The Pietopia Pie Contest is happening again this year in August! Due to popular demand, it’s making its second appearance becoming an annual event here in Portland, Oregon. Wouldn’t it be cool to have one in your city too? Contact me if you’d like to see it happen where you live, I’d love to see what other communities lives taste like through their pies too! Or, if you are local and would like one of these limited-edition prints to hang in your shop or restaurant (for free!), feel free to give me a shout!
A bit of a recap as to how the first ever annual Pietopia Pie Contest went: last June, I put a call to entry in the city of Portland: What does it taste like to be unemployed, starting a new job, just married, divorced, a new homeowner or desperately searching for housing? What kind of pie would describe the way you are feeling right now? Could you imagine your thoughts, concerns or joys transformed into the All-American Pie?
(This was last year’s call to entry poster for Pietopia)
A local jury determined on five winners. The contest was judged based on the creative correlation between the sense of taste and it’s relationship to their lives. Five local artists were selected to each reinterpret one of the winning entries into a limited-edition screen print that was awarded to the contest winners and displayed at the event. All visitors at the event were able to taste each winner’s pie, and in essence, their lives as well.
I chose Pies as the medium because of its timeless appeal to the seasons, cross generations, and the local culture. The idea of a relationship between taste and feeling is an ancient one. The goal of Pietopia is to bring to the forefront the sense of taste, the feelings it can evoke, communication, and communing as interweaving entities within the fabric of our daily lives. Pietopia is seeking to channel Portland’s emphasis on the importance of the taste of food as a way to discover what this city’s quality of life truly is.
Start thinking of a pie or maybe several that you can relate to what is happening in your life at the moment. Check out last years winners on the Pieopia contest site, there were some really touching, some hilarious, but mainly honest interpretations of people’s lives through their pies. If you feel inspired, email in a 300 word blurb plus your recipe to: pietopiacontest@gmail.com.
It was so much fun last year, I hope you can join us this year!
(Andrew and I had a photo shoot for the posters. He took this shot of me holding it, as well as the first one up top)I am still waiting to hear back from the Portland Farmer’s Market as to the exact dates (sometime between late July and end of August), but when I know, I will let you know!
(Andrew holding the poster for me, it’s always good to get a variety of shots and images!)
