art + objets d'arts + photography

 

 

Untitled (Flowers), c. 2019, flour, water, food colouring, Mod Podge, wire, gardener’s tape, hand-painted vases, garden foam, moss.
Sculptures approx 20 x 13 inches.

 

 

 

International Shipping Available.

Artworks can be dismantled with instructions, for shipping purposes/ Shipping is from Toronto, Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

Brigida “Bice” Cuddemi was born in 1940 in Salemi, Sicily. She has made bread sculptures since childhood as part of celebrations for the feast day of San Giuseppe, learning traditional designs from her mother and grandmother. For over 50 years, she has spearheaded innovation of these religious bread designs with a dedicated group of Sicilian-Canadian women, who act as “shapers” of tradition in their role as cooks and culinary artisans, in their knowledge of the symbolism of the breads, and in their desire and opportunity to pass on their skills to younger generations. Although born from religious tradition, Brigida explores more secular designs in her bread sculptures – such as floral or botanical elements – because, in her words, “she likes to.”

 

Her hometown Salemi is well known for its elaborate displays on cena (i.e. “chapel” or shrine), structures covered entirely in oranges, lemons and ornately shaped breads of every size. Known as the simbologia del pane (Symbolism of Bread), decorative bread design has been a practice of the people of Salemi since the sixteenth century. At the age of 12 she was trained to work as a seamstress, and she has continued to sew all her life. In 1965 she emigrated to Canada with her husband Alberto and her eldest two children. They settled in the Corso Italia neighbourhood of Toronto as she raised her growing family. 

 

 

Link to the group exhibition at plunb gallery in Toronto, Canada, for more info: 

 

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