A Place at the Table

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This article is part of our Food In Art column where we introduce classic and contemporary pieces of art to start a dialogue exploring the intersection of food ways and culture within our daily lives.

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Dinner Party, by Judy Chicago was a table set for a Queen. Well, actually several iconic women both mythical and real whose impact on civilization she celebrated with unabashed enthusiasm.

The Dinner Party: A Celebration of Women's Achievement

In 1979, artist Judy Chicago unveiled one of the most iconic and ambitious works of feminist art of the 20th century - The Dinner Party. This massive triangular table with 39 place settings paid tribute to women's historical achievements in fantastic detail through ceramic sculpture, intricate needlework, and rich symbolism.

The installation was nothing short of revolutionary turning traditionally feminine, decorative arts of china painting, embroidery, and weaving into powerful statements asserting women's crucial contributions across diverse fields. The huge table became an alter of sorts with 39 place settings representing both mythical and historical women including goddess icons to 20^th century figures like Virginia Woolf. 

Each place setting was meticulously executed incorporating thought-provoking imagery related to each of the honoree’s life and work. There were sculptural elements representing butterflies, shells, and flowers reflecting a feminine aesthetic at the same time elevating the setting to a realm of serious art. The triangular-shaped floor upon which the table sat included 999 more women who impacted Wesern civilization. The shape of the floor is said to represent a vaginal, but I prefer to look at it as a womb. The center of creation and creativity.

The intentional blend of traditionally male-dominated media like ceramics and the more feminine craft of embroidery created a space that allowed women to reclaim their artistic and intellectual legacies as well as a place at the proverbial table.

Sojourner Truth was a formerly enslaved woman who became an advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil rights for women. Her place setting was influenced by African arts like mask making, textiles, and quilting. The fist raised in the air on the right side of the plate is in reference to her speech at the Women’s Right Convention in 1851.

Chicago's installation also highlighted the duality of "femaleness" by weaving together their professional achievements with more domestic, traditionally feminine pursuits and aesthetics. 

The Dinner Party sparked passionate conversations about female-driven impact on art, society, and civilization itself. Which got me thinking about the women who had an impact in my life and how I would represent them in a table setting. So I set out to create a collage that would inspire a place setting for my mom.

My mom was an amazing gardening. She loved the beauty that flowers created. She loved colors and sparkly things. I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t a diet Pepsi on the table and her distain for antiques was palpable. She was the fasted reader I have even known.

At the center of my mother’s place setting would be a dinner plate emblazoned with a dahlia and salad plates with more flowers, the utensils would be fairly ornate but leaning more toward traditional than antique. There would be a bottle of Diet Pepsi. The napkins would be colorful and wrapped with a sparkly napkin ring. And the table runner would be made from pages of books.

Each of these items speaks to her passions; flower gardening; her distain of “old things,” her obsession with Diet Pepsi; the desire to surround herself with pretty things - lot of them; and her voracious literary appetite.

Inspired by this exercise, I asked friends and family how they would create a place setting that represented a special woman in their lives. With Chicago’s revolutionary works of art in mind, I tried my hand at generating these imagined place settings with the “revolutionary” medium of AI. 

I think I’d honor my mom with a table set with vintage china, for a formal afternoon tea. My mom loved a formal tea as a treat! ~ Lisa

Fresh flowers in a beautiful vase to honor my mom - she was an incredible gardener.. she’s no longer with us… ~ Sara

A tea cup and saucer, made in England, for my grandmother Dorothy. She could live on tea (green; loose leaf) and homemade whole wheat toast. She claimed her tea tasted better in an english cup. She was a tiny person in stature, so the dainty cups were perfect. ~ Kathy

It would include a small flower arrangement at my mom’s place, something arranged in an antique teacup. ~ Dana

A lot of blue and lemons! In honor of my grandma who turns 92 this month! ~ Nicole (this was emphasized by Nicole’s mom Debi)

Decadent chocolate Easter bunnies. Beautifully wrapped at every table in cellophane and ribbon. With beautiful Easter china. Mrs J. Eldred was my inspiration. A very beautiful and classy woman. My neighbor and best friend’s mother. ~ Wilma

Sturdy ironstone soup bowl, shallow. With a scalding hot broth soup of boiled potatoes, slice carrots, cabbage and roast beef. Probably a bone for flavor. A side plate with 2 slices of thick cut, homemade bread and real sweet cream butter. A mug of strong coffee... the kind that you can stand a spoon in.... black. No sissy sugar or cream. And for dessert...a generous slice of a still warm peach pie. All served up with lots of love, laughter and acceptance and without question. 💜 ~ Whitney

My dearest friend has collections of every color of depression glass…we had a joint luncheon using all colors..every place setting was a different color…then had July luncheon with red, white and blue depression glass…sooo pretty and soo much fun! ~ Kay

Beautiful vintage china with pink flowers and gold rim and crystal stemware to honor my MIL! ~ Jenelle

Although AI as a creative medium is quite polarizing and it does have its limitations, it was fun to put the prompts supplied into the generator to see how “Leonardo” translated them. I think he did a pretty good job for a machine. He missed the mark on a couple of things. But that’s OK. I think the feelings came across pretty well.

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