Food as a Theme and Material in the Visual Arts

Our second annual EMPTY BOWLS WHS DINNER & FUNDRAISER will be held on 
Friday, March 24, 2017 from 530-8pm (snow date 3/31)
in the HS large and middle cafeterias

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Food Inspired Slump/Hump Mold Bowls

*PROJECT GOAL: The Empty Bowls Project is an international grassroots effort to raise both money and awareness in the fight to end hunger. Students will participate in Washingtonville High School’s second Annual Empty Bowls Project by creating ceramic bowls inspired by their favorite foods. Through the introduction of videos, discussions, and online research, students will learn how their favorite foods are farmed, processed, and sold, as well as why people, even in our local communities, are struggling with food insufficiency. Students will be invited to sell their bowls at the school’s Empty Bowls Dinner event in March of 2017 to help raise money for the Hudson Valley Food Bank and the Country Kids Food Pantry of Washingtonville. Students will learn to prepare clay, make basic slabs, and use the slump/hump mold method to create their bowl forms. Other techniques such as carving, stamping, relief, sculpture, and glazing will be introduced and used to add color, dimension, texture, pattern and sculptural forms to these bowls.

After our food sensory lesson, Ms. Held introduced a Brief History of Food & Art. This PowerPoint provided a historical overview of how humans have incorporated the theme of food into their works of art for thousands of years. 

A Brief History of Food and Art PowerPoint

The students were really amazed by the work of the contemporary Italian Artist, Roberto Bernardi, whose photorealistic paintings of candy (amongst other subject matter) were so lifelike the students simply did not believe they weren't photographs. For more information about Roberto Bernardi's work check out this link:

Roberto Bernardi's website

The students were particularly fascinated by the work of the contemporary British artist, Carl Warner, a photographer who creates "Foodscapes" out of real food and then photographs these bizarre scenes to create imaginary and sometimes "delicious" worlds. Warner uses his work to encourage people to eat healthy. The leftover food from his "Foodscapes" are fed to his staff and donated to homeless shelters. For more information about Carl Warner's work check out these two links:

Carl Warner's Foodscapes on CNN