During the holidays, we gather with our families to celebrate the season and our friendships and our blessings. And we make meals; huge meals. We cook together and then we sit together and eat, and share food and good will. We think about what it means to share this abundance, we’re grateful to have all that we have and mindful of those who don’t. Of course it’s not the food alone that makes the meal or the season important. It’s a feast for all of our senses: the music, the decorations, the warmth, and for Artspan artists, the art.

Will Hubscher’s art contains a rich array of layers and meaning. It is “based on vintage photographs I find in flea markets and garage sales. To create the monotypes, I scan the images into the computer, tinting the black-and-white photos with color, and then print sections of my new image using archival inks onto lithograph or photographic paper. Once the image is on this new surface, I cut and trim them, and then assemble the pieces into a collage. The collage is then passed through an etching press with a wet transfer medium. This transfers the image and presses it onto archival watercolor paper creating all the rich textures and bleeds.” His picture Red Chairs at Night, Diner’s Delight celebrates the accessible feast of the diner. It “is based on photos of old diners and restaurants where an affordable feast could be had by everyday people. Growing up in NJ, every town had at least one diner, if not several to choose from, and each with its own specialty.” 

In Dinner Party Gone Wrong, Judith Sander allows us to laugh at the tribulations of the hostess of the feast, using a technique that serves up a vibrant mix of textures.  “Collage and mixed media have always been my interest in technique. Along with various papers, I use acrylic paint, oil pastels that are scratched through and words written in pencil. Being a cook I find it only natural to include food images in much of my work. The humor in this piece is clear. The hostess is exasperated. Imagine setting a beautiful table only to find well dressed, uninvited guests enjoying themselves”

Elizabeth Chapman “thinks of feasting as a joyous celebration that occurs for many different reasons. In this particular painting titled Wed, I thought of the bride being brought to the groom and what a time of feasting that creates. The contrast of colors merging together in such a manner, symbolize that of a marriage.  I work in an intuitive manner with each stroke of color bringing to mind the next color and in this fashion layers of colors, lines, shapes and textures are built. A feast of color!”

For many people food is a trigger to memory, a certain dish will remind you of your childhood or a certain time in your life. For Lance Turner, it’s pictures of food that bring him back, reminding him of an old friend and a custom that they shared. “I used to have a girlfriend named Laura Lou Smith, and we made drawings when we went out to eat. I liked the drawings so much that I went back and colored them in with pencils. The drawings always had food in them. This drawing, Tipsy Turvy Magic, looks like a dream, but most of the things in this drawing were things that Laura and I were obsessed with at the time; for instance, peanut butter, blueberry jelly, and banana sandwiches. These drawings were made off the top of our heads, and they show feasts as dream worlds.”

Lynda McClanahan honors the humble beet in a striking, unusual painting. “Three Beets With Dirt was done using sign painter's enamel, a product once used for outdoor signs and now used mostly to pin-stripe cars.  The style is flat and print-like, like a silk screen.  Beets are the perfect symbol for the self-giving, feast-inducing generosity of the world, which sustains us.  From underground root, to breaking bulb to leaves, the entire plant is edible.”

Artspan artists offer a delectable array of techniques and styles, proving once again that art is the best way to feast our senses and satisfy our souls.