During March, 2009, I worked with ten Art and Design students to renovate a children's play area at Howard Davis Park, St Helier. The project will soon be completed and open for the public to use once again. Due to data protection reasons I am unable to publish images of the students working on site. We decided to work towards a jungle theme to compliment the surrounding plant life and used the images of Henri Rousseau as our stimulus for colour and motifs. The project was carried out over a period of five days and formed a work experience unit as the artists were working to a live brief.
Using relief on the panels will allow children to explore the flowers, footprints and leaves as their fingers trace the contours of each shape. In creating these forms we were exploring the notion of drawing in its widest sense and through creating images with non traditional drawing tools. Power tools were used instead of pencils.
The panels have now been finished using a weather proof paint and will be re-installed on the original metal frame.
In the winter of 2006 I worked for Trish and Ian Rodwell in the French Alps. Their gourmet ski chalet offers guests a chance to indulge in excellent food and wine whilst accessing beautiful snowy mountains during the day. It offered me the chance to master the perfect sponge cake, at altitude, and I started to get re-enthused about baking and cooking.
When I returned to Jersey from my travels, I started to work on my uncle's organic farm and have become interested in local and seasonal produce. I started to experiment with recipes old and new to sell at the local farmer's market in St Aubin. I want to sell to those who also care about the ingredients and origins of their food.
Each week I aimed to provide a cake using produce from the farm, something naughty and a recipe which would be delicious even though wheat and dairy free. Tea and Cake should be enjoyed by all.
I am certain I picked up a lot of my knowledge by osmosis from my mother as well as the time and patience from Trish.
Cakes, afternoon tea and baking have been vital to our family and we always had delicious treats waiting in the larder, cake box or biscuit tin. All waiting to feed, comfort, sustain and satisfy visiting family or friends. My many aunties have done the same and I'm always greeted with tea and cake at my grandmother's house too. Tea in fine cups, sat upon saucers, with a plate of perfectly sized baked goods to nibble on.
Exploring always makes me realise what I miss about my own culture even though tea and coffee have been adopted from others (with them arrive their loaded histories too). I hunt find myself wondering cities in search for a perfect cup of tea in just the right spot. My mouth barren with its absence.
I still aim to use as many local products as possible in my market cakes. These include butter, milk, cream from our island's dairies and free range organic eggs from Vers Les Mont Organic Farm. I also integrate the vegetables to conjure my delicious beetroot & apple cake or the carrot & courgette 1lb cake.
In addition to these I use Fair-Trade products which are in abundance from a growing list of locations.
Some of the successful recipes are listed here. Indulge and enjoy.
