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Nava medio bLoyie
presents food for thought

» Explores themes of consumption and art history

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor
Marts
@theotherpress.ca

 

et ready for a feast as the

presents Nicola Tibbetts’ Foods
Behaving Strangely, which runs
until February 14. The gallery
walls are adorned with four

food-related paintings

that Tibbetts describes as

her “stories, photographs,

memories, and groceries.”
The Other Press spoke

with Tibbetts about her work,

her fascination with food art,

and what she hopes Douglas

College students will enjoy in

this exhibit.

Could you describe how you
created one of your food
paintings?

[Tibbetts chose the piece
The Feast: The Remains|

This is the final painting in
a series of four that document

: a feast from beginning to end.
: In this one, the feast has been

: consumed and your'e sort of

: getting an idea of the excess

: that went on during the feast,

: although it doesn’t look totally
Amelia Douglas Art Gallery : 8totesque because all the

: objects are uniquely portioned.
: There’s not a whole lot of gross
: dripping and what a pile of

: used food would actually look
series of realistic and fantastical : like. It's more pleasant than

: that. I wanted to get across

: that idea of overconsumption,

: eating, and excess, but also still
: think it kind of beautiful and

: interesting to look at.

How did you decide which
: foods to include in the
: painting?

This is the last one I

: painted [in the series] and I had
: these three [other paintings]

: as a reference for some object

: that I wanted to include. Like,

: | havea black forest cake in

: [the third painting] and then I

: also included black forest cake

: in this one. I was painting my

: lunch, dinner, and breakfast

 

: throughout the course of a

: couple weeks in order to get

: piles in here. There’s oatmeal

: inthe morning and then

: there’s bean soup here. I was

: working just with things that

: I was eating but also working

: off of the other objects that I

: had included in the other feast
: paintings.

I wanted them to bean

: equal distribution of meats

: and other foods because in the
: medieval feasting tradition,

: which is sort of my inspiration

: for the work, meat was sucha

: big part of the food culture. I

: also wanted to include some

: objects that one would use in

: preparing the food and also

: to eat the food with, so that’s

: why I have the used dishes up

: top. And then throughout the

: series as well there appeared

: some references to art history,

: like the lemon peel for example
: I directly took out of an art

: history book idea from the 17th
century.

Seen something worth sharing?
Contact: Chery! Minns, Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

www. theotherpress.ca

: Do you have a favourite food
: that you like to paint?

I really love painting meat.

: lama vegetarian, but I do love
: painting meat because I love

: any food that has a saturated

: colour and texture and if it

: can have deep detail like meat
: does. I’ve always kind of been

: fascinated by meat aesthetically :
: because it comes in all different : food. Food, first of all, isa
: colours of reds and pinks,

: and there’s fine lines from the

: muscle, and then there’s a little
: bit of bone, and sometimes a

: little bit purple or bloody or

: white from the fat. So I have to
: say, I do like painting meat.

: Are there any other favourite
: foods that you like to paint? :
: It’s also really pleasurable to :
: paint something like a beautiful :
: desert because they're just :
: so pretty. I went toa French

: bakeryandI picked upthese —:
: little miniature French desserts :
: and they’re really fun to paint:
: because they’re just so delicate
and beautiful.

* + \’

Seen

Pies ot #5

 

Nicola Tibbetts // By Cheryl Minns

: How do you think your
: art will appeal to college
: students?

One thing I try to achieve

: is to have my work accessible

: to many different groups

: of people. I think there's

: something that children could
: enjoy in this work because it’s

bright and it’s big and there’s

: subject that everyone can get

: something out of. University

: students, I think that they

: could begin to understand

: some of the depth that’s in the
: work, like the historical depth
: and some of the technical

: things that are going on in the
: work.

To learn more about
Tibbetts’ work, visit
her website at www.
nicolatibbetts.com

Foods Behaving Strangely
Nicola Tibbetts

Amelia Douglas Art Gallery
Now - February 14