Late eighteenth century dessert table at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto
I have just had another extremely busy year and have had no time at all to contribute any new posts to this blog. However, as I have a little more time on my hands over the next few weeks I will resume posting again, as I do have a great deal to say.I have worked on two major museum projects this year with lots of TV and other media jobs thrown in. My most enjoyable and rewarding project was the installation of the c.1790s dessert table pictured above, which can now be viewed at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. I will tell you more very soon in another post devoted to this lovely installation. The other important task was to recreate an earlier dessert centrepiece from a mid-eighteenth century design for the wonderful exhibition The Edible Monument, which is showing at the moment at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Here is a photograph of the finished assemblage of sugar sculpture, parterres etc on my kitchen table before it was shipped to California. I will also be posting a detailed account of this in the not too distant future.
Ivan's installation for the Getty Research Institute exhibition The Edible Monument
In the meantime, here is a warning of a few events I am involved in over the next few months. I am afraid they are a bit international, but I hope to see some of you there.December 9th 2015. College by Candlelight. I will be exploring the 500 year old history of celebratory dining at the Royal College of Physicians in London with silver expert Christopher Hartop and historian Annie Gray.
29th January 2016. I will be giving a lecture at a conference at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Holland. A one day symposium relating to the wonderful exhibition Dutch Dining currently showing at the museum. Contact the museum for details.
31st January 2016. I am giving two short demonstration/workshops on sugar sculpture techniques at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they are already sold out, but there are still places at a lecture I am delivering on the same day - Eating the Edifice. This is one of a series of lectures in the Getty's Art of Food series. If you cannot get to mine, try to make it to others in this excellent programme. Ken Albala on Playing the Scalco and Deborah Krohn on Bartolommeo Scappi look like being real highlights.
So book your flights to London, the Hague and LA and I will see you there!