Along with new works that are being shown this week at The Spring Street Gallery, Leslie Hartnett has a new recipe book, in which she has created a painting of the ingredients for a wide array of recipes. We reached out to Leslie via email to talk a little bit about the book, which is titled “Eat the Paintings.”
BITimes: This is a delightful recipe book. I’m curious as to how the idea came to you. Were you arranging the fruits and vegetables for a painting, decide to use them for dinner, and have an “aha!’ moment for the book? Or was it something more thought out?
LH: I’ve always loved the visual aspects of fruits and vegetables. I love to cook them, grow them, shop for them and all of this is expressed in my work. For many years I have made terra-cotta Majolica reliefs of fruits, vegetables and flowers and this past winter I decided to make paintings of them instead.
BIT: Did all the food come from your garden, or is it local produce?
LH: My husband Sean and I have spent winters for the past 25 years in Pietrasanta, Italy which is on the
