Assessing Final Project
Spending two days straight (minus 3 hours sleeping and some classes) in the basement kitchen, though having its depressing moments, was quite a unique experience. As people flowed in and out, the scent of their various meals changing with them, I became associated with the kitchen, and gained a special level of respect. People would ask my permission before using the microwave, and I was confused as one guy walked out saying, "thank you very much."
It was also very amusing/ akward explaining to every single person who entered the kitchen that 1) I was sculpting my parents' heads out of cake and 2) I was not doing it for some strange personal fulfillment. Although it was quite fulfilling, and I think I might continue cake carving for future celebrations. Once I explained myself, I got a lot of positive feedback, and I came to enjoy my makeshift support system. People stayed up with me up until 5 am, supporting me as I entered delirium at times...
Pictures of the process are above (starting from the bottom, up).
It took me about a full day (noon-5 am) to make one cake. I used my Grandmutti's recipe that my dad had loved growing up--Maraschino Cherry Cake. It was delicious, and the fumes actually made some people dizzy (which I am convinced is a good thing). I baked the cake in a giant soup vat borrowed from the dining hall in order to combine three batches and have a super tall cake to work with. To represent the division between the numbers of men and women who are stay-at-home parents, I put two cherries in my father's cake (for the 2 percent of men that stay at home) and 98 cherries in my mom.
Mom ended up being much more moist and delicious, nevertheless, my father was chosen first at my class' gallery exhibit. I set up a table with three placemats with plates, napkins, forks, and cups of water with the pictures I found on google taped on, and a sign that said "Homemade Cake-- Sit and Enjoy--Only 3 at a time, please." When I came back from looking at my friend's artwork, three people were sitting around the cake, but they had not cut into the cake. I insisted that they do so, and they asked where to cut. When I said it was up to them, the first person chose my father's cheek. Someone else walked up and sliced his nose off, and another his chin and lips.
I thought I would get upset watching people devour my parents, which I've labored over for so long, but everyone appreciated the cakes so much that it was a complete pleasure. Prof. Vivero remarked to me that I had become the host of the exhibit, and it surely felt that way. If I disappeared for a minute to make more cups, throw away trash or refill my water pitcher, I would come back to people waiting around the cake for me to supply them with plates and utensils. They trusted me, and relied on me for nourishment.
So, while I hope that those who saw/tried my cake came away with some new ideas, I can certainly say I learned alot from this experience. I felt the importance of the parent-child relationship and the role of nurturing. I explored its traditional association with feminity (when I told a boy I was glad to be out of the kitchen for once after working for so long, he said I sounded like the quintessential woman). I experienced creating an installation for the first time! And, I learned a few things about sculpture. Only one person responded to my project in a hesitant way--one of the professors, I think. He was not a fan of installation art, he said he prefered to browse art/sample my cake while standing, and resisted being seduced by the artists who desire people to take part in their experiment. I disagree with him completely, so I voiced to him that what I feel to be important is what the viewer gains from being exposed to art, and the level of one's involvement in the art determines how much they get out of it. One who maintaints a surface observation of a piece cannot gain the same understanding as one who chooses to immerse oneself in it.
I really like istallation art. And cake!
Final Project Evolution
Almost 2 weeks ago I began my cake trials. The first one I made (a small replica of a woman) crumbled when I started to put icing on it. So, being in a state of despair, I slapped together chunks to form a head, which turned out looking demonic since it was red velvet cake.
So, I decided to stick with the head idea-- I thought it was something that would make in impact in the consumer's mind. I also knew I wanted to use the umbilical cord as a metaphor for the nourishment parents provide children through cooking. My friend gave me the idea of drawing the umbilical cord out of icing on the tablecloth while people ate the cake. Looking back on the project now, I would've drawn umbilical cords on the plates. Anyway, I got to look up pictures on google of umbilical cords and feel really creepy about it.
I also did two more trials at school. I had by this point decided to make two cakes--a woman's head and a man's head. I had no supplies at all--I had one heart-shaped cake pan in which I stirred the cake mix, a pasta serving spoon I borrowed to stir the mix, my friend's face towel as an oven mitt, and a tiny blade broken off a kitchen knife which I borrowed to carve the sculpture. I tore a picture of a woman out of my friend's magazine to model after, and the caption next to this woman said "Mom." I started to refer to the sculpture as
my mom. When I served her at the Bandersnatch, I took the first taste, biting her entire nose off. I later heard my friend mention that biting is a sign of a lack of voice within the household. I must say that fact is pretty fitting to my situation... I think at this point I arrived at the decision to create a sculpture of the heads of both my mom and dad.
Sculpting my parents' heads, I thought about my relationship with my parents and with relations between children and parents in general. I also was very intersted in the act of nourishing and caring for those depending on one on a daily basis. I typed in "cooking" as a google image search, and the pictures I was presented with are very revealing of the worldwide responsiblity of cooking/family caretaking. I can't recall seeing any pictures where men were cooking a family meal, but what actually surprised me was that the vast majority of pictures were from countries other than mine.
Visiting the original websites of these pictures revealed to me many strict gender social constructions, such as women in certain regions of China being unable to eat dinner in the presence of others at the dinner table. She must remain in the kitchen.
I know that in the US this idea of only women staying at home and attending to the children is opening itself up to males.
Statistics from rebeldad.com:
AT HOME DAD NUMBERS
147,000
Census Bureau, 2005 (based on 2004 data, Excel file)
rebeldad.com analysis98,000
Census Bureau, 2004 (based on 2003 data)
rebeldad.com analysisAlso
additional rebeldad.com analysis105,000
Census Bureau, 2003 (based on 2002 data)
rebeldad.com analysis18.5 percent of fathers with working wives
Census Bureau, 2003 (based on 1999 data)
rebeldad.com analysis1,915,000
Census Bureau, 1997 (based on 1993 data)
22 percent of fathers
Spike TV survey, via Time magazine, 2004
rebeldad.com analysis80,000 (Japan)
Social Insurance Agency, as cited in newspaper reportrebeldad.com analysis155,000 (UK)
Cited in newspaper report, 2004 (story now in paid archive)
rebeldad.com analysis11 percent of fathers (UK)
Early Learning Centre, 2004rebeldad.com analysisMEN CONSIDERING AT-HOME FATHERHOOD
56 percent
Spike TV survey, 2004 rebeldad.com analysis40 percent
careerbuilder.com, 2003rebeldad.com analysis"Almost half" (UK)
Pregnancy and Birth Magazine survey, 2004 (based on newspaper report)
rebeldad.com analysisI believe significant involvement with both parents is very important, and this was reinforced by statistics from the US Census Current Population Report on Custodial Mothers and Fathers and their Child Support:
Children without a father in their life are twice as likely to drop out of high school, twice as likely to end up in jail, and four times as likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems.
(
http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/site/infores.php)
Also:
Almost 20% of 6th - 12th graders have not had a good conversation lasting for at least 10 minutes with at least one of their parents in more than a month.
(Peter L. Benson, The Troubled Journey: A Portrait of 6th-12th Grade Youth, Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute, 1993, p. 84)
This is true for me. People's emotions towards their parents are so varied, and usually so strong, so I was interested to see how different people would go about eating the cake (if they would be timid, which cake they would choose, and what part of the head they would eat).
The concepts behind this project are flowing at me now.
