Shelf improvement
Connect and create with Newport’s Curiosity Cabinets project
Story & photos by Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
What is art, really? At its best, it can be used as an agent of change and make a positive impact on people and communities. That is the driving force behind the new interactive “Curiosity Cabinets” project at Newport Public Library.
Filled with donated non-perishable food items, the cabinets were meant as a way to address food insecurity but also to gather together people of different cultures and backgrounds. The interactive aspect includes food preparation demonstrations, beginning with an East Asian dumpling demo this Friday, Jan. 20, at the OSU Extension Office in Newport.
Both like and unlike the “Little Pantries” popping up near little libraries, the cabinets were created by artist, educator and cultural ambassador Sachiko Otsuki.
“The idea for the curiosity cabinets was started by my own curiosity about other cultures and people in this community,” she said. “For example, what are they eating at home? So, I thought if we use food as a communication method, we could talk with each other and that could leave us bonded.”
The food exchange part of the project stems from Otsuki’s work on food security projects through the community gardener network and as a member of the Equity and Inclusion group at Oregon Coast Community College, where she teaches. But the main idea and name goes all the way back to 2014, when she curated an exhibit at Newport’s Burrows House Museum that was based on the collections shown off by those with the resources to travel the globe during the 16th and 17th centuries.
“Merchants went around the world and they brought back ‘exotic’ objects that they would show off like a victory medal,” she said. “Rather than the showing off of power or status that was behind the Cabinets of Curiosity, I wanted to use these cabinets as the power of ‘art’ for helping community members in difficult situations so I came up with the idea to ‘display’ food that everyone can take and eat. With this approach, I can help some people and at the same time offer an opportunity to think ‘What is art and what can it do?’”
According to Director Laura Kimberly, the library was the perfect place to host the cabinets.
“Food connects people and libraries are typically a place where people connect across all backgrounds,” she said. “Sharing and appreciating recipes, ideas, photos, videos and knowledge related to food and culture encourages people to want to have a deeper understanding of other cultures as well as their own.”
Another interactive aspect of the project are microgreens kits that can be picked up at the library and brought home and, during February and March, the library will have a microgreens display.
And, through May, when the cabinets will close, the cooking demonstrations hosted at the OSU Extension office will feature foods from a different culture each month.
“We are starting with the Japanese Gyoja, or potsticker,” Otsuki said, “but dumplings are cooked in different versions all over the world. I thought it would be an interesting way to introduce the idea of connecting cultures through food.”
Otsuki has also created an area near the cabinets meant for people to post photos or recipes.
“You are a part of this creative and interactive art project,” Kimberly said. “Interaction or communication between people is the core concept of this work.”
Through collaboration with Food Share of Lincoln County and support from local businesses, the Curiosity Cabinets project has taken the idea of showing off to your community and turned it into a way of showing up for your community.
The dumpling demonstration begins at 6:30 pm at the OSU Extension Office, 1211 SE Bay Blvd in Newport. Newport Public Library is located at 35 NW Nye Street. For more information and to register for the cooking demo, go to newportoregon.gov or call 541-265-2153.