Thursday, June 26, 2008

I (heart) craft by Marty O'Hare




A VESTED INTEREST
THE QUEENSLAND CAKE DECORATORS ASSOCIATION

In early 2007 while stopped in traffic I saw a sign outside a community hall giving times for the QLD Cake Decorator’s Association (QCDA) monthly branch meetings.

Images of benches filled with elaborate shiny cakes came to mind, and owners standing proudly along side their creations talking about the month that was.

I contacted the Association to gauge a feel for what the group might really be like.
I learnt of the Mt Coot-tha Festival, a highly anticipated event on the Cake Decorating calendar. In 2006, 95 entries had been submitted from all over the state in categories ranging from novelty to contemporary wedding.

The most recent festival theme had been ‘QLD Tourism’. The overall winner was a cake depicting the state of QLD lapped by waves on the coast and featuring outback landscapes inland. I contacted the decorator responsible Brenden Clem. When we met he showed me the winning cake (refrigerated since the competition). I was impressed.

The following year I decided to photograph the progress of contestants and their cakes toward the 2007 Festival. The QCDA sectary let me know about an upcoming ‘demonstration day’. She said demonstration days showcased the association and would be an opportunity to gain insight into the culture and meet the Cake Decorating Community. I was interested.

Entering the venue, (a Community Hall in Mt Gravatt) any preconceptions I may have had fell by the wayside. The hall was a hive of activity. Final adjustments to seating plans, table cloths a flutter, morning tea platters whisked around a room of some 150 people and an atmosphere akin to Christmas.

The morning gave way to demonstrations of techniques and equipment. The audience soon worked its way into a groove of concentration and facial expressions indicating fascination and an appetite for knowledge. No tool or technique was thought too obscure or unnecessary, no detail superfluous. Chocolate orchids, patchwork icing, and pattern cutting implements, the audience watched-on enthralled, united by a vested interest in cake decorating and the community it has inspired.

Through the course of the day I was fortunate to meet three Cake decorators interested in participating in my photo series. Each was talented, committed and highly passionate in their craft.

I photographed the path of cake and cake maker toward the much heralded Mt Coot-tha Festival. Cake concepts often started out as sketches on paper and developed according to instinct, vision and improvisation. The paths to completion weren’t always smooth. Dilemmas, accidents and unforseen circumstances reared their heads as they would in a classic literary tragedy.



As the big day approached a physical sense of anticipation was clearly detectable from the beaming contestants. On one level participants were hesitant to reveal too much about the final creations but at the same time desperate to debrief about the process that would bring so many cakes together in the same exhibition hall.


On the day anticipation, nerves and excitement reached a climatic high. ABC news was scheduled to do a piece on the festival and bus loads of various community groups were expected to roll in early in the day. Additionally each QCDA branch was presenting a Christmas themed cake display which added even more festive commotion to the room.

When preparations were complete and all cakes were displayed the room took on a luminous glow. A generous spread of ribbons was awarded amongst the many deserving cakes and as adoring crowds arrived the day quickly became a swell of colour, smiles, admiration, and photo opportunities.

And so it was that the pursuit of cake decorating had come to mean so much to so many people. A group of people bound by their sheer delight and vested interest.
Cakes, friendship, craft and community were the winners of the day. I felt privileged to have been privy to such commitment, passion and warmth. Long live the Queensland Cake Decorators Association.

Marty O’Hare
Marty's full 'Vested Interest' photographic series can be viewed at his myspace page, the address for this is below.

www.myspace.com/martyohare
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyohare/


Images: Queensland Cake Decorators from the series 'A Vested Interest' by Marty O’Hare, 2007

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