Stained Glass Pizza

Pizza and prisms? Well, let’s just say that I’m a very big fan of Gothic stained-glass windows and garlicky stuffed crust. What inspired me to create this piece was translating the idea of “culinary arts” into a literal, tangible object. I do believe that culinary arts are included within the arts because food is created with intention, it can be viewed and critiqued, ingredients and placement of food items can be manipulated and fashioned in a way to create color contrast or balance, a unique presentation, and some type of art form. I wanted to create a piece that would imitate a type of art work in that it would take the shape of the work and ingredients normally used for this food, would be manipulated in such a way to imitate the pieces used to create the piece. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to make pizza because I knew it was something that most people, including myself, would recognize and enjoy. Pizza is also circular and shareable. People can gather around the pizza, grab a slice, and chat with one another, like a circle of friends. Then the idea of creating a stained-glass pizza came from researching the origins of pizza. I found that pizza was first created in Gaeta, Italy. So, from there, I researched Gaeta, Italy and fell in love with the featured Cathedrals and Churches such as the San Giovanni a Mare church. From there I zoomed in further on the cathedrals to explore its designs and became intrigued by the circular stained-glassed windows featured in cathedrals. Stained-glassed windows have also intrigued me because of the meticulous work that goes into to creating this object and light reflected on its glass produces a prism of colors. These colors are what illuminate the cathedrals and create an atmosphere of wonder and awe (that ultimately emphasize the idea of passion, wonder, and awe of God). The circular stained-glass windows also take this idea further with the emphasis of the eternal circle, they can reflect, perhaps the eternal light and love for God? Stained-glass windows are also very recognizable and enjoyable so I wanted to combine the two recognizable elements to reflect both the culinary and visual arts of Gaeta, Italy and the Italian and Gothic culture. The process, of course, was not easy just as the process of actually creating the stained-glass windows was not easy. It was meticulous work indeed from creating the intricate stencil for stained-glass design to chopping up the peppers and placing them in strategic places around the pizza. Originally, I had wanted to replicate the Cathedral of Notre Dame’s circular stained-glassed window, but I found it to be too complicated, however, I simplified it and used it as the basis for my design. It was also frustrating baking the pizza because the oven in the WC kitchen seems to only work when it wants to work, so the baking process took longer than necessary. Yet overall, it was a rewarding process because I was able to get the results I had hoped for. Stepping back from it, I would say that my work is mainly communicating the idea of culinary arts imitating visual arts on a more literal level. That is, that my pizza is meant to be seen as not a pizza or a food item, but rather a stained-glass that just so happens to be edible. It also communicates the idea of friendship and fellowship with its circular design that encourages people to gather around and share and connect with one another just as people do when they go to church. The piece also demonstrates connection to one another in that it is divided into slices though each slice is slightly connected to one another to form a whole. It forms a body just as people congregate in a church to form a body—perhaps the body of Christ? I used red, orange, and yellow peppers to create the stained-glass and also because they are bright and striking colors. I wanted to pick colors that have an illuminative quality to them and those stood out among the other peppers and vegetables. I then used the cheese to create the design lines and sauce to imitate the concrete in which the stained-glass pieces (or in this case, stain-glassed peppers) are placed. For composition, I based my idea of another stained glass window featuring the colors red, orange, and yellow and used to guide me. In all, I am very pleased with this work because I did more research into this than I have done for past works. If I could change anything, I would use more ingredients to enhance the taste but still keep the same color scheme. I’d also make a bigger piece to be able to have more people gather around and share.