All of these works are inspired by my research. I feel this thesis and body of work fits the theme of Food Justice in it examines how the intersection of ideals of conformity, uniformity, and optical perfection in Mid-Century American advertising, gender roles, food production, and social systems impacted gender, race, and sexual orientation representation and equity in the culinary industry, both contemporarily and historically. These artworks serve to reveal the xenophobic underpinnings of mid-century America that are a common thread between art and design, food and advertising, and domestic trends of the time.
Gastronaut: Exploring Retrofuturism & American Domesticity through Culinary Art History is a hybrid research-and-studio project that explores the intersection among science fiction, art history, and culinary history. An anthropological study of American culture through historical, aesthetic, and cultural materials including advertising, this project uses an unconventional organizational structure to present and synthesize my investigation of a diverse range of topics within culinary history as it relates to both art and art history. Such inquiries include, but are not limited to: domesticity and gender roles, feminism, the impacts of restrictions on gender, race, and sexual orientation on equity and representation in the food industry, and the cultural impact of technological innovation on the food industry from the mid-twentieth century forward. The written analysis of this research is supplemented with artworks of my own creation inspired by my findings. These artworks serve to reveal the xenophobic underpinnings of mid-century America that are a common thread between art and design, food and advertising, and domestic trends of the time.
This project was initially completed as the fulfillment of an Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry Grant, funded by my alma mater, Towson University, lasting from May 2020-August 2020. Over the grant period, I accumulated research, developed an in-depth outline, wrote a 15-page research summary, and created a body of studio work inspired by my research. Upon completion of the grant, I presented my work at Towson’s Undergraduate Research Symposium in October 2020, and then went on to expand my research from the grant and write an approximately 25-page thesis, for which I was awarded Departmental Honors upon graduating in December 2020.
I feel this thesis and body of work fits the theme of Food Justice in it examines how the intersection of ideals of conformity, uniformity, and optical perfection in Mid-Century American advertising, gender roles, food production, and social systems impacted gender, race, and sexual orientation representation and equity in the culinary industry, both contemporarily and historically. This submission, if accepted, could take a variety of forms: the written research only, both the research and visual art components, or the body of work only.
Jackie Andrews (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and an emerging scholar of art history and culinary history based in rural Maryland.
She graduated with Departmental Honors in Sculpture and a minor in Art History from Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland in December 2020.
Jackie’s work has been exhibited in several galleries throughout the United States; at New York City Jewelry Week 2019; and at Munich Jewelry Week 2020. In May 2020, Jackie was the recipient of an Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry Grant at Towson University for her culinary art history passion project, Gastronaut. She co-founded Power Clash Art, a digital publication for emerging artists and artist professionals, in July 2020. She currently works as a freelance writer.