Lespri Endonptabl: Haitian Art

Rigaud Benoit, Les Sirenes, 1956, 

Winslow Anderson Collection of Hatian Art, 

Huntington Museum of Art

EXHIBITION

Name: Lespri Endonptabl

Dates: 27^th August – 29^th October 2011

Place: Noel and Kathryn Dickinson Wadsworth Gallery and the Chi-Omega-Hargis Gallery, The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University

Webpage: www. jcsm.auburn.edu

The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art's newest exhibition, Lespri Endonptabl: Selected Works from the Winslow Anderson Collection of Haitian Art at the Huntington Museum of Art, will be on view from Aug. 27-Oct. 29 in the Noel and Kathryn Dickinson Wadsworth Gallery and the Chi-Omega-Hargis Gallery.

 "Lespri endonptabl" is Haitian Creole for "the indomitable spirit." JCSM is pleased to present this exhibition of 32 objects produced in Haiti between 1945 and 1990, which depict themes of everyday life, landscape, flora, fauna, agriculture, folklore, and Voodoo.

The exhibition and its programs are JCSM's contribution to Auburn University's common book program, Auburn Connects!, which is focusing on Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder for the new academic year.

About Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art:

Open since 2003, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University is Alabama’s only university art museum. Serving as the gateway into Auburn University, the museum is home to many pieces of culturally significant art. The collection includes 115 Audubon prints, a rare group of more than 40 Tibetan bronzes and works by important American artists, such as Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe and Lyonel Feininger. The museum rotunda hangs a three-tiered, hand-blown glass chandelier created especially for the museum by internationally-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. The beauty continues onto the grounds of the museum with fifteen acres of gardens, walking paths and water features, complete with an eleven and a half foot tall brass sculpture, Spinoff, created by Auburn alumna Jean Woodham.

© Text and image: Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

Haitian Potato Salad

RECIPE 

Haitian cuisine is kréyol cuisine, a mixture of French, African, Spanish and indigenous cooking methods, ingredients and dishes. Rice and beans (dire ak pwa) are a staple. Vegetable and meat stews are popular too. Goat, beef, chicken and fish are complemented with plantains, cabbage, tomatoes and peppers. Fiery Scotch bonnet peppers lend their punch to many dishes, and to pikliz, a popular pickled vegetable condiment.

Ingredients (serves 8):

• 4 medium beets, leaves and stems removed, roots rinsed and wrapped individually in heavy duty foil
• 2 pounds red bliss or new potatoes (about 6 medium or 18 new)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 to 3 scallions, sliced thin (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
• 1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

How to prepare it:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Set beets in a small pan; roast until just tender about 1 hour. Let beets cool and then remove foil and skins (they slip off easily). Cut into medium dice and set aside.

Meanwhile, place potatoes in a 4 to 6 quart pot; cover with water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer, stirring once or twice to ensure even cooking, until a thin-bladed paring knife or a metal cake tester inserted into the potato can be removed with no resistance, 25 to 30 minutes for medium potatoes and 15 to 20 minutes for new potatoes. Cool potatoes slightly, then cut them with a serrated knife, layering them in a medium bowl and lightly sprinkling with the 2 tablespoons vinegar and salt and pepper as you go.

Mix in scallions, peas, and mayonnaise; toss to coat. Lightly fold in beets. Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.

© Text and image: Food.com

Haitian Griots

This rich, flavorful dish is one of Haiti's most popular, invariably served at parties and family gatherings. Cubes of pork are soaked in a sour orange marinade and then slow-roasted until tender. The tender morsels are then given a finally fry in oil until delectably caramelized. This recipe uses a mixture of orange and lime juice in place of the hard-to-find sour orange juice. Also spelled grillots, griyo, griyot or griot.

Ingredients (6-8 servings):

• Pork shoulder, cubed -- 4 pounds
• Onion, thinly sliced -- 1
• Green or red bell pepper, thinly sliced -- 1
• Scotch bonnet peppers, chopped (optional) -- 1 or 2
• Shallots, thinly sliced -- 2 or 3
• Garlic, chopped -- 3 or 4 cloves
• Thyme -- 2 teaspoons
• Salt -- 2 teaspoons
• Pepper -- 1 teaspoon
• Oranges -- 2
• Limes -- 3
• Oil -- 1/4 cup

How to cook it:

Add the pork and all the other ingredients except the oil to a large, non-reactive bowl and mix together well. Refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours to let the meat soak up the marinade.

Oven to 375°F. Place the pork and its marinade into a large roasting pan and cover tightly with a lid or aluminum foil. Place in the oven and roast for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the pork is tender.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Remove any extra liquid in the pan, putting it into a saucepan, and set aside. Add the oil to the pan and stir it into the meat. Return the roasting pan to the oven and let the pork cook for 20 to 30 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Any liquid will evaporate away and the meat will begin to fry in the oil and brown.

While the meat is frying in the oven, place the saucepan with the reserved liquid on the top of the stove and boil it down until it is well reduced and thickens. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and mix the reduced sauce into the browned pork. Serve hot with with sos ti-malis, banan peze and a side of pikliz.

Variations:

-Use sour orange juice if you can find it. Or substitute pikliz vinegar for some of the orange and lime juice if you like.

-Griots can also be made on the stovetop. Use a large Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid.

-Finely chopped scallions can be substituted for the shallots. Use four or five scallions.

© Text and image: www.whats4eats.com