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Edible Art Tour at Meyer East Gallery February 22, 2008

Santa Fe, NM– The Meyer East Gallery is excited to be part of the ArtFeast Edible Art tour. The gallery will feature the trompe l’oeil paintings of children’s drawings by Natalie Featherston and the French café scenes on Danny McCaw. The gallery will be partnering with Chef Stacy Pearl of Walter Burke catering for the event taking place on February 22, 2008 from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM. Tickets are available at Tickets Santa Fe 505-988-1234 or boxoffice@lensic.com, http://www.ticketssantafe.com.

Now in its 11th season, ArtFeast is heralded as one of the most inspired reasons for a getaway. The weekend of festivities celebrates the City Different’s world-class chefs and restaurants, an international array of vintners, original designer fashions and unique homes, along with nationally and regionally prominent artists represented by members of the Santa Fe Gallery Association. All of this fun and food helps young people develop the skills needed to creatively respond to life.

Exquisite sculpture, masterful paintings, and other great works of fine and folk art have inspired some of Santa Fe’s renowned chefs to prepare culinary delights served during the Edible Art Tour. The doors to more than 30 of Santa Fe’s finest art galleries welcome guests to this unique visual and culinary feast. World-class pottery, paintings, sculpture, photography, art glass, prints, and weavings are among the treasures displayed during the three-hour event. Wander through the Downtown and on Canyon Road, sampling sumptuous fare along the way. Free shuttle buses join the two areas and make multiple stops throughout the event.

Stacy Pearl of Walter Burke Catering will be the chef featured at Meyer East Gallery is from Brooklyn New York. While at Rhode Island School of Design she studied painting and printmaking. She soon realized making a living was a challenge she had never realistically planned for. This led her to quit art school and return to New York to apprentice at some of the city's most interesting catering kitchens and restaurants. She soon diversified and became a private chef to the rich and famous. In an effort to find an interesting and amusing life she has lived and worked in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Rome, Italy. In 1996 she opened her own restaurant in Williamsburg Brooklyn. For three years she lived in London England cooking Southwestern cuisine in a trendy Notting Hill restaurant. Upon returning to the States she finally found a good man, married, and moved to the southwest. Besides cooking and making art, she is also partners with her husband in a modern furniture business.

The now you see it now you don’t still life and Trompe l’oeil paintings of artist Natalie Featherston combine superb technical mastery with a delicious wit that captivates viewers who are mesmerized by their virtuosity, humor and charm. As a result, Featherston is considered one of the nation’s most innovative contemporary artists. “The reason Natalie can be humorous is because of her flawless ability,” says Kent Whipple, Director of Meyer East Gallery.

Unlike most contemporary artists, many of whom are working in mixed media gadgetry recently developed by the latest cyber guru, handy with a dot or a com, Featherston works in the centuries old realm of still life, which she uses to create narratives and Trompe l’oeil paintings in a style similar to the 17th Century Dutch Masters. Featherston’s vision is anything but dated, though. Her work is an up-to-date commentary, a gentle spoof that is pretty, witty and wise.

Featherston’s ‘Young Artist Shows Promise’ series takes refrigerator art to the next level. These Trompe l’oeil paintings of children’s drawings are fascinating: the titles alone are hilarious. Study in Little Piggy Pink would catch anybody’s eye. As the viewer moves closer, one realizes that what appears to be a Crayola masterpiece scribbled on Mom’s day out is really fine art with plenty to say, in other words, a visual quip.

Danny McCaw is the youngest son of highly acclaimed American Expressionist Dan McCaw, and brother to abstract modern artist John McCaw. Danny began drawing and painting at an early age and in an atmosphere where materials and family encouragement were in abundance. His youthful drawings and paintings soon developed into mature individual statements. “I like Europe with all of the beautiful facades and ancient buildings,” says McCaw. “I was there last summer and took thousands of black and white photos. I love photography as that is where I get the majority of the ideas for my work.

Black and White photography gives a more dramatic feeling and mood.” McCaw favors dark colors that allow for light to work very dramatically on the canvas, working to have the light favor and very particular area of the canvas. “I used a primarily muted palette which really causes a strong use of light,” say McCaw. “I have recently completed one painting which shows a person walking in front of a building and the light just nicks the top of the figure. This is what I love about working with light in a painting.”

“McCaw then lets a canvas rest for a brief time then gets the look he is striving for by gently going back through the canvas and begins working the colors together. “I like to rub the work,” explains the artist. I also gaze a lot and find that his harmonizes the whole painting a helps me create a nice effect…working always for the light.” He also enjoys deconstructing a painting down and starting all over again.

Chef Pearl is planning on creating a menu around the work of both artists. It is guaranteed to be a beautiful, delicious and memorable night.