Artisan Bakers is part if a long history in which the creative processes of making food and making art are intertwined. Chefs, artists, and craftspersons are inspired by fresh local ingredients. The inspiration comes from finding gorgeous succulent food at the height of it’s season with an expressive curve, shape, texture, and color. The chef relies on mise en place, the artist his palette, the craftsperson his tools with which to shape inspiration into an idea and then into a finished piece. Sauces, measurements, underpaintings, instincts, decoration, strength, composition, subtle nuances, and stark contrasts blend in a mixture of creative juices. The processis like a dance, both choreographed and full of happy accidents. What emerges whether it's a painting, a performance, a fine soup or a loaf of bread is built of layers of history and meaning which evoke a flood of memories when it is tasted and savored.

In Northern California the local grass to flavors sheeps and goats milk for artisan cheeses, wine makers take advantage of the local soil and weather to flavor their grapes, bakers use the bacteria in the air to flavor their sourdough. Chef Thomas Keller* uses a painters palette knife as a spatula to apply icings and to turn the delicate food that he gets from local farms. Artist Wayne Thiebaud paints pictures of the local landscapes using a similar palette knife and the fields he paints look like frosting.

In this section the culinary arts are blended with the visual arts. Click on a thumbnail picture below to view a changing exhibition of art inspired by food and food inspired by art. Included are recipes, cooking tips and moments of food and art.