“Why, we are asked, set a challenge like this, landscapes off a plate, and sculptures from a meal? The answer is, and it’s another thing in common with nature,.... to grow.”

They are artists who are fed by nature, its shapes, its colours, its textures.  Using the fascinating culinary work of local chef, Biota's James Viles, has been a step into a selection of nature’s offerings that they wouldn’t have found on their own.

The meals so artfully aimed at palette, nostril and eye, presented to Juliet's painter’s palette, colour combinations and shapes both new and stimulating. 

Ruth’s sculptural vessels sought the key to James’ inspiration, which is, the basic ingredient - from the lineal texture of the mushroom, the irregular roughness of charcoal, to the tea like banding of mussels. 

James’ nose to tail cooking philosophy, along with the idea of gathering from his immediate environment, is paralleled in her design practice of recycling and foraging from her environment. 

This body of work is visually and touch textural, the perfection of nature, represented in all its imperfection, a foil against an offshore, machine mass made age.

The exhibition will be opened at 11am on Sunday, September 23 by special guest John Newton, freelance writer, journalist, novelist, teacher.

- Sturt Gallery media