Dinner with Artists at the von Liebig Art Center

Stevan Stanisic
Oct 15, 2013
2 min read

The von Liebig Art Center is the educational and teaching facility of the Naples Art Association (Naples Art Association).

They have started an interesting series of events named “A-Muse:Dinner with Artists” (AMDA). These events pair an artist with a chef. This is part of a greater series called Art Connects (Art Connects) which connects the community with art in many ways other than visually.

The first event paired Chef Brian Gorman from the catering company Artichoke and Company (Artichoke and Company) with Leigh Herndon(Leigh Herndon Artist). Lee is a Rozome (Rozome Art) artist. This is a Japanese silk screening (Screen Printing) technique using waxes to get unusual colors and patterns. This is similar to batik (Batik) which has it’s roots in Indonesia. To complement the art, the food was Asian-themed.

The gallery where AMDA took place was nicely appointed with submissions to the 6th Annual Show of Shows (6th Annual Show of Shows). This is made up of submissions from Naples Art Association members. I was more than happy to contribute a submission to this year’s show.

Various beverages were available to participants

in addition to a good selection of nibbles prior to dinner.

Seared sea scallops with an orange glaze,

shrimp spring rolls wrapped in rice paper and served with a ginger aromatic sauce

and steamed duck pot stickers with a Thai peanut dressing.

I had a chance to talk to Chef Brian (CB) about his business and his thoughts on food. Artichoke and Company has been around since 1986 but CB has owned it since 1997. It used to be a retail operation but for the past few years has morphed into a catering business. CB is of the opinion, and I agree, that food is an art form. Design and color are important to CB when visualizing a dish just as a sculptor or painter would take this into consideration as well.

Leigh Herndon (LH) gave the participants a demonstration of her technique.

Although not finished

her design incorporated elements of the evening such as an artichoke, asparagus, shrimp, sushi and broccoli.

LH also had some of her wearable art in the other wing of the building.

Dinner was served buffet style and was wonderful. Two assorted sushi boats,

beef with broccoli with an Asian ginger dressing,

grilled salmon topped with a julienne of vegetables with a soy ginger dressing

and grilled asparagus with lump crab meat and an Italian parsley dressing.

Dessert was banana and caramel chocolate wontons (Wonton)