fireworks, 36” x 26" x 4", 2023, $1,500

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

The Day After is crafted from remnants of exploded fireworks collected from the beach on July 5th, following Fourth of July celebrations. Inspired by Henry George Todd's exploration of symbolism and decay, I reflect on the allure of fireworks juxtaposed with aftermaths of pollution on coastlines. Like Todd's still-life, which contrasts ripe fruit with decaying disease, my sculpture juxtaposes the beauty of fireworks with inevitable consequences of human activity. The transformation of discarded materials into a cornucopia is a stark reminder of our impact on the environment and the fleeting nature of existence, particularly the ocean's vulnerability to our actions.

@rebeccabombshellart

Anne McNevin

The Recipe Club

photomontage printed on Hahnemuhle photo rag metallic glossy fine art paper, 22" x 27", 2024, $350

inspired by Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

Responding to Walker’s vision of taste and appetite in Daddy Bruce I layered photos of Jill Watts preparing bread with scans of recipes from a cook book prepared by my friend Cindy Braun before she died. Well worn covers of old books provided a background. Contrasting the disembodied young woman’s legs in Daddy Bruce, Jill’s arms surround a mixing bowl while making bread. Rather than Walker’s dehumanized objectification of appetite and taste, these women's culinary creations provide sustenance to others. Cindy was young, Jill is not, both are well aware of the power of good food.

 https://www.adiamondmcnevinphoto.com/

Parker Milgram

Chameleon Eating a Banana

Photoshop and royalty free sound effects sourced from Pixabay, 00:00:12, 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth

Chameleon Eating A Banana stars Edna, an original character I developed for a picture book. While working on this animation, I explored Edna’s emotional arc as she finds and consumes one of her favorite treats–a banana.

She goes through many stages: The craving for a banana, the excitement of finding a banana, the anticipation of eating a banana, the gulping down of a banana and, finally, the satisfaction of having consumed said banana. It’s interesting for me to see how Edna’s body shape and scale pattern changes depending on her current mood and thoughts.

@parkermilgram

Evan Morse

Checkout, Star Market

Hydrocal plaster, pigment, 18" x 16" x 2", 2018, $750
inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market and Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern

This relief sculpture shows an everyday scene of someone in the checkout of a supermarket. Part of my interest with this scene is that it brings to mind our relationship with our food sources. Most Americans are very removed from food production, and at the supermarket you can purchase a vast variety of food, some from distant places. This piece especially relates to West End Meat Market and Company in a Tavern because of the quotidian subject matter and how it is a record of a certain cultural place and time.

@morsesculpture

Eric Nichols

Summer Dinner

2020, archival inkjet print, 11" x 14", 2020, $250

inspired by Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern, Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth, and Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

During the summer of 2020 our collective worlds began to contract as we settled into a more isolated life as the COVID-19 pandemic surged across the world. The photos in this series of images are from my part of a larger body of work made in collaboration with my wife and fellow artist Brittany Severance. Brittany and I turned our cameras on each other to explore how we see ourselves and each other as we navigated our time in near isolation.

Scott Niemi

Celebration

acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 36" x 36" x 1.5" , 2023, $975

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

Celebration is inspired by the Tripod Bowl ceramic piece. I've long been intrigued and inspired by the decorative and symbolic qualities represented in Aztec and other Mesoamerican peoples work. The abstract looking design on the bowl is structured, but it also represents chaos. The idea that the vessel was presumably one used for offerings of food/drink inspired me to work on my piece with the idea of a celebration in mind. I also like the suggestiveness of the Tripod Bowl alluding to snake heads, as in the feet, since I typically infuse my work with human and animal references/symbols.

@Scott-Niemi-Art

Carrie Nixon

The Fluffernutter, State Sandwich of Massachusetts

oil on mylar, 36" x 30", 2024, $750

inspired by Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth and Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

This painting of a Fluffernutter-invented in Massachusetts in 1917-responds to two images from the Fitchburg Art Museum. It connects to Henry George Todd’s Study of Strawberries, engaging the theme of Vanitas, with the drippy Fluffernutter and the berries as metaphors for the fragility and brevity of life. It also links to Charles “Teenie” Harris’ photo of the eager children anticipating cotton candy; the Fluffernutter and the cotton candy are sugary treats that many of us crave even though they are slightly “sinful.” Hence, this painting is a commentary on sensual desire.

@carrienixonart

Karen Nunley

Rice Bowls

collage, acrylic, ink, pastel on paper, 22 1/2" x 18" (unframed) 31" x 25" (framed), 2024, $900

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl and Unknown Artist, English Teapot

Viewing the Mixteca-Puebla tripod bowl, I knew my piece would be about vessels. Vessels to hold food and drink range from plain utilitarian bowls to Fitchburg’s ornate English teapot. The teapot and design inside the bowl pushed me to include patterning. As I worked, an Asian theme developed, probably influenced by the Chinese pattern on the teapot, and rice bowls emerged. I liked this idea, as over half of the world’s population depends on rice as a staple in their diet. I am fortunate not only to own several rice bowls, but also to have enough food to fill them.  

@kmcnun

FAM SELECTION

Kat O'Connor

Returns

acrylic on paper, 30" x 22 5/8", 2023, $3,500,

Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market and Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

Why the fascination with painting (or photographing) dead things? I'm not exactly sure, but historically speaking, artists paint form and beauty. Think of the Marco d'Agrate sculpture of St. Bartholomew. For me that has always been about studying the structure and anatomy of the human form. Returns feels almost religious to me. I was inspired by the Blue Fish so common on the shores of Cape Cod. Fisherman discard the heads and take the body to eat, much the way the chickens of Jules Aarons’ West End Meat Market hang headless and ready for the dinner table.

@katopaints

Melissa Parent

Blood, Sweat, & Tears

mixed media collage, with acrylic, watercolor, embroidery, 20" x 24", 2024, $750

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries, Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce, and unknown Artist, English Teapot

Blood, Sweat, & Tears, is a piece that reflects both the vibrant, luscious aspect of food as well as the darker mystery about how it gets to our plates. When presenting food and consuming food, there is a sensual nature present. We eat with our eyes, we lust after our food. Often we forget how much labor it involves. Pests, rot, disease, injuries, dirt all accompany the harvest, then again in the kitchen, creating and recipe writing. Love and heartbreak come into play, passing down family recipes, trying new things or failing, as we strive for perfection and illusion.

@mparent_art

Kristin Parone

Fruit Feast

acrylic gouache, 18" x 24", 2024, $625

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries and unknown Artist, English Teapot

The word ‘feast’ often conjures images of carnivorous platters of meats. As a vegetarian, my mind goes toward juicy succulent fruits. The egg cup depicts a rooster, yet he is not on the menu. The table-scape still life is also meant to be a feast for the eyes with busy fabric tablecloth and a floral bouquet including a large orange to represent the unexpected representation to the theme. Oranges are everywhere in this scene! The tea represents community, conversation, and connection.

@kristinparoneart

Abraham Passmore

The Old Man and the River

oil and Casein on gesso board, 16" x 24", 2024, $1,000

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market, Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth, and Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern

When I saw the loan and the sense of community around food, especially in West End Meat Market and Cotton Candy Booth it made me think of fishing with my grandfather and the my father in law made the perfect model for capturing the feeling of a providing father figure. For me the theme of Feast is a theme of family and connections that food can foster.

@abe_paints

Stephen Paulson

Feast or Famine

oak burl, 20” x 16” x 9”, 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

An empty bowl can symbolize the times of plenty, past and future, or the times of scarcity that may be now; the anticipation of an abundant harvest or the preparation for a feast.  

@stephenpaulson48

Anju Pillai

Consumerist Bliss

acrylics and collage on panel, 18” x 22", 2024, $500

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

In Consumerist Bliss I invite the audiences to a vibrant tableau brimming with brand logos. The central figure, captured mid-leap, in ecstatic celebration embodies the joy found in the choices afforded by consumer-driven society. The artwork is a critique of the advertising industry's power over our culinary desires, calling to mind the same themes as Matt Siber's McDonald’s. The blue web that cradles each logo represents the pervasive network of consumerism that traps as much as it supports, offering a nuanced commentary on the complexities of our relationship with corporate branding and the allure of endless choice.

@artaesthetics_by_anju_pillai

Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui

Loss of Innocence

35mm photograph printed on inkjet paper, 8" x 10", 2022, $300

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries and Matt Siber, McDonald's

According to the Diamond Sutra, awakening is the first step in cutting through the illusion of reality on the path to nirvana. I came into adulthood in the US and only after having emigrated did I realize the capitalist constructs that had dictated my drive for material wealth and success that had originally fueled my desperate need to escape the small world I had begun to feel trapped by. Loss of Innocence portrays this adolescent awakening as I began to piece together the true weight of having left everything I had known behind and the indifference of a capitalist world.

@gyani13wasp

Carolyn Quirk

Plenty

ink, acrylic, and glass, 6" x 8", 2023, $500

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage

The title of this abstracted piece is Plenty, and it’s an abstract version of an abundance of fresh oranges, blueberries and lemons using light. I looked at Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and it brought back a lot of good memories and inspired me to make this piece.

Pamela Redick

Noodle Place Nighthawks

acrylic on wood panel, 8" x 16", 2019, $850

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market and Matt Siber, McDonald's

In the winter of 2019 while working on a photography challenge I found and photographed this place in Newport Rhode Island. The mood of it inspired me to paint it. I would not have noticed the place if I were looking for subjects to paint. It relates to the commercial establishment in the Jules Aarons photograph. It is a gathering place not in the fancy part of town populated by locals with the fast food vibe of Matt Siber's McDonald's.

A. Reid

Worcester Mammoth Horticultural Bean

ink on paper, 12.25" x 15.5" (framed), 2022, Not For Sale

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Seed packet illustration for the Worcester Mammoth Horticultural Bean. Introduced in 1890's New England seed catalogs as a productive and popular pole bean for market growers, the fawn-colored, cranberry-spotted Worcester Mammoth fell to mid-20th-century agricultural standardization. During its heyday, the Worcester-based Ross Bros. seed catalog touted it as: “The Largest Bean, The Longest Keeper, The Brightest Pod, The Most Productive.” The Worcester Mammoth was banked by farmer John Withee in the 1970s as part of his bean seed collection, which was transferred to Seed Savers Exchange in 1981. Farmer Jen Burt has been growing the Worcester Mammoth since 2021.

Karen Reid,

Onions On The Sill

oil on panel, 11" x 14", 2024, $650

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

This painting is a an exercise in observation, a still life created in my studio. I feel personally drawn to go back to my core skills of painting light. These onions take on their own personalities and energies that truly come through by the art of seeing. A true joy for me. Henry George Todd's Study of Strawberries encouraged and inspired me to go back to creating work that stimulates my experience in painting from life.

R. Douglass Rice

Behind the Glass

mixed media photocollage on found window, 26 5/8" x 16 1/4", 2024, $1,500

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

At the turn of the century, people knew from where their food came. Today, not so much. I currently cook twice a week in a local meal center. I have also visited, farms, orchards, fishing docks and my friend's meat processing plant. He has a hundred head of grass fed cattle. I accompanied him to his processing plant and took over fifty photographs of hanging sides of beef. Inspired by Soutine, I have created eleven 56"x 46" paintings of sides of beef in oil on canvas. Some photos of these paintings are incorporated into the photo collage.

@r_d_rice; /R. Douglass Rice

John Rizzo

Anthem, Green, Central Market, Lone Butcher

photography , 17" x 18", $450

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market and Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

Documenting the streets and markets of Europe is a passion of mine, making images is my vocation. I look to capture the unusual, funny, moments and romance that unfolds before my eyes as I walk and observe - as a cat burglar might looking for the right window. In my case, it is looking for the photographable moment or action.  

Ann Rosebrooks

Mason's Picnic II

acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16", 2023, $300

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

Painted from memory and imagination of a weekly, Mason's picnic event.

Jessica Sadlier

Eye Candy

sculptural freestanding thread stitchwork on painted stretched canvas, 8" x 8", 2024, $250

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth

This piece is a feast for the eyes with its variety of texture and color. From a distance, the gradated palette of pink threads and the linear painted background seem simple and clean, but upon closer inspection they work together to focus attention on the swirling elements. There is a surprising abundance of contours and shapes that appear as the viewer moves around.

@jhsdesignstudio

John Wesley Small

Takeout

oil on stretched canvas, 16” x 20”, 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

@john.wesley.small

Emmy Smela

Allison, on Break

Ilford HP5 film, inkjet photo, 20" x 24", 2021, $500

inspired by Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran and Matt Siber, McDonald's

Emmy has worked in the agricultural field for ten years now, and has spent much of that time photographing her coworkers. She has seen the incredibly long days farmers put into their craft, and still watches them struggle to pay rent and support themselves in this field. That being said, every year they come back for more. It is through the joy of watching the cycle of growth and rebirth every season that keeps these farmers sane. In this photo we see Allison, covered in soil, tired to the bone, wondering how many more years she can keep going.  

@smallsights.photography

FAM SELECTION

Catherine Smith

Porcelain Big Mac

porcelain, 8" x 10" x 4", 2024, $100 (sold)

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

Chinese culture gave the world porcelain.
American culture gave the world the Big Mac.
Matt Siber’s manipulated photograph of a so familiar McDonald’s sign, which appears to be floating in a radiant blue sky, critiques by asking the viewer to consume the graphics without the allure offered by hyper-yummy, corporately engineered, fast food. Whether we are employees, customers or critics, few of us have escaped internalizing multiple opinions about the company that employs the second-largest private workforce in the world. This piece is a reminder that we love and elevate so many things that are not so good for us.  

@Catesmith.art

Edwin Smith

Seeing is believing. Believing is seeing.

digital photography on paper, 12" x 15", 2024, $250

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

Your eye creates an expectation for your experience, with food, the visual presentation is critical.
Conversely, your experience determines what you see. Believing is Seeing.

Theresa Spadafora

Melting Glacier Popsicle

encaustic and collage on wood panel, 12" x 12" x 1.5", 2024, $450

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Like the fruit in Henry George Todd’s Study of Strawberries, my relief painting of a frozen treat may seem appetizing at first glance. As Study of Strawberries includes a symbol of our own mortality, my popsicle, juxtaposed with glaciers, uses humor, (although not Good Humor), to reminder us of an existential issue of our time, global warming. As David Seltzer uses sensory stimulation in Sea Salt/Lemon Sage, I use blackberry scented melted wax, to stir up pleasing memories. But, the message revealed by the title and the background image suggests something that conflicts with any sense of pleasure.  

@tracyspadafora; /tracy.spadafora

Karen Stokke

Why Cinderella Really Fled the Ball

epinephrine injection trainer, edible dried flowers, foam pumpkin decoupaged with paper napkin and acrylic, found materials, wooden drawer, 3.75" x 7" x 5.5", 2024, $100

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries and Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

For people with severe food allergies, every dietary choice must be made with an awareness of one’s own mortality, mirroring the juxtaposition of allure and decay in Todd’s Study of Strawberries. Walker’s visual of thighs and heels evoked an image of epinephrine being injected into a person’s thigh during an allergic reaction, with urgency for medical attention before the epinephrine wears off not unlike Cinderella’s race against the clock. Lastly, just as Walker’s piece conveys taste as “in the mind,” people with food allergies have social and psychological considerations, such as wanting to escape a situation where they feel unsafe. This piece is dedicated to food allergy victims and sufferers, their families, and emergency medical workers.

Suzanne Stumpf

Raku Tripod Vessel

porcelain, 4” x 8” , 2019, Not For Sale

inspired by Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

Raku work dates back to the 1500's and is held in high esteem for Japanese rituals such as tea ceremonies. The crazing/crackling that evolves through the intense firing and cooling process is unique from vessel to vessel. Its unpredictability is evocative of mysterious messages.

@suzannestumpf

Susan Swinand

Spicy

cinnamon, black pepper, chili powder, turmeric, salt, cumin, poppy seed, collage, acrylic medium, pencil on canvas, 8" x 8", 2024, $450

inspired by David Seltzer, Sea Salt/Lemon Sage and Charles "Teenie" Harris, Cotton Candy Booth

I started with the idea of a hungry mouth, but the drawing evolved into abstract shapes that relate to eating. I was influenced by the humor and appetite depicted in Cotton Candy Booth by Charlie "Teenie" Harris. I was also inspired by the geometric, salt piece by David Seltzer and was curious to see what colors and textures I could get out of the spices. I wanted a simple, sensory, spicy, humorous image.

@sswinand; /Susan Mc Briarty Swinand

Morgan Tartakoff

The Catch

multi-block linoleum print with thread , 7" x 12", 2024, $250

inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

Jules Aarons’ West End Meat Market line of chickens immediately reminded me of stings of fish and of the famous saying “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” But today, there’s a catch to eating your catch. Mercury and PCBs from years ago still remain in MA fresh water aquatic life. What once was a means of providing a feast for your family is no longer a safe option. It may fill the belly but will poison the brain.  

@LittlePebblePrintshop

Cathy Taylor

Feast or Famine

archival inkjet print , 11" x 14", 2024, $200

inspired by Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

The collage brings up the question about who exactly is invited to the feast, and who exactly gets to attend the lavish banquet. While some may be sitting down ready to begin their many courses of sumptuous food, others are fighting the beast of hunger as it marks its next victim. The have’s and the have-nots are increasingly evident on our globe today. Native Americans starved to death when cattle replaced the great buffalo. Buffalo meat is sustainable, healthy, and important to the culture of the people of the Great Plains.

/Cathy Taylor

Pamela Taylor

Goals

gouache on paper, 7" x 9.5" (unframed) 15" x 17" (framed), 2023, $400

 inspired by Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market

Sarah Thompson

Feast Your Eyes (Burger and Skies)

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20", 2024, $600

inspired by Matt Siber, McDonald's

Feast Your Eyes (Burger and Skies) is a piece created in response to Matt Siber’s McDonald’s print from his Floating Logos series.
Siber’s image of familiar fast food signage suspended against a brilliant sky evokes a phenomenon I love—a dramatic sunset or cloud scape as a backdrop over a corporate parking lot. When we stop for an errand or a quick bite, we also have the opportunity to take in a feast for the eyes. A fiery sunset over a McDonald’s is nature’s glorious rebellion: an invitation to slow down and enjoy it, even in a fast food environment.

@sarah.thompson.artwork

Winifred Tickner

Feast Because of Farms and Farmers

painting and small objects, 14.5" x 11.5" x 2", 2024, $200

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

Using mixed media and small objects.

Francis Warner

Company in a Bakery

acrylic on panel, 17" x 22", 2024, $850

inspired by Adriaen van Ostade, Company in a Tavern

A surreal interpretation of Adrian von Ostade's image, incorporating sweets found locally, and through current social gatherings.

Jill Watts

Raccoons

collage, paper, ink, crayon, Yes paste on Ampersand board, 14" X 11", 2023, $850

inspired by Paul Quain, Loading Cattle, Aran

Loading Cattle, Aran, became something of a negative inspiration for my submission to this show. I realized I wanted to celebrate animals having a feast instead of being a feast. As a feeder of feral cats, I often end up hosting other animals who come to feast on cat food. A family of raccoons discovered my porch and the cat door thus, at times, have gotten more than the cats.

https://jillwattsart.wordpress.com/

David Wesley White

You can obliterate a watermelon, but the seeds still grow

papier mâché, dye, acrylic paint, super-gloss topcoat, watermelon seeds, plastic sprouts, and juicy watermelon fragrance oil, 15" x 15" x 9", 2024, Not For Sale

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

In the vein of still life, a ripe display of fruit is rendered in visceral detail. While the strawberries in Todd’s painting subtly allude to the fragility of life, White’s sculpture confronts the viewer with a stark depiction of violent dissolution. Although the shredded flesh of the fruit is barbaric and hopeless, the inclusion of sprouting seeds points to resilience and new life.

@davidweswhite

Yihong Zhou

Rabbit (Ragu)

ink and pigment on Xuān paper, 19" x 36", 2023, Not For Sale

inspired by Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries, Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market, and Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl

Cooking is akin to alchemy - we gather things together and harmonize to create a meal. Inspired by the Mixtec Tripod Bowl used for both food and ritual, this painting shows the base components before their transmutation into a pot of ragu. It is painted in the style of Chinese 国画 (guó huà), but borrows composition from Todd's Study of Strawberries. The choice to depict the recognizable rabbit carcass is inspired by Aaron's West End Meat Market and 1990's 武汉 (Wǔhàn) where regularly visiting the market familiarized me to the realities of slaughtering living things for meat.

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