Culinaria Dinner: Julie Green and Johanna Ware (Smallwares)

Curated by Blake Shell
Beverages by Leah Brown of Angel Face
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Seatings for 20 people at 5pm, 7pm, and 9pm
Photos by Sam Gherke

Artist Julie Green’s handmade Wallpaper will be installed inside Disjecta, to create an intimate dining room. Wallpaper features repeating shells, a pattern inspired by Zen calligraphy and the Pattern and Decoration movement, as a meditation of the health of our oceans and unsustainable consumption. The translucent handmade paper produces a stained glass effect when lit from within. Johanna Ware of Smallwares will create a dinner held within the room on October 6th. Ware is known for her eclectic and refined “inauthentic Asian” meals that span many influences.

Julie Green (b.Yokosuka, Japan) wanted to be a stewardess until age four, but became a painter instead. Her award-winning work, including her ongoing project The Last Supper about the death penalty in the United States, has been exhibited widely and featured in numerous publications such as The New York Times and NPR. Green is a professor at Oregon State University and is represented by Upfor Gallery. For Culinaria, Green creates an intimate dining space enclosed by intricately hand-painted translucent wallpaper featuring oceanographic motifs inspired by Zen calligraphy and the Pattern and Decoration movement. Brightly lit from the inside, the installation produces a stained glass effect while inviting viewers to contemplate the health of our oceans.

Johanna Ware is the Owner and creative force behind Wares restaurant in the Zipper Building in Portland, Oregon. Ware has reopened her restaurant Smallwares that previously closed in 2016 in summer of 2018. Before striking out on her own in Portland, Ware was Sous Chef at Nostrana (PDX), Public Restaurant (NYC), and various parts of David Chang’s Momofuku empire (NYC).

More about the exhibition.