Madison Goad

About
Class of 2020
Actuarial Science Major and Art+Design Minor

Statement
Culture too Big for a Petri Dish

In the past few years, there has been an increasing interest in getting rid of the middle man by making or growing your own food. People are raising their own chickens for eggs, brewing their own beer, and making their own bread. Although this series was cut short, its purpose is to encourage the public to continue this trend by featuring bright, colorful paintings of homemade goods.

These paintings all came through personal experiences of brewing kombucha and pickling vegetables. The first painting, The Mother (Scotel Motel Holiday Inn), is inspired by the fact that the SCOBY, symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, is often referred to as a “mother” which then turned into a play off of the Virgin Mary, which then absolutely transformed the series as it lead to my discovery of gold leaf. The gold carried on into Pickle Me Pink, a painting of my first time pickling onions which turned the white flesh of the vegetables a beautiful magenta. Although the first two paintings of the series resemble a science experiment of sorts, they’re my cherished introduction into this massive community of homesteading; therefore, I seriously hope they inspire others to look into and consider brewing or pickling their own foods.

The final painting of the series currently is meant to serve almost as a fun warning as it reflects the explosive energy that comes with fermenting your own foods. If you forget to burp your jars and bottles, they most definitely will explode. However, ideally this painting will rope in the adrenaline junkies as the anticipation of opening a bottle can get the blood pumping.