Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Ciffone.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Everything I ever learned about cooking was revealed to me in my grandmother’s and mother’s kitchen. Except for a few vacations, we did little else together as an extended family but eat. What we ate, why we were eating it, who was cooking it or not, where we were eating it, were all important decisions surrounding every one of my Italian family dinners. Almost every event involved food. And sometimes it seemed that the event was just an excuse to eat. In particular to eat certain types of appropriately holiday prepared foods.
Oh sure, maybe other people remember family weekends at the lake or flag football in the yard with the men folk or sing-a-longs by the bonfire. But me, I revel in the memory of freshly made pasta laying on clean white sheets across my grandmother’s bed and the smell of semolina flour wafting through the living room. We experienced a great collective pride as we cast our gaze over the yards of fresh dough that would soon make everyone else in the family swoon when they tasted it.
On the day of the event all the relatives would congregate at the tiny Bronx apartment where my grandparents lived. The living room was the largest room and that was where a large table was set up. It was completely covered with what was normally hand embroidered linen and the all the dishes silverware and glassware would be on the table before anyone arrived. The men would occupy what available living room furniture they could find. The women went to the kitchen and the children were banished to playing in one of the crowded bedrooms in the back; but not I. I was in the kitchen with the adult women watching at first and then later performing the tasks of a line cook. I had no interest what-so-ever in the shenanigans going on that bedroom; I was cooking.
My parents eventually bought a townhouse and to us it was a mansion! That kitchen was large enough to have a dining room table in it. Now here was a place I could really cook! But that’s not what happened. My father passed away; my mother sold the house; and we moved into an apartment. It was there that my cooking journey really began. With my mother working and I home alone, I turned on to the TV. Julia Child and Graham Kerr (The Galloping Gourmet) became my mentors. I prepared dinner so my mother wouldn’t have to cook after a long day at work. I experimented frequently and she ate whatever I concocted. There were many mistakes and I learned from them all.
I don’t know what other latch key kids did at home alone but I created “Food World”. Me and my friends Julia and Graham went through cook books, experimented with technique and sometimes produced an edible masterpiece or two. They were the best baby sitters ever!
At 22 years old, I relocated to Florida, where I taught art. A cameraman who noticed my talent with food motivated me to pursue becoming a professional food stylist by introducing me to a well-known food stylist who needed an assistant. and my career took off from there!
Please tell us about your art.
“We do eat with our eyes” was cited in the American magazine The Horticulturist in 1864. Food styling is in essence the art of “eating with your eyes”. Preparing food for photography means you must create a delicious looking dish or food item and decide what props best highlight the food so that the viewer sees something beautifully edible. Sometimes, I create beautifully styled food that is meant to make you see the food in a different paradigm or see the food in an intensely intimate way. Then sometimes I style food to elicit the promise of something sensorially exciting; the promise of something that is going to taste very delicious.
I have always been fascinated by the natural beauty of food. When I see a plate of food I see all the colors and textures of each item. The incredible Fibonacci like curl of an octopus tentacle or the beautiful chartreuse fractal of Romanesco or even a ray light going through a thin slice of lemon these are all things that I get excited about when working with food. Food is my medium. When I create beautiful food, it makes the viewer want to act; to make that recipe; to order that dish; to find those ingredients. That beautiful food turns a viewer into a participant; one who is inspired to go out and sensually engage in the experience they see in the photograph.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
There were always challenges for artists, craftsmen and craftswomen. It used to be difficult for people to find you and see your work. But today artwork is everywhere, online, on Facebook, on Instagram, on twitter even on the street. This makes it difficult to maintain your originality. It is so easy for an artist to be overly influenced by the easy availability of original work. The original creative concept or style becomes diluted by the influx so much derivative work.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Clients that need beautiful food for photography can see my work is on my website, my blog and my Instagram page.
I work on a team that includes the client, an art director, sometimes a prop-stylist and most importantly a good photographer. Clients can contact me and I can help them put together a creative food “team” that will meet their goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ciffone4food.com/
- Phone: 954.295.7935
- Email: lauraciffone@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraciffone/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura4food/
- Other: https://themixingspoon.weebly.com/blog
Soba Noodles
Image Credit:
Sid Hoeltzell
Eduardo Chacon
Ryan Blanski
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
