By Amy Zurcher
Photo by Adam Kuehl
Photo by Chia Chong, pen and ink by Stephanie Howard
“What’s up, doc?” What’s up is that, much to my surprise, I can scarcely find any fine art that focuses on the splendor that is the carrot. So slender, so sweet and so versatile. Why oh why have the artists forsaken you, my friend?! I imagined there to be many a still life painting just ready and posed for the ooohing and aahing moment of my discovery. My dearest carrot, I envisioned you stealing the show, adding just the right off-kilter asymmetrical one-two punch needed in any good composition. How could the artists not see all your accolades? Don’t they know that you, you could reliably deliver that perfect and much needed vertical or horizontal (you are flexible, too, no?) angle to any artistic or styling endeavor and talk of color? Oh where to begin singing your praises in terms of color- deep, rich , vibrant orange; so unusual and underrated in nature! What more could they ask for? Why, dear carrot, have the artists shunned you?
Photo by Adam Kuehl, cloche by Katie Runnels, Silver pitcher and cup by Adam Smith, Melamine dishes by Working Class Studio
I envision the carrot as a perfect bouquet immersed in water with its luscious green leaves serving as a perfect, unexpected bouquet high above. I have included carrots in just this way in many a photo shoot. In defense of the carrot, I offer you now, dear reader, a styled shot of this very vegetable for your consideration. Perfect to both adorn the table and then munch on later! You can read more about this fun styling endeavor I did for a SCAD collaboration with two of my fave grads, Trish Andersen and Maureen Walsh, by clicking on this blog post from another SCAD alum, Katie Runnels (another fantastic artist and my all time BFF) You might notice in this shot some stacks of delightful melamine dishes and, as luck would have it, don’t you know one of them features a divine sprig of carrots! Que fantastico! These dishes were made by SCAD’s Working Class Studio and they feature four different vegetable designs on them by the late SCAD professor and distinguished illustrator Ben Morris. I cannot imagine a more perfect set of dishes for summertime entertaining… which leads me to my next question after why not more carrot art? With summertime weather in the air and summer itself on the horizon, what sort of artwork (still life of fruit and vegetables, pictures of the beach?) gets you in the mood for summer?
