For parents, getting their children to eat vegetables is an art and a science.
For Marisol Rendon it is purely an art.
Southwestern College’s brilliant professor of art created the critically-acclaimed exhibit “Wobbleland,” part of “Feast: The Art of Playing with Your Food” at the New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego. Her sculptures of oversized fruits and vegetables marry “Alice in Wonderland” to “Veggie Tales” in a hands-on experience for children and their parents.
Rendon is bucking the timeless parental admonition, “Don’t play with your food.” She wants kids to play with it, climb on it and lay all over it.
“Parents cook for their children and it is a struggle to have them eat their food,” she said. “This project encourages children to see their food differently.”
Children can hide under giant water drops falling from the giant sink and sail a watermelon boat.
Kids use their creativity to conjure up fun adventures while sitting in the boat.
“The idea of imaginative playing with the boat, being the sailor, looking for sharks, the space becomes an ocean,” said Rendon. “I wanted everything to be playful and colorful, but at the same time with a lot of movement.”
A giant wedge of Swiss cheese has holes for children to crawl through and a cantaloupe slice doubles as a rocking chair. Monika Lopez, mother of three-year-old Ceasar, said she enjoyed learning something new about her son by watching him interact with other kids.
“I like how he’s playing with all the fruits and naming them,” she said. “I didn’t think he knew what each one was. I helped him figure out what some of the vegetables were, but he found his own way of playing with them.”
Since mothers have to spend so much time in the kitchen trying to figure out what to cook, Rendon thought of making the play area in that theme.
“Everything is designed from things that toddlers are supposed to enjoy,” she said.
Megan Dickerson, manager of exhibition development at the museum, said Rendon’s installation has been hugely popular.
“Marisol is not only a good designer and artist, but she’s a good craftswoman,” said Dickerson.
“Wobbleland” pieces teach children to recognize shapes, colors and textures, Dickerson said. An avocado teeter-totter entertains toddlers as parents sit comfortably on fruit ottomans. “Wobbleland” gives toddlers a place to create their own world while socializing with others.
“They become performers in this space,” Dickerson said.
Designing interactive objects for children was a new experience for Rendon.
“I felt the need to study and approach design myself and this gave me a great opportunity,” she said.
Rendon had a food-themed exhibition at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido called “Esperanto” (Hope) that explored world hunger. A giant plate expressed the hope for food as well as the lack of food. Rendon hosted a fundraiser where children drew their own fruits and vegetables for a chance to get their design printed on t-shirts to benefit Feedthechildren.org.
“I used to work with the idea of hunger,” said Rendon. “In Columbia, I grew up with the basic things.”
Her mother cooked with simple ingredients like green onions and tomato, which Rendon saw as vital to her survival. Her installation, “El Ratón Pérez Si Existe,” consisted of those ingredients sitting on 200 black pillows and a simulation of a refrigerator that did not work.
“It does not work because we don’t need a refrigerator,” she said. “We have to eat everything fresh that day.”
Rendon said “Wobbleland” was a stretch for her because it is playful.
“I work around poverty and desperation and psychological dramas through a very subtle image, and this is completely the opposite,” she said.
Rendon’s creation inspired the museum to open the Green Bellies Café featuring a child-friendly menu. Her installation, it seems, provides more than just food for thought.
Mariana Saponara contributed to this story.