Philadelphia Inquirer
October 11, 1986
By Edgar Williams, Staff Writer

For more than 50 years, critic Burton Wasserman was saying, he has been involved in art. But never had he seen anything quite like this.

“It’s utterly delightful,” he said Thursday, excitement in his voice. ”It’s whimsical and offbeat and – well, what these patissiers have done is good for the art community.”

The Cadme Gallery at 2114 Locust St. was beginning a four-week observance of its first birthday with an artistic doubleheader: an exhibit of pastry creations by some of the area’s leading pastry chefs, as patissiers are generally known, together with an exhibit of new paintings by Nina Beall .

In keeping with Beall’s paintings, which are big, some of the pastry creations are huge. When, for instance, did you ever see a rose about as big as a basketball, made of white modeling chocolate tinted in shades of pink? Or an apple of about the same size, a sculpted ball of genoise, coated in white chocolate and then painted with green coloring?

The exhibit, bearing the general title, “Let ‘Em Etch, Sketch, Sculpt and Paint Cake,” has six pastry creations, ranging from a sweet-tooth version of that Center City landmark The Clothespin, to a striking palette made of cake, pastillage and icings on which are scaled-down reproductions of four Picasso paintings.

The gallery offered a prize to the creator of the pastry chosen best in show by a board of judges, which is why Burton Wasserman, artist, critic and professor of art at Glassboro State College, was there, wearing a red ribbon. The other judges were Georges Perrier, owner of Le Bec-Fin Restaurant, and Beall. All three professed to be taxed by the necessity of designating one of the
entries as best.

“They’re all nice jobs,” Perrier kept saying as he moved from entry to entry. “How can I pick just one?” The eventual winner was Jackie Pluton, of La Truffe restaurant, for his contemporary yet classical sculpture, titled Souvenir from France, created from pastillage and chocolate. Other entries were from Suladda Cronk, of Chef Tell’s in Wayne; Stacey Radin, of the Palace Hotel; Raymond Haldeman, owner of the restaurant bearing his name; Raymond Lopez and Chris Vitanza, of the Hershey Philadelphia Hotel, and Midi Lonergan, of Apropos.

Beall, 31, a Texas-born artist who lives in Chicago, said that when she first was approached about having her paintings exhibited along with pastries, she was “kind of turned off.” “Then I got to thinking about the helpful aspects,” she said. “You know, how it might attract people who otherwise wouldn’t visit a gallery. Besides, I sometimes use confectionery tools in applying paint to my paintings, so the pastry chefs and I have something in common.”

Is artistic pastry an art form that is likely to catch on? Wasserman thinks it’s possible. “If it has merit, as this work does – why not?” he said.
The Beall paintings will be on display at the Cadme Gallery through Nov. 4. The pastries, being considerably more fragile, will be displayed until Thursday.

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