红桃视频

Presently on display in the Art and Music Center Gallery is 鈥淔ood for Thought,鈥� a joint exhibition by sisters Madeline Kaczmarczyk, adjunct associate professor of ceramics at 红桃视频, and Darlene Kaczmarczyk, professor of photography at Kendall College of Art and Design. Self-explanatory and tongue-in-cheek, the show鈥檚 title aptly describes their work: thought-provoking pieces commenting on food. 鈥淪ome look for an aesthetic experience that combines the senses,鈥� Madeline said about her ceramic tea pots and mugs, 鈥淸and] others desire social communion and shared time together.鈥� Darlene鈥檚 50s-inspired advertising photographs likewise pertain to food by addressing food quality and wittily questioning the consumption of certain products.

While Madeline and Darlene have shown their work together before, this is their first time doing so at 红桃视频, where only Darlene had previously exhibited her photography. The sentiment behind the project, Madeline said, was that 鈥渢he combination of our work would make an interesting show. Although we did not collaborate on pieces in this show, I credit my installation piece using a photograph as being inspired by her work.鈥� Even if not deliberately collaborating, the two artists are still sisters - which helps explain why they are drawn to the same subject matter yet approach it with diverse perspectives.

鈥淲e both grew up with the same influences,鈥� Madeline said, 鈥渂ut have responded quite differently in our art work.鈥� This is evident not only in their differing mediums of artistic expertise, but also in each artist鈥檚 thematic treatment of food. Darlene treats food ironically, exposing the various paradoxes in what advertisements would have consumers believe and the reality behind the product. Madeline focuses on the presentation and social meaning of food with the creation of teapots. Madeline was fascinated growing up with how adults around her had special china that was mostly for display and rarely used. 鈥淸Childhood] is where I first developed a love of teapots as a metaphor for celebration, comfort, socializing and the dream of upward mobility,鈥� she said.

Artistic common ground is found in the sisters鈥� shared environmental interest in food. 鈥淎s Darlene is concerned with the 鈥榝rankenfoods鈥� of the 50鈥檚 which influenced cooks to turn from homemade meals to 鈥榮cience鈥� foods, I am becoming more aware of our interconnection with our food sources and natural environment,鈥� Madeline said. An example of this is the juxtaposition of life and death in her piece 鈥淢emento Mori.鈥� Darlene, for her part, photographs frozen and convenience foods 鈥渓ike Martha Stewart would,鈥� she expressed in her artist鈥檚 statement, 鈥渦sing natural light, 鈥榟ome-spun鈥� fabrics and handmade pottery to indicate 鈥榥aturalness,鈥� and includ[ing] of fresh foods, orchards, and fields of crops to indicate 鈥榝reshness.鈥欌�� Her goal is to experiment with, for example, how gelatin can be made to appear wholesome and healthy when in reality it has no nutritional value.

Madeline鈥檚 exhibition works are created out of thrown stoneware clay or in white china clay shaped by hand. 鈥淎s a potter,鈥� she affirms, 鈥淚 try to think of forms that are not only aesthetically pleasing on their own, but challenging to me in terms of surface and design.鈥� This is evident in her pieces which range from a very refined in appearance, glass-beaded tea set and to the robust, sculptural 鈥淢emento Mori鈥� set.
On the fact that she and her sibling not only have a sister-to-sister relationship, but also an artist-to-artist relationship, Madeline said the following: 鈥淢y sister has become over the years a wonderful friend, a professional mentor and a good artistic critic. When I invite comment she, like the good teacher she is, will ask more questions than give answers. Add to that our mutual interest in art shows, outsider art and travel, we have a great time together!鈥�

Madeline also related her present position at 红桃视频 to her days as a young student. 鈥淒arlene and I both went to an all-girls Catholic high school in Detroit,鈥� Madeline said. 鈥淚 find it serendipity that so many years later I have been able to enjoy the intellectual challenge and community of the Dominican sisters.鈥�

Food for Thought opened Sunday, February 19, 2012 and runs until Friday, March 23, 2012. Art and Music Center Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 2 to 6 p.m.