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Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
Montana is no stranger to the mining industry. Throughout Montana’s past, gems and precious metals have been the dream for many miners. This domed cake dessert inspired by these geological landmasses is platted on a traditional large dinner plate. While the white slip that covers this plate fades in and out through variations of thickness a blue vain of underglaze can be seen through it. This blue represents the different strata of precious minerals and metals that can be found deep within many of the mountains across Montana.
Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
Underground copper mining has been in action since the 1870’s in Butte, Montana and has resulted in over 49 miles of vertical shafts and 5,600 miles of horizontal work ways. This small square plate was inspired by the copper mining in Butte and natural clay of the area. The plate is made from a mixture of locally found clay and other stable materials. Through its form and loose shape the plate symbolize the digging of earth during the copper mining process. Just like dried cracked earth the edges of the plate are turned upward and pinched to mimic the cracking earth during the dry season in Montana.
Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
Through this traditional Stir-Fry dish with elk as the protein, I was inspired to directly represent not just the animal but the lands within Montana which they live. The simple round plate is colored with brown and yellow underglaze using loose brush work to represent the flowing fields of brown and yellow grasses which Elk herds migrate through. The bottom of this plate is created from a casted mold of an actual elk antler and cut apart to create the feet on which this plate rests. The brown clay covered with white slip gives the antler parts a look of bone while also abstractly representing time and age of a antler lost in the fields for many seasons.
Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
The Badlands of Montana are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. With this in mind, I looked to directly represent the idea of clay and earth as material in the final piece. I also wanted to directly show the elevation mapping of this unique region of Montana. To do this, I went online and researched 3D printing sources and found a website called Terrain2STL. This website gave me the ability to select a specific area of the Montana Badlands and translate them into a 3D printed model. Once the prototype was printed I created a plaster mold and then using a process called Slip-casting I was able to recreate the model as a porcelain ceramic bowl.
Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
Trout is a very common fish in the Clark Fork river which stretches from East Montana to the West. This dish was created from a traditional earthenware clay body which has a rich red color that mimics the rocks and sediment that lay at the bottom of the river. The pot was then glazed with a white majolica glaze to create a blank canvas for the food to exist within. At the bottom of the plate is a direct representation of the path the Clark Fork river takes from a local map of the region. This design was first created as a computer file then cut out of a sticker like vinyl and placed on the plate before glazing. To further represent the river, I then painted multi colored river rocks around the outside of the plate.
Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
The Bison, or Buffalo, is an iconic animal of Montana while Flathead cherries are some of the best in the world. To highlight these iconic foods I decided to create a more traditional round dinner plate. The plate is textured with horizontal lines and then covered with a white slip that pools in the textured lines of the plate. This simple technique creates a beautiful abstract representation of an eastern Montana landscape during the winter when these wild game herds move across the open plains of Montana. To get a white, to grey, to blue look that exists within these landscapes I fired the plate in a Soda Kiln. The volatile reaction of adding soda ash in a kiln that is over 2200 degrees Fahrenheit creates minimal and beautifully subtle surface changes in color resembling the look of moonlight on a Montana field.
Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
The Blackfeet Indian Reservation is home to the 17,321 members of the Blackfeet Nation, one of the 10 largest tribes in the United States and is located in northwest Montana. This location also has one of the largest Bison populations in Montana thanks to the Blackfeet Bison project. For this plate I wanted to represent the land and the idea of creating stability of not only food production but also the animals population. To do this I used a black dense clay body to create a heavy brick like plate. The plate is unglazed and raw on all sides except the the top. The top is colored green with underglaze with a clear glaze for easy cleaning. The black clay with the green top is symbolic representation of a block of earth taken from the area with the dirt and green grass growing from it.
Big Sky Culinary Institute Collaboration
Kamut wheat is an ancient form of wheat and is becoming one of the most desired wheats in Montana’s Golden Triangle, which is the epicenter of wheat production located near Great Falls. The Plate design for this bread was inspired by the ground which this wheat grows along side its rich history. The Plate is made from a dense black clay of my own design. The visual and literal heaviness of the plate and the treatment of the surface, being raw and unglazed, represents the earth of Montana and the geological stone found near Great Falls. The jam cup, which represents the kamut plant, was made from fine english porcelain due to its history as a ceramic material and the notions of fragility and preciousness which is inherently present in its context. Using a technique called water etching I inlayed the wheat stalk designs as a subtle nod to the original plant and an echoing of the patterning of the bread.
Photos by Emma Zilber @emmazphoto
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