Feast your eyes: Art exhibition explores the role of food in holidays

Lujain Mohamed, Contributing Writer

Crossroads Art Center held the opening night for their new juried exhibition “Feast” on Nov. 15, which will be open until Jan. 5, 2025.

Artists were encouraged to create pieces based on their interpretation of the theme “Feast,” which could include cultural celebrations, historical feasts, fantasy feasts, abstract interpretations or other interpretations suggested on the Crossroads webpage.

Jenni Kirby, the owner of Crossroads Art Center, said she and her colleagues were looking for a fun theme that worked for the holidays.

“This theme just seemed to be appropriate,” Kirby said. “There are lots of different ways you can take the theme and just run with it.”

They received art pieces with a variety of interpretations, which is what she was hoping for given the event’s broad theme, Kirby said.

Kirby said she was happy to receive pieces like those depicting Roman dinners, different holiday celebrations and animals feasting in the wild.

“It was great to have different interpretations of ‘Feast,’ and for the holidays, it just seemed to be the right choice,” Kirby said.

Three pieces from the show were named winners, and one piece was given the title of honorable mention.

First place was “Tomato Medley” by Mike Habenstock, which features a wide variety of tomatoes, creating a “tomato feast.”

“Blue Bird Feast” by Russell Brown, which depicts a family of bluebirds feasting on seeds, was given second place.

Third place was granted to “Feast Your Eyes on Nature: A Scene in Four Seasons at Hollywood Cemetery,” by Kristin Beauregard, who took a more abstract approach, by depicting animals “feasting” on nature with their eyes.

Richard Rowley’s “High Alert” was named as an honorable mention, which features a close-up painting of a vibrant blue crab.

“A crab is edible, but a crab is also looking for something to eat,” Kirby said. “And he looks like he is on ‘high alert,’ so nobody eats him.”

 Rowley’s piece was one of her favorite pieces from the exhibition, Kirby said.

“I’m really happy this piece was chosen as an honorable mention,” Kirby said. “He’s also just beautiful and the colors are gorgeous.”

“Feast” was juried by Alexis Shockley, the manager of the arts at VCU’s MCV campus, with whom Kirby enjoys working.

“She’s a good person,” Kirby said. “We have worked together before, and we work together well.”

Shockley said she enjoyed jurying a show with such a wide variety of interpretations.

“The artwork represented all different interpretations of what a feast could be,” Shockley said. “Whether it’s food itself, animals feasting or a bountiful amount of something. So it was really interesting to see what the word feast means to different artists in the community.”

Shockley said she kept the variety of interpretations in mind when coming up with criteria for jurying the pieces.

“I didn’t want it to be just a direct, someone sitting at the table feasting or necessarily just like a table full of food,” Shockley said.

It was important to keep an open mind when jurying this show, according to Shockley.

“I had to keep reminding myself that my own reflection on what something means isn’t necessarily what others, or artists think,” Shockley said.

Yomna Abdelkader, an attendee of the exhibition two weeks after its opening night, said she likes the simplicity of many of the pieces.

“I really enjoyed the fact that the theme ‘Feast,’ which usually implies abundance, can be translated into such effortlessly beautiful pieces,” Abdelkader said. “The artists didn’t take the easier route of leaning into maximalism.”

Abdelkader said the piece “High Alert” stuck out to her from the exhibition.

“It’s casual, yet captivating and vibrant, which invites you into the scene without overcomplicating it,” Abdelkader said.