"Look at this watermelon, Piquuitos! It’s an amazing fruit. On the outside, it's a wonderful green color, but on the inside, there's this strong and elegant red and white.
Then there’s the pitahaya. It is fuchsia on the outside and hides the subtlety of a whitish-gray pulp flecked with little black spots that are seeds inside.
This is a wonder! Fruits are like flowers:
they speak to us in a provocative language
and teach us things that are hidden."
                                                ~ Frida Kahlo

Renoir painted luncheon scenes, Cezanne could not get enough of apples, Monet loved pears & grapes, O'Keeffe saw flowers & fruit with a new eye, and Frida got ecstatic over watermelons. This deep appreciation of Lusciousness easily transferred from painting into the kitchen, where care was taken for food reverently prepared with an eye to all its Beauty as well as Taste. In our unique TAS experience we will enjoy many aspects of this appreciation by: Visiting O’Keeffe’s Garden & Kitchen; Seeing some great Art; Preparing inspired meals under the expert guidance of a skilled chef; Learning how to photograph fresh produce with a professional photographer; and picking fresh Raspberries.

Daily Schedule

Tue-Wed (: GEORGIA O'KEEFFE: We start with a private tour of O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu to see her beautiful garden, and well equipped kitchen. She favored simple, delicious food with fresh ingredients and had very definite ideas about the Health and Beauty of her food. Her garden of vegetables, fruit, trees, flowers and herbs, is a marvel of healthy variety and abundant Beauty. Then we're off to Santa Fe for lunch at the O'Keeffe Café before a tour of the O’Keeffe Museum to see some first-hand examples of Fruit/Flowers in Art. The next day we go to a professional kitchen where our chef teaches us how to prepare some of O’Keeffe’s favorite recipes which we will then share: Salad greens with herbs / Almond soup / Green Chile Chicken enchiladas / Brown rice with ginger / Norwegian apple pie cake.

Thur-Fri: For FRIDA KAHLO, food was about Celebration. She loved any festive occasion and took great care with traditional meals bringing family and friends together. She reveled in painting Fruit’s naked fecundity. We gather at the kitchen to learn how to prepare and enjoy some of Frida’s favorite recipes: Squash blossom soup / Shrimp escabeche / Mole poblano / Lime sorbet.

Sat: FARMERS MARKET: We travel to the local market at its peak to
purchase the freshest of produce. Back in the kitchen, after photographing the luscious fruits and vegetables, we prepare a final feast of choice from our 3 cookbooks.

For further reading:

A PAINTERS KITCHEN
Recipes from the kitchen of Georgia O’Keeffe, by Margaret Wood

FRIDA'S FIESTAS
Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo by, Guadalupe Rivera and Marie-Pierce Colle

R.C. GORMAN'S NUDES & FOODS IN GOOD TASTE
by R. C. Gorman & Virginia Dooley

FRUITFLESH
Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write. by Gayle Brandeis

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Taos Art School
http://taosartschool.org | tas@laplaza.org