This ceramic installation is a response to the invitation as one of the guest artists in the International Museum of Dinnerware Design’s Fifth Invitational and Juried Exhibition in, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, I have visited many countries outside the USA in South America, Europe, and Asia. I have lived in Mexico and Spain for extended amounts of time. I appreciate and eat all kinds of food. I have chosen to represent mealworms for a variety of reasons. Mealworms probably originated in the Mediterranean area or Africa. Their consumption may be traced to the Bronze Age in Turkey. People eat them, they are used as pet food and used for scientific research. They are also pests because they grow so easily in stored grains. The United Nations estimate that one quarter of the world’s population eat insects as part of their standard diet. Mealworms provide fantastic nutrients, such as protein and iron. The idea of creating a ceramic installation, “The Daily Special”, using mealworms in an approximation of fast food in the USA, one of the few countries where insects are not consumed as part of our daily food menu, appeals to me, especially because it is a direction in which we must eventually find a way to embrace. Overall, we are going to have to find sources of food in the USA that do not contaminate our environment.
The installation is composed entirely of clay, except the hand-made hot-glass polished ice cubes placed in the wheel-thrown porcelain cup. It is kiln-fired at Cone 10 (2300℉). The size of the installation is 4.5” H x 17.0”W x 12.5” D.
Click on image to view gallery
Click on image to view gallery
