his project evolved out of my interest in the aesthetic quality of desserts, and a concern for practices and domestic traditions deemed as craft and associated with femininity. Originally conceived as a straight forward drawing project, this body of work evolved over a period of four years from 1996 to 2000. Letters of invitation to participate in a recipe collection process were sent out in 1996 to family, friends, and acquaintances requesting their favorite dessert/pie/cake recipe, along with a story/anecdote about the recipe, it's source, origin, etc.

Beyond Sweeties can best be described as a painting installation. It is comprised of sixty paintings, encaustic on wood, of various sizes between 4x4 inches to 14x14 inches. These are hung salon style, with each panel having a different rich patterned or textured surface which makes reference to a dessert. These are sweet paintings, decorative, smallish in scale, ranging in colour from the darkest purple (Blueberry Flan), to the palest of lime green (Key Lime Pie). Accompanying the paintings is a collection of Polaroid photographs, which serve as documentation of the baking/culinary process. Also included in the installation is the collection of recipes, stories, letters, and paraphanaelia collected during the research for this project.

The theme and subject matter of this installation came to me by way of being female. My research and integration of subjects considered as being in the feminine domain comes from the reality of growing up as a girl and from personal experience. The humour and parody evolves from the fact that when one thinks of great paintings, heroic scale and subject matter come to mind, usually along with a male artist. These paintings contradict this tradition by way of their sweet and sour colours, and obviously intimate and anti-heroic – yet noble! – subject matter.

 

	Carrot Cake (taken from Seventeen Magazine some twenty years ago. I've been making this regularly since then.) 4 cups grated carrots 1.5 cups veg. oil 1.5 cups white or brown sugar 2.5 cups white unbleached flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 cups chopped baked walnuts 1/2 cup raisons 1/2 chopped canned unsweetened pineapple (optional- I heard this is good) 4 eggs Mix dry stuff separately. Mix wet in big bowl and add dry. Blend well. Bake in bundt pan at 375 F for 70 minutes. Ice with classic cream cheese icing, (I'm sure you know the recipe.) Don't forget to lick the pan. NL