Opening Party for "Fancy Mud Pies" : Tuesday, Feb. 8

"Cooking is like love, it should be entered into
with abandon, or not at all."

-- Harriet Van Horne

In Cleo Papanikolas' novella Cook Until Desired Tenderness, layers of paintings, sketches, recipe cards, and handwritten notes tell the story of a young gourmand learning to live each day as a banquet, even when things get a little messy.

The tale, with its patchwork presentation, isn't far from the truth. When Papanikolas was two years old her parents went back to the land, launching the family headlong into a world of vegetables, sheep, chickens, and mud. The experience followed Papanikolas into adulthood where, as an artist, cook, and mother of her own young children she perfected her recipes, both real and make-believe, chronicling some of her escapades at www.cleomade.com.

With familiarity and humor, the paintings in Fancy Mud Pies capture what Papanikolas calls "the sense of beauty and chaos that is food." Whether picturing canaries perched atop popsicles or a faun encased mid-stride in a luminous serving of Jell-O, her juxtapositions offer a taste of a culinary wilderness which, while reverie, is remarkably recognizable as a metaphor for life.

"A Studio for the Imagination," Castle in the Air's shop and classroom have inspired local and visiting artists since 2001. Since its opening in 2009, the gallery in our upstairs loft has quite literally taken the inspiration to new heights and provided a venue to showcase current and historical works.