Flora's Artist Statement

Working with Walnut Way has been a wonderful experience. With the aid of Walnut Way residents, Nicole, Denise Wooten, individual research and information found at the Walnut Way house and I have gained a much better understanding of what the Walnut Way area is and how it has changed over the years.

I chose to work with the foods and traditions aspect of the collaboration project. Ryan and I collaborated and created the page entitled, Walnut Way Cuisine. For the project we interviewed Walnut Way resident, Denise Wooten. Denise was very interesting and her love for family and food was really apparent. We interviewed Denise in her home. The interview took place in the dinning room where Denise had many interesting things to tell. We learned about Denise’s relation to the Walnut Way neighborhood, her family’s food traditions, the importance of family and especially extended family. What attracted me to the idea of working with the topic of food was the idea that food is more than just nutritious and/or tasty, but that it brings people together. Denise referred to cooking, in particular referencing the preparation of chitterlings, as a labor of love. Mrs. Wooten spoke of dinners as a place where family would come together. Denise started a Valentines Day dinner tradition. On Valentines Day her family and friends, women only, gather on Valentines Day. Each year a different type of food is selected and they have a cook off.

My main responsibly in the creation of the web page was the video aspect. I filmed and edited the interview and also took part in the organizational aspect of the project. I have done film work in the past but the rest of the process was completely new to me. Through the process of putting together the site, I have learned a little bit on using imovie, how to upload videos onto youtube and on how to put a site together using blogger. Although the process what frustrating at times, the skills I have learned are valuable and I see myself using these tools in the future.