Emily Lanctot, a Northern Michigan University alumna who serves as director and curator of NMU's DeVos Art Museum, will showcase her own paintings in a Hancock exhibition titled “Salaiset Ruokaohjeet: Secret Recipes.” An opening reception will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, and the exhibition will remain on display through March 5 at Finlandia Art Gallery in the Finnish American Heritage Center.
Lanctot's featured paintings are inspired by recipes from Michigan's Copper Country community cookbooks and local contributors. Lanctot uses these recipes as visual and conceptual material to explore themes of identity, memory, archives and everyday cultural practices.
“In my research, I uncovered recipes from family members and friends that I didn't previously know existed,” Lanctot explained. “I hope the exhibition inspires people to gather and share recipes and ways of making from loved ones and friends—rather than keeping them secret—and encourages viewers to reimagine how they might approach their everyday lives.”
One cookbook, “500 Recipes of the Copper Country's Finest Cooking,” was produced by the same church that later became the Finnish American Heritage Center, where Lanctot's paintings will be on display. Another cookbook produced in Copper Harbor, “Copper Country Recipes,” contained a recipe from Lanctot's childhood neighbor and the first director of the Finlandia Art Gallery, Phyllis Fredendall.
According to a description of the exhibit, Lanctot uses “bursts of color and texture to bring people together across space and time while welcoming viewers into a sensory experience like a shared meal.”
Lanctot earned a bachelor of fine arts in drawing and painting from Northern Michigan University in 2008 and a master of fine arts in interdisciplinary studio arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2010.
