Presently on display in the Art and Music Center Gallery is “Food for Thought,” a joint exhibition by sisters Madeline Kaczmarczyk, adjunct associate professor of ceramics at Aquinas, and Darlene Kaczmarczyk, professor of photography at Kendall College of Art and Design. Self-explanatory and tongue-in-cheek, the show’s title aptly describes their work: thought-provoking pieces commenting on food. “Some look for an aesthetic experience that combines the senses,” Madeline said about her ceramic tea pots and mugs, “[and] others desire social communion and shared time together.” Darlene’s 50s-inspired advertising photographs likewise pertain to food by addressing food quality and wittily questioning the consumption of certain products.

While Madeline and Darlene have shown their work together before, this is their first time doing so at Aquinas, where only Darlene had previously exhibited her photography. The sentiment behind the project, Madeline said, was that “the combination of our work would make an interesting show. Although we did not collaborate on pieces in this show, I credit my installation piece using a photograph as being inspired by her work.” Even if not deliberately collaborating, the two artists are still sisters - which helps explain why they are drawn to the same subject matter yet approach it with diverse perspectives.

“We both grew up with the same influences,” Madeline said, “but have responded quite differently in our art work.” This is evident not only in their differing mediums of artistic expertise, but also in each artist’s thematic treatment of food. Darlene treats food ironically, exposing the various paradoxes in what advertisements would have consumers believe and the reality behind the product. Madeline focuses on the presentation and social meaning of food with the creation of teapots. Madeline was fascinated growing up with how adults around her had special china that was mostly for display and rarely used. “[Childhood] is where I first developed a love of teapots as a metaphor for celebration, comfort, socializing and the dream of upward mobility,” she said.

Artistic common ground is found in the sisters’ shared environmental interest in food. “As Darlene is concerned with the ‘frankenfoods’ of the 50’s which influenced cooks to turn from homemade meals to ‘science’ foods, I am becoming more aware of our interconnection with our food sources and natural environment,” Madeline said. An example of this is the juxtaposition of life and death in her piece “Memento Mori.” Darlene, for her part, photographs frozen and convenience foods “like Martha Stewart would,” she expressed in her artist’s statement, “using natural light, ‘home-spun’ fabrics and handmade pottery to indicate ‘naturalness,’ and includ[ing] of fresh foods, orchards, and fields of crops to indicate ‘freshness.’” Her goal is to experiment with, for example, how gelatin can be made to appear wholesome and healthy when in reality it has no nutritional value.

Madeline’s exhibition works are created out of thrown stoneware clay or in white china clay shaped by hand. “As a potter,” she affirms, “I try to think of forms that are not only aesthetically pleasing on their own, but challenging to me in terms of surface and design.” This is evident in her pieces which range from a very refined in appearance, glass-beaded tea set and to the robust, sculptural “Memento Mori” set.
On the fact that she and her sibling not only have a sister-to-sister relationship, but also an artist-to-artist relationship, Madeline said the following: “My sister has become over the years a wonderful friend, a professional mentor and a good artistic critic. When I invite comment she, like the good teacher she is, will ask more questions than give answers. Add to that our mutual interest in art shows, outsider art and travel, we have a great time together!”

Madeline also related her present position at Aquinas to her days as a young student. “Darlene and I both went to an all-girls Catholic high school in Detroit,” Madeline said. “I find it serendipity that so many years later I have been able to enjoy the intellectual challenge and community of the Dominican sisters.”

Food for Thought opened Sunday, February 19, 2012 and runs until Friday, March 23, 2012. Art and Music Center Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 2 to 6 p.m.