Hansel and Gretel's Witch: Hoping for a Michelin Star

(Above:  Hansel & Gretel's Witch: Hoping for a Michelin Star.  Framed: 15 1/2" x 37 1/2". Inventory # 4305. $300.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

During my very first week of an art residency at the Rensing Center, there was a potluck dinner to which most of the invited guests brought very exotic, locally sourced, organic delicacies. I blogged about it HERE ... complete with photos of a meringue coated red snapper and descriptions of a roadkill venison tenderloin prepared according to The Sioux Chef recipe book. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't generally cook at all.  In desperation, I brought deviled eggs in an ice cube tray and felt very much like a "fish out of water".  Yet, the experience got me thinking, especially about fusion cuisine, farm-to-table dining opportunities, and all sorts of alternative ways some people look at food preparation.  I knew that all the other guests would be horrified to know that for most of the remaining days at the art residency, I would be nuking frozen pizza and pulling aluminum foil from the top of ready-to-eat fruit yogurt containers. My priorities aren't necessarily "wrong", just different ... alternative!   

(Above:  Hansel & Gretel's Witch: Hoping for a Michelin Star, framed and sitting on my window ledge for photo.)

Within a day, I had an idea for a new piece headed to a springtime show with Flavia Lovatelli and Olga Yukhno called Alternative Storytellers. Within a week, I'd purchased a couple of vintage cookbooks at the Pickens County flea market.  There will be two more pieces made about Hansel and Gretel's witch.  This first one uses a 1940s instruction booklet for a General Electric oven.  Each of the five pages I used is altered with letters clipped from the rest of the booklet and from other vintage sources.  It was really, really fun to imagine a witch who was into exotic, locally sourced, organic delicacies ... and hoping for a Michelin star!

 (Above:  Binding the pages together using a curved needle.)

Each of the five pages has been fused to fabric for stability.  Each has been mounted to a piece of acid-free foam-centered board before being glued to the mat board.  This allows the pages to look as if "floating" above the background mat.  Between the pages, I used a metallic ribbon and stitched them in a criss-cross fashion using a curved needle.

By enlarging the photo above and the two below, all the words should be legible.  Enjoy the amusement.