Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Maira Kalman's Mother's Cookie Press

Illustration by Maira Kalman from New York Times article.
I enjoyed a recent article about an "installation" of Maira Kalman's mother's cookie press. I'm a big fan of her drawings and illustrations of her own stories; above is her picture of herself, her mother (who died in 2004 says the article), and the cookie press in use.

According to the article by Ligaya Mishan (published March 23) --
"The press, which belonged to her mother, Sara Berman ... is a sturdy thing among delicates, with a body like a biscuit tin’s, a fat column of aluminum that is colored muddy gold. The model is no longer produced, but it’s still coveted over today’s plastic versions. Fill it with dough, crank the lever, and the dough squeezes out the other side, through one of 16 metal stencils that make shapes like hearts, buttercups and inchoate mini-Bundt cakes."
As a great lover of the work of Maira Kalman, I wish I could make it to this little installation in a small gallery somewhere in New York, but I'm not planning any trips there now.
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3 comments:

  1. RJM3/31/2015 2:00 PM

    Yes, I do LOVE Maira Kalman. Thank you so much for this post. (I have trouble visualizing "inchoate mini Bundt cakes" that come out of a cookie press, but then Ever the Editor-Critic.) I remember those cookie presses. I think my mother had one. Now all I have are Phil's mother's cookie cutters (an amazing collection) and the letters from the Jello company that we use to spell out Happy New Year every 12/31. That only uses 8 of the 26 letters but then we need to press (npi) letters into service for the date which means we also use I, O and Z. Also sometimes H with one leg amputated to make a 4. I know: TMI. -Love to all.

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  2. Jeanie3/31/2015 5:49 PM

    I'm not familiar with her which means now I must google and find more of these magical drawings!

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  3. Charlie Louie3/31/2015 11:44 PM

    I'm not planning a trip to NYC either. Wish I was though. That's a beautiful way to describe the press xx

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