Art may have been born of hunger. Prehistoric cave paintings depicted the hunt, possibly documenting successful efforts for future reference, or perhaps attempting to conjure animal spirits through representation. Much later, 17th-century still-lifes celebrated the bounty of agrarian society and colonial trade, rendering in amazing detail heaps of overripe fruit and exotic game piled high on tables amid lace and porcelain. Sometimes, a grim memento mori (a rotting morsel or a skull) accented the scene as if to warn that such plenty might evaporate in an instant.
If revived today, such elaborate still lifes would not lack for material in this age of globalization and processed foods. We might load our fiberboard Ikea table with Cheetos and Pepsi, fast food hamburgers and pizza — don't forget the low-carb TV dinners — until it buckles, then gleefully toss handfuls of sugar-free gum over the whole spread. (The built-in memento mori comes in the form of artificial ingredients that have spawned lab rat tumors.) Hunger seems a remote threat, but malnutrition a shockingly near one.
And so it's not a surprise that the current zeitgeist calls for a return to purity in food. Call it a 21st-century remix of the back-to-the-land movement of the '60s and '70s. This time the revolution will be commercialized — or consumer-friendly, depending on your perspective. Even Wal-mart will jump on the organic bandwagon soon, in an attempt to get millions of Americans to eat healthier and, of course, generate even bigger revenues.
This, broadly speaking, is the cultural setting for an exhibit opening Friday at Creative Clay that combines art with the present passion for nutrition and all things natural. Creative Clay students produced some of the works on display during a three-and-a-half month-long series of Art In Nutrition classes funded by Allegany Franciscan Ministries. The classes emphasized healthy eating skills, from reading nutritional information labels to selecting produce at the grocery store, and incorporated food into art as both subject matter and media.
For one project, students juiced fruits and vegetables to create pigments and painted with the resulting material. For the exhibit opening, they will prepare healthy hors d'oeuvres based on class lessons (a great excuse to leave that TV dinner in the freezer Friday night). Other works, produced during students' individual studio time, celebrate the natural landscape in such traditional media as acrylic and watercolor.
The exhibit, visually and conceptually, conjures up a love child of Bob Ross — the PBS Joy of Painting host who famously exhorted viewers to paint "happy trees" — and Alice Waters, the California chef known for her pioneering organic school lunch and gardening program. To paraphrase Waters, demystifying fruits and vegetables through creative encounters like gardening, cooking, and, in this case, artistic practice, takes away the gross factor and opens minds to the possibility of enjoying them.
Creative Clay is the savvy nonprofit in downtown St. Pete that has carved out a niche by specializing in arts outreach to people with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges. The organization provides art classes and opportunities to learn life skills for students who are typically adults with high school diplomas. Unlike traditional public recreation centers, Creative Clay retains a staff and volunteers trained to respond to potential crisis situations, such as seizures, making the space a safe, as well as fun, place for students.
The chance to purchase one-of-a-kind works of art at affordable prices draws buyers — including a core group of regular collectors — to the gallery, said Grace Anne Alfiero, Creative Clay's co-founder and executive director. "There's a raw beauty in the work that makes it stand alone," she added, which "makes it palatable to collectors who are educated in different kinds of contemporary and conceptual art."
(I couldn't agree more, by the way. In my experience, Creative Clay students' work exhibits an impressive level of craft and, though topical, also possesses a soothing timelessness.)
Creative Clay also produces a line of hip and über-fun accessories, including wrapping paper, greeting cards and martini glasses, printed with student art — you may have seen them for sale at the Arts Center gift shop or Florida Craftsman Gallery. Students retain a license to their artwork and earn 20 percent of the profits; the remaining 80 percent is used to fund production of more merchandise.
"Consumers love to purchase items that have some kind of socially responsible link," noted Alfiero, and the numbers prove it. The organization's sales have increased125 percent this year, in part due to a revamped website that includes online shopping for both artworks and merchandise.
Alfiero, who founded Creative Clay in 1995, has seen it grow dramatically, shrink drastically and begin to grow again. By 2000, the five-year-old organization had expanded into branches in Safety Harbor and Asheville, N.C., but in 2003, a severe cutback to a federal funding source shut those branches down. Only the St. Pete location remained, as Alfiero and others scrambled to brainstorm possible sources of income.
Now things seem to be on the upswing with increased sales and the successful launch of the Art In Nutrition program, which will expand in the future. The company recently acquired adjacent space on Central Avenue, which it subleases to Movement Gallery, a facility for dance and performance therapy.
Through an Arts In Action consulting program, Alfiero also advises other nonprofits both locally and nationally. She will travel to Japan later this year to teach implementation of Creative Clay's ARTLINK program, which pairs professional artists with students in the program for a six-month mentorship.
"I feel like I collected an MBA along the way," Alfiero said of the ups and downs of running a nonprofit. There's nothing she would rather do because, "when I go to bed, I know that I've improved the quality of life" for many students and, more broadly, the community.
She would, however, like to make more headway in encouraging recent college grads to work for nonprofits. Avoid the prevailing attitude to make money first then give back to the community later, she advised: "It's when you're young that you have the energy to affect change."
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2006.