The 3E project’s first summer residency was held the first week of July 2022. The week’s project revolved around the work of three accomplished Montreal-based mixed-media artists who come from cultural traditions whose cooking practices traditionally involve the construction and use of outdoor ovens made of earth and clay: Shaya Ishaq (Ghanaian-Canadian), Ifeoma Anyaeji (Nigerian), and Khadija Baker (Kurdish Syrian). The artists compared notes on the oven construction and cooking practices in their respective traditions. With 3E collaborators, they devised a plan to make two ovens, one from store-bought clay and the other from clay sourced from the 3E land. Against expectations, both ovens were completed during the week-long residency. Also unexpectedly, the changeable weather of the northern climate took its toll, and by the end of the summer the ovens had returned to the earth.
Cooking and eating together are central to activities on the 3E land. Longterm plans include building a simple outdoor kitchen which will shelter a second iteration of the ovens, alongside other cooking methods. The kitchen will be located near the sugar shack and residency cabin, and will be used during gatherings, notably during the maple syrup production season, as a focus for conviviality.
