A year ago we began talking in-house about doing a food-themed exhibit. In part, it was a theme we felt people could relate to—who can’t understand food? Secondly, it was a relevant theme given the fact that Lockport is surrounded by farms and wineries.
We had an initial conversation with Jerry Mead who has curated exhibitions for years at the Burchfield Penney and now is teaching while exhibiting his work and curating exhibits in various locations around the area. Jerry threw out names of some artists he knew that had created series or collections of work that were food-themed such as John Yerger, Coni Mennici, Biff Henrich and Tom Kegler--his gorgeous traditional still lifes were shown here in March. Eventually, Mead narrowed his selection down to a list of twenty-three artists that gave us a broad range of media, styles, and perspectives. To see who they are, you can go to the Gallery page on the website.
This is the second time in recent years that Mead has guest curated a show for the Kenan Center. In 2007, he assisted us on what we frequently refer to as the “clay show,” more formally named “Extraordinary Forms.” It was an outstanding collection of work, and Jerry helped us narrow down the exhaustive list of potential artists by focusing on ceramic professors at a selection of Western New York colleges and universities plus the noted Sheridan School of Design in Ontario, Canada. This gave us an incredible collection of contemporary and traditional work, including a piece nearly the size of a small dinosaur by Alfred’s Chris Miller which had its own room.
This exhibit was intended to have the same eclectic and high quality feel. We mulled over the common phrase “feast for the eyes,” and Jerry gave it little twist that would suggest the two ways that artists approach food as a thematic—as subject and as experience—calling it “Feasting Eyes: Artists Take on Food.” The title suggests “a take” as being perspective and the way that artists respond to food as a theme as well as “taking on,” as meeting the challenge of translating their own relationship to food through an artistic medium. Food for the stomach; food for the brain. A nice place to start. By Elaine Harrigan, Marketing Director.
We had an initial conversation with Jerry Mead who has curated exhibitions for years at the Burchfield Penney and now is teaching while exhibiting his work and curating exhibits in various locations around the area. Jerry threw out names of some artists he knew that had created series or collections of work that were food-themed such as John Yerger, Coni Mennici, Biff Henrich and Tom Kegler--his gorgeous traditional still lifes were shown here in March. Eventually, Mead narrowed his selection down to a list of twenty-three artists that gave us a broad range of media, styles, and perspectives. To see who they are, you can go to the Gallery page on the website.
This is the second time in recent years that Mead has guest curated a show for the Kenan Center. In 2007, he assisted us on what we frequently refer to as the “clay show,” more formally named “Extraordinary Forms.” It was an outstanding collection of work, and Jerry helped us narrow down the exhaustive list of potential artists by focusing on ceramic professors at a selection of Western New York colleges and universities plus the noted Sheridan School of Design in Ontario, Canada. This gave us an incredible collection of contemporary and traditional work, including a piece nearly the size of a small dinosaur by Alfred’s Chris Miller which had its own room.
This exhibit was intended to have the same eclectic and high quality feel. We mulled over the common phrase “feast for the eyes,” and Jerry gave it little twist that would suggest the two ways that artists approach food as a thematic—as subject and as experience—calling it “Feasting Eyes: Artists Take on Food.” The title suggests “a take” as being perspective and the way that artists respond to food as a theme as well as “taking on,” as meeting the challenge of translating their own relationship to food through an artistic medium. Food for the stomach; food for the brain. A nice place to start. By Elaine Harrigan, Marketing Director.
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