Fueled By Fun

Incredible Edible Art Show feeds month of creativity

"Chef doesn't really fit -- I'm not even sure what it means," says Jane M. Tucker. "I'm a really good cook. That's what I say [about myself]."

Tucker has been cooking, baking and serving at Ermilio's in Eureka Springs since "the very beginning" of the Italian restaurant 26 years ago. Fans of her food enthusiastically call her an artist, and she intends to embrace the title at the Incredible Edible Art Show, set for May 3 as part of the Eureka Springs Festival of the Arts. The event benefits the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, which Tucker calls "an incredible addition to Eureka Springs, a very natural fit in a town of 300-plus working artists. I can only see it growing and growing into a very important place for people to express themselves. You know, with artists they're going to have a million ideas!"

FAQ

Incredible Edible Art Show

WHEN — 3-7 p.m. May 3

WHERE — Eureka Springs School of the Arts, 15751 U.S. 62 west, Eureka Springs

COST — Suggested donation of $15

INFO — 253-5384

FYI

Eureka Springs

Festival of the Arts

Highlights

“Women of Substance” — With artist Lorna Trigg, April 30-May 2, Caribe

“Retro Rankine” — A retrospective, 5-8 p.m. May 1 at Brews

Artrageous Parade — 2 p.m. May 2, downtown

Crafts Fair — 9 a.m.-5 p.m. May 9, Pine Mountain Village

Mother’s Day Concert — With John Two-Hawks, 2 p.m. May 10, City Auditorium

White Street Walk — 4-10 p.m. May 15

Made by Me Makers Fair — 10 a.m.-8 p.m. May 16, North Main Street

Books in Bloom — Noon-5 p.m. May 17, Crescent Hotel

Up Project Ribbon Cutting — 5:30 p.m. May 29, Center & Spring streets

“Suspended Yarnimation” — With art by Gina Gallina, 6-8 p.m. May 30, Norberta Philbrook Gallery

— Source: eurekaspringsfestiv…

The Incredible Edible Art Show was an idea whose time had come ... again.

"Every spring, ESSA is in need of a fundraiser to bridge the income gap until our workshop season kicks in full speed in June," says Peggy Kjelgaard, the school's executive director. "I have a very creative board, and it was their idea to resurrect the Incredible Edible Art Show and competition. I guess there was a history of Incredible Edible Art back in the '70s and '80s. We huddled, and before I knew it, we had this grand fundraiser being planned that would also serve as an open house to share all our newly renovated studios.

"You do not have to be a seasoned artist to participate," Kjelgaard adds. "It's about having fun with art."

Tucker is willing to give away only so much about her entry and that of her partner, Danny Morris, resident artist at ESSA.

"He will have a savory entry -- and I believe there is a beach theme," she says. "Mine will be art themed, I will say that about it. There may be a Mexican theme to the actual food. It will be very colorful."

Oddly, Tucker never studied art -- or cooking, for that matter, unless you count her childhood.

"I always cooked," she says, "and was always watching my grandmothers and my mother cook. My mother was always very creative -- the first on my block to introduce pizza and chop suey! She was always willing to think out of the box -- still is, at 94."

Tucker was at college at what is now the University of Central Arkansas -- with Spanish as a minor and a nebulous major -- when she and a friend visited Eureka Springs in 1970.

"We didn't leave," she says simply. She didn't go back to school, instead enrolling in what she calls "the University of Eureka Springs."

"In 1970, it was a far different looking town than it is now," she remembers. "Many of the houses and buildings in the downtown area were abandoned, closed up. But it still had the charm that attracts everybody to Eureka -- that 'ah, I have found it.' And there were a few counterculture people in town, so we just sort of felt right at home."

During that time, Tucker did get some experience in edible art, as she and her band, the Greasy Greens, entered a Little Rock showcase with a watermelon blimp that hung from the ceiling. "It was really quite a feat," she recalls, laughing. And she once invited guests to a party in the Riverside Drive neighborhood of Little Rock by printing the particulars on tortillas and mailing them in zip-lock bags. "It was the '70s," she says, laughing again.

Kjelgaard expects the Incredible Edible Art Show to be just as much fun.

"We lined up three amazing 'secret' judges for the food art competition and then came up with the awards," she says, "the Georgia O'Keeffe for Beauty, the Jackson Pollock for Crazy [and the] Charles Schulz for Witty. So, now we look forward to having many food art entries and passionate spectators that want to party with us."

NAN What's Up on 04/24/2015

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