Artist Spotlight: Danielle Brutto

Sunday, September 14, 2014

We're teaming up with WonderRoot to highlight local artists from their 2014 Art CSA. Inspired by agricultural CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), they have set up a Community Supported Art program in which folks can buy a share and get 6 unique piece of art created by local artists. Shares are still available so don't miss your chance to enjoy curated local art for a great price!

Our Eat Local Art Local partnership will highlight each of these local artists as they prepare for the debut of their artwork at their Pick Up Party. The first Pick Up Party is this Wednesday, September 17th from 6:30pm to 8pm at the Hammonds House Museum, featuring two very talented local artists: Joe Tsambiras and Danielle Brutto. The event is open to everyone and anyone. You can RSVP here.

We know that cooking is an art, so we wanted to see what local artists thought of the G&G experience. I stopped by Danielle Brutto's studio, YOLKspace, to chat with her about her art, her experience with G&G and her favorite foods. 

G&G: What inspired the name YOLKspace?

Danielle: I really like eggs. It's kind of weird. The nutritional value of an egg is contingent on the yolk. I'm definitely pro full-egg-consumption. I went through a ton of names but I decided on YOLKspace because it's almost a lot like an egg: isolated. I also love the image.

G&G: Tell me about your process.

Danielle: I don't sit down with a reference image and render an exact replica of reality. I'm more interested in the action of painting. I start with a blank white canvas. Then I make a mess with ink, paint and pieces of paper. I rip them up and throw them up like confetti then glue them where they land. I work with the canvas laying flat on the floor and I get up on my latter and drop from above. The tarps that I paint on will actually become paintings themselves eventually.

G&G: How did you develop your style?

Danielle: It started with a golf landscape I made for my dad. I never did give it to him. I keep telling him I have to finish it. At a certain point, you have more art than you sell and you are left with a bunch of stuff. So I just started ripping it up and gluing it to each other.  I like the phenomenon of mistakes. 

G&G: What inspires you?

Danielle: My grandma's pallet. I still paint with it. Her last painting was of a golf landscape (My dad loves golf). I liked it better before with all the green on it. I actually liked her pallet better than her paintings. It is a piece of art. 

G&G: What do you love about Atlanta

Danielle: My favorite thing about this city is there are as many people here who don't know about all the cool local stuff as there are who do know about it. And there are people out there trying to get it known by everyone.

G&G: Tell us about your piece for WonderRoot's CSA.

Danielle: I am focusing on mountains and making agitated landscapes. That's my whole thing right now. Mountains are so magestic. I have also been inspired by Japanese prints: the harmony of masculine & feminine, ying and yang. I like acknowledging and respecting the natural world.  Instead of creating a painting that looks like a photo, I think the agitated landscape is more accurate. All my pieces will be unique. I am making 4 sets of 10 and will treat them like 1 big piece. 

G&G: You made the Tomato & Mushroom Gratin with Arugula & Goat Cheese Salad. Tell us about your G&G  experience?

I really, really enjoyed it. The whole experience was pleasant: from unloading the ingredients to getting down to cooking. The packaging was really beautiful and everything was fresh. The recipe was easy to follow and the gratin and salad turned out perfect. I felt really proud of the great state of Georgia for producing such amazing, delicious veggies - the parsley was a gorgeous green...so crisp and healthy! You could tell a lot of love went into putting everything together, from the farm to my kitchen and every step in between.

G&G: What do you usually like to cook?

I love to cook, but sometimes it's hard to grocery shop and adjust recipes to feed one person. I usually make soups or grainy salads that can be prepared, saved, and then reheated throughout the week. I usually keep things simple. Basic ingredients and spices. Lots of eggs and avocados to keep things bulky - lemon and garlic to jazz things up. Hot sauce finds its way onto most of what I make for myself, but I'm a glutton for spicy. I also love baking.

G&G: What does local mean to you? Why is it important?

Local to me means supporting our neighbors and our home. It is important because there is no better place to do a lot with very little than in your own city and state. My feelings about shopping local bring to mind that quote about making changes in yourself before you can effectively make changes the world - our city would be a completely different place if we consistently indulged our local business, farmers, and artisans the way we indulge big business. Being in physical bodies makes us consumers by default, but we have a choice about what and how we buy. Tons could be done for economy and the country and maybe even the world if we sought out all the great resources we have around us and put priority into supporting them. Hitting up the local farmers market is really fun and can be just as convenient as swinging by the grocery with simple changes of habit. Atlanta is full of great ideas, talent and delicious fresh fruits and veggies. When you make the choice to spend your money locally you enable the city to live up to its greatest potential. You allow people to make a living doing things they really care about. And you can rest easy knowing your dollars were well spent.

G&G: What do cooking & art share in common?

Well cooking itself is definitely an art form, so there's that. Cooking and painting are both very process based art forms. There is a specific order in which specific things need to happen, certain steps that need to take place, but still a lot of room for experimentation. The controls in cooking (baking temperature, chemical reactions of ingredients, etc.) lay a foundation for expression in the ways that color theory and the limitations of materials do in visual art. The finished product can always be tweaked and added to - strokes on a painting, spices to a soup, there's always something else that could be done differently that keeps you coming back to make something new. No two people make the same recipe the same way, just like no two people paint the same subject matter in the same way. And what a great way to show love to one another. Making someone a dish, or painting them a picture. They are both such intimate ways of communicating care and recognizing one another.