Combining Culinary With The Camera

Utensils In Still LifePublished in The Green Mountain Outlook, April 14, 2010 BELLOWS FALLS, VT - The Green Mountain Outlook office recently welcomed the photography of Bellows Falls, Vermont residents Elissa Descoteau and Roberto Gautier, whose "Utensils In The Still Life Tradition" prints are currently gracing the Red Wall Gallery at the office on The Square in Bellows Falls.
The couple is originally from Brooklyn, where Roberto owned a successful creperie and in fact, even appeared on the Emeril Food Network show. Their "kitchen art" photography is bold-yet-delicate, rustic-yet-colorful. "We've been working on this project since 2005," Roberto stated in a recent interview.
"Roberto was teaching a college course in hospitality management and dining room service in both ends of our house, Elissa added. "The students were not able to identify all the various utensils, therefore it gave us the idea to photograph the items. We waited for days until the sun would shine the brightest against an old, chipped ruin of a wall beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Knowing that the light would only last an hour or two, we quickly packed our bags with utensils and cooking implements."
Elissa would use a simple fairly camera to set up the shots against the wall, propping up knives in wall cracks, hanging eggbeaters from strings and balancing cups from ledges. "The wall's faded yellow and brick
colors created a sort of Mediterranean feel," Elissa Utensils In Still Life Tradition: Joe Milliken photoadded.
"Everyday objects from the kitchen were now suspended out of their natural element. This was our ode to the kitchen , where knives and espresso cups posed and became stars."
The exhibit consists of several striking, still life photographs of various kitchen items such as a chef's French knife, a long-handled copper pot, a Turkish coffee grinder or the aforementioned antique espresso cup.
To learn more about the artists or inquire about their art works, contact Elissa at Hermacinda@aol.com