January 17, 2023 - February 23, 2023
Our Nibble show is now on display in our group gallery! One of our favorite shows of the year is all about food and this year’s theme (Nibble) is inspired by our many receptions and the beauty of the charcuterie board. What are your favorite nibbles? Stop by and check out the show Tuesday - Friday 11:30 - 6, and Saturday 11 -5!
Nibble reception is Friday, January 20 from 6 - 8 pm!
Congratulations to the winners and to juror, Valerie Wedel for taking the time to look at each piece carefully!
1st Place: Derek Fox "Still Life with Grapes"
2nd Place: Kelly Durante "Spumoni Kiss"
3rd Place: Cheryl Hardy "Nibbled"
Honorable mentions:
Mary Sandbothe "Milk Dreams"
Joanne Zucco Berneche "Fish"
Ben Schwarz "Paris Pastry"
Juror’s Statement
When Kelsey Hammond, the Columbia Art League director, contacted me to jury this show and told me the theme was food, I replied “yes” without a thought. I always love the opportunity to see and talk about artworks by my fellow mid-Missourians, especially when they deal with such appealing subject matter. How refreshing to be introduced to works by artists that are new to me, hanging alongside works by those I’ve known for decades!
To jury the show, I walked through the works several times. It was very difficult to pick the winners, but the ones I chose stayed in my mind well after I walked past them.
Still-Life paintings don’t often move me, but Still Life with Grapes by Derek Fox actually gave me goosebumps! Even from across the room, the small composition holds its own. Spumoni Kiss, by Kelly Durante, makes me feel like I’m a tiny creature inside a piece of fruit. Cheryl Hardy’s Nibbled gives the eye a treat through its undulating textures.
I chose the honorable mentions: Milk Dreams by Mary Sandbothe, Fish by Joanne Zucco Berneche, and Paris Pastry by Ben Schwarz, for their ability to expand my thoughts well beyond the depictions of food. They conjured scenes of farm life, families gathering to honor traditions, and the joys of travel.
Art and food, I can think of no better combination!
Juror Biography
Valerie Wedel is a 2007 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia in Sculpture (MFA) with a focus on performance and video installation. Her food-themed performance works include 2-Hour Apple, where she slowly and continuously consumed a single fruit during a gallery reception; The Concessionist, for which she popped popcorn one kernel at a time and offered them to passersby; and The Truffle-Making Machine, where she simultaneously created and destroyed chocolate truffles in a conveyer-belt fashion. For the past eight years, she has taught studio art at William Woods University. She is also co-editing a new edition of the textbook Drawing the Human Form, by William A. Berry. Her artwork is exhibited regularly in galleries throughout the Midwest.
