Combining the worlds of food, hospitality and art in truly unique and wonderful

Food permeates every element of our lives. Every occasion is augmented by food.

When you’re mourning, anxious or depressed, a warm meal can provide comfort and solace. When you’re happy and want to celebrate, many will go out for ‘something nice’. It is more than nutrition – it is a tie which binds society more closely together.

With this in mind, is it any wonder that food and the world of art are also more closely entwined than we might consider?

Art exists within many different mediums, including in the world of food, and there are some who regularly work within this sphere. Irish Country Living caught up with a few individuals who use art as a way of explaining food – and vice versa.

The student

Violet Heffernan was born in Ireland and raised in California. When the time came to leave home for college, she enrolled in the Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD).

When Violet first moved back to Ireland, she lived in a house located near The Mustard Seed (a Blue Book property operated by John Edward Joyce and his team of hospitality professionals), where she soon picked up a part-time job.

The Mustard Seed is a treasure trove of art – its walls are adorned with interesting pieces which pop against its traditional furnishings but also, somehow, fit in perfectly. Violet was immediately drawn to the vibe of the place and says she has found inspiration for her own art through her work there.

“My dad knew of [The Mustard Seed],” she explains. “So he said, ‘Walk up and see what the craic is.’ I met John and I was later hired. I got into evening [dinner] service and it’s so inspiring; working in a place like The Mustard Seed.”

For her 2023 practise at LSAD, Violet combined her passion for food with art and craftsmanship. Growing up, her grandfather would always buy her special paper to work with. She wondered if she could create paper with a locally-grown vegetable and tried artichokes, which were being grown at The Mustard Seed.

“I researched ways of working with paper and then I went about making paper with the artichoke stalks,” she explains.

“I made the paper and used it to print my lithography, which is a beautiful print technique using limestone. You draw on this limestone, wet the stone and print on it with an oil-based ink. It’s an invigorating and challenging process using natural elements.

“The kitchen staff [at The Mustard Seed] knew I was doing this project. They created a dish of slow cooked chicken, caramelised onion puree, “Violet” artichokes, Jerusalem artichoke crisps, liver pâté, smoked olive oil and charred spring onion, based on my work.”

Violet also created a takeaway box; making porcelain paper out of the artichoke pulp and leftover dried porcelain. She decorated it with allergen symbols from The Mustard Seed menu. To her, this piece speaks to their zero-waste ethos and menu symbolism, which would normally not be so aesthetically pleasing.

“I love symbolism and, however necessary these things are, they are still kind of a hindrance to the aesthetics of the menu. But, of course, you have to display these things in a professional setting.”

The community café

Lucy Lambe is an artist who operates The Green Sheep Café with her husband, Patrick, in Thurles, Co Tipperary. The Green Sheep first opened in 2014 and has always focused on community efforts: promoting locally sourced ingredients, acting as a home base for the artistic community and hosting community focused events like cookbook clubs and dining pop-ups.

This past year, Lucy also started focusing on her art in this space. As space next to the café became available, she decided to open The Green Sheep Studio to showcase the art of lesser known and younger artists alongside her own projects.

Lucy created and showcased a popular cartoon series on St Brigid, but it was her Artist in a Shop Window series which garnered the most community attention – which is good, because that was the whole point of the project.

“The Artist in the Shop window project started in January of this year and ended in the middle of April,” she tells Irish Country Living. “I had a new artist in every week. Some were emerging artists and some were professional; some were local and other came from further afield.”

We normally only see the end product of art; I wanted everyone to be able to see the process

The project was partially funded by the Tipperary County Council Arts Office. During the series, The Green Sheep Studio and Café hosted several exhibitions and events, including a Plurilingual Poetry event with poet, facilitator and educator Fiona Bolger.

The event had two parts: one evening, she hosted a workshop. On another evening, everyone came together to share poetry in their native tongue.

“We had poetry read out in Swahili, Latvian, Ukrainian, Russian, French, Italian, German and Traveller language,” Lucy says. “It was great fun.”

However, the main idea centred around artists sitting and working in the Green Sheep Studio’s large street-facing window.

“We normally only see the end product of art; I wanted everyone to be able to see the process,” Lucy explains. “So, each artist came and practised in the studio and people could stop outside and watch. We had an open-door policy, which meant anyone could come in and chat with the artist and ask them about their work.”

More recently, Lucy collaborated with the Tipperary Dance Company in hosting a Death Café, which was an extension of AFTER ALL – a performance relating to the topic of death and dying. The café was hosted by dancer and artist Solène Weinachter and poet and celebrant Lisa Fannen; and it was a space for people to gather and share experiences and feelings about death and dying.

Experiential dining

Santina Kennedy and Blanca Valencia are food professionals who share a passion for culture, history and event curation.

They met during their MA in Gastronomy and Food Studies at TU Dublin and found similar ground in their deep appreciation for Irish food history. They combined their talents to curate a unique food and art experience.

“We would attend each other’s events and quickly realised how much we had in common,” Santina tells Irish Country Living. “For us, storytelling is essential, as we believe that discussing a product or place means also creating a vivid sense of its context.”

Santina and Blanca developed Art Plate – a collaboration which bridges Irish food and drink culture with the world of art. They create immersive tours, host events and produce educational experiences; linking Irish food heritage with art, history and modern-day food producers.

Historically, Irish food has often been portrayed as the sustenance of the poor, with more of an emphasis on the famine. We want to portray a more nuanced view

Art Plate has been featured at Taste of Dublin and Beyond the Pale food theatres and the duo have more appearances planned in the near future.

As part of Art Plate, they have also developed a tour at the National Gallery of Ireland and have curated a series of events called ‘Plates and Palettes’. It launched on 31 October with an event called ‘Dining in Ireland through the Ages’.

Across four different tables, they presented four iconic Irish paintings and paired each with a menu heavily featuring Irish artisan food and drink.

“Ireland is celebrated worldwide for its rich literary tradition, yet its visual arts have not always taken centre stage,” Blanca says. “Historically, Irish food has often been portrayed as the sustenance of the poor, with more of an emphasis on the famine. We want to portray a more nuanced view, that encompasses the aristocracy and the middle-classes as well.”

“We hope to encourage people to engage with Irish art through a new lens – a lens of Irish food and drink,” Santina adds. “We are encouraging people to consider the connections between Irish food and Irish art and to enjoy a deeper appreciation of both.”

Many of their chosen works reflect rural or agricultural themes – paintings like Paul Henry’s The Potato Diggers (1912), Joseph Malachy Kavanagh’s Carting Seaweed on Sutton Sands (1895) and Gerard Dillon’s The Little Green Fields (1946-50). Santina and Blanca have plans to bring Plates and Palettes on the road; featuring art which celebrates the culture and traditions of rural Ireland.

Their next events at the National Gallery of Ireland take place on 21 November and 5 December. On 16 December, they will have a special Irish Pubs in Art tour and further events are in the works for 2025.

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