Playing with food may be forbidden by mothers everywhere, but it's a prerequisite for artists specializing in creative food art. Unlike decorative cakes and frozen soups, however, modern foot art often inclines to the playful, humorous, or macabre. Carved faces, poseable limbs, ironic poses: all these and more become the building blocks to creative food photos.
While some might dismiss them as whimsy pieces mass-emailed by fans to make people smile, others find the time and creativity invested in fruit and veggie art no different than creating a doll, sculpting paper mache, or decorating an art-deco wedding cake.
Creating Food Art
Despite the challenging appearance of carved fruit faces or poseable veggie people, the art form is surprisingly easy for novice artists with a penchant for art experimentation. A variety of tools and techniques result in unique pieces, with inspiration available in the form of extreme pumpkin carving and vintage Mr. Potato Head designs.
To craft poseable, miniature limbs or facial features that attach to the fruit, use paper mache or clay to sculpt the pieces to size, molding the joint of each piece over a simple thumbtack for piercing the fruit's skin or thin shell. For a quick creative alternative, use plastic accessories for Barbie or action figures to save sculpting time on pieces like shoes, swords, and other items.
Tips for Carving Faces
Carving faces on melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, pears, and other fruits with sturdy flesh is simply a matter of practice and concentration. While the special kits are available for pumpkin carving are handy when sculpting features for other fruits and veggies, a similar effect can be created with traditional art tools.
Recommended Materials:
- exacto knife
- potato peeler
- razor blade
- paring knife
- melon scoop
- large carving knife
- cordless drill with bits
A small, sharp blade allows carvers to remove the topmost layer of fruit skin, sculpting and carving features from the flesh below. Teeth, noses, and eyes are easy to sculpt using this method; accent eyes and nostrils with small items like beads, raisins, or dried seeds.
Use a large bread or carving knife to make deep incisions or dissections, such as hollowing pumpkins, carving cantaloupes, or transforming a watermelon into a fruit boat for posing characters.
For soft fruits like tomatoes or grapes, use the pin-prick features recommended above, since removing the skin from the soft flesh typically results in damage for inexperienced carvers.
Photographing Food Art
Photographing fruit and veggie characters is a matter of practice, but the rule of thumb for photographing inanimate objects is the same as people. Capturing expression and "life" is the goal, so view their faces, features, and poses through the lens as if these creations possess real expression.
Use neutral backgrounds or fabric backdrops to avoid a busy setting, with back and side lighting to help focus on the miniature features. Anchor props and characters using double-sided tape or sturdy supports, keeping the evidence carefully angled out of the lens focus. Many small mistakes in any photos can be easily corrected with digital image editing software.
Instead of simply dismissing those imagined features on scarred pumpkin flesh or a twisted nose on a tomato, become a Picasso or Monet of food art with a little imagination and practice. Both creative and fun, food art offers participants a hands-on art experience that brings out the hidden creativity in fruits and veggies with a sculptor's enthusiasm.
Resources:
- Elffers, Joost. Play With Your Food. Stewart, Tarobi & Chang, 1997.
- Hood, Vic. Extreme Pumpkin Carving: 20 Amazing Designs from Frightful to Fabulous. Fox Chapel Publishing, 2004.
Sarah Briggs - For the last two years, I have designed primitive dolls and folk art sculptures (such as Edwin Drood and the Ghost of Marley) for Cordwood ...
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