Pilchards & Paint
James Strawbridge and David Cass are both keen environmental advocates, promoting sustainability and considerate approaches towards our planet’s resources – in life and work. While James’ principal focus is cookery and David’s painting, each aims to raise further awareness through creative collaboration. Pilchards & Paint is the first in an ongoing project combining their processes.
David’s artwork is all about elevating the everyday. Using what’s available, what’s sustainable. He paints directly upon found items that are commonplace around the home: from small tins, to kitchen tables. As subtly as possible, he transforms these objects into artworks, most often painting sea upon them. This act speaks not only of a recycling process but aims also to encourage discussion over the state of our seas.
James is a Cornish development chef and food photographer. Like David, he’s drawn to what’s within reach; drawing out the very best from carefully sourced local produce whose provenance and sustainability is always known – or which he might even have grown, caught, cured or foraged himself. James’ native Cornwall is his pantry, just as David’s is his local flea-market.
In this first project James has sourced MSC sustainable Cornish sardines (supplied by the Lakeman family, who has for seven generations been fishing out of the Cornish port of Mevagissey – the family’s home for over 400 years) combining these with everything from edible gold-leaf to plastic sequins, representing the economic value of the fishery, but also raising the issue of plastics in the marine ecosystem.
Their shared attraction to vintage objects saw the use of James’ grandfather’s pen-nib tin as a vessel to cure pilchard fillets; and found papers to summon the nostalgia of wrapped fish from the market. David’s interwoven painted waves speak of an enduring traditional industry very much alive today and celebrated in James’ creations.
The humble sardine is rich in stories from the coast, robust in flavour and offers a sustainable future food system, it’s apt then that it should be sheathed in gold.
