SOUTHERN COMFORT SERIES

Having been born in Virginia and raised in the North Carolina, my “Southern Roots” surface from time to time in my art...sometimes with humor, sometimes more critically, but often in a nostalgic way, as only time and distance allow. I’ve been flirting with the idea of a series inspired by Southern Cooking for the last couple of years, and on a recent trip home I scoured through piles of my mother’s old recipes. Those recipes & their ingredients bounced around in my head evoking sweet memories until I could almost smell and taste them... shrimp & grits, collards, sweet potato pie, fried green tomatoes, watermelon, buttermilk biscuits and Carolina barbecue.

The fine line between food and art, or art as “food for the soul” (and vice versa) is not a new idea, and has been poked and prodded by artists and authors, writers and poets, sculptors and screenwriters for ages. I’m just now getting around to it, and when I started this series I only expected to do a handful of paintings. But once I’d begun the work I was drawn into a personal and cultural history that is taking on a life of its own as I hear more stories, and uncover more regional recipes.

Southern food and its traditions are more than the sum of the ingredients, but something bigger and deeper, evoking powerful emotions and memories of family life and lore it reflects not just who we were, but who we are.