simple fun simple potato

Celebrating the potatoIn a year which already has seen smokey eruptions, stodgy politicians and economic pulls on the purse strings, artists Magdalena Rutkowska, Melinda McCarthy, Blandine Martin and musician George Lenoudias, decided to lighten the mood by getting back to the ‘root’ of simple pleasure with a fun celebration of the good old beloved spud.21st of May saw the beer garden of the Eagle Ale House in Clapham, transformed into a potato lovers paradise! Inspired by the Van Gogh painting, ‘the Potato Eaters’ they decided to create a rustic setting in which everything revolved around the potato! The Eagle Ale House, run by Simon Clarke has long been a haunt of many a writer, poet, celebrity and artist and its timeless atmosphere provided the perfect setting for such a transformation.A complete potato production, the evening consisted of delicious potato pancakes, with various toppings, potato dumplings, potato salads and potato vodka served in potato cups. As part of the decoration, there was artwork created with potatoes by Magdalena, Melinda and Blandine with potato prints and the evening’s piece-de- resistance a slide show the potato hall of fame portraits (sculpted from potatoes of course!) There were even some potato instruments! (Although the sound of them was not the most musical and became more the summoning horn that food was ready!)Musician George Lenoudias, (author of the international children’s them the Wish Fulfilling Tree, instead turned his hand to creating a ‘Leaning Tower of Potato’ out of potatoes and skewers, with assistance from guests to the evening.Originally the evening was planned as a small event but even the pub’s locals got into the spirit of things, many asking if it could be a regular event or suggesting homage to other vegetables! And it has not stopped there. Proving popular, the humble spud as a vehicle of portraiture seems to have sparked much inspiration.Photos from the event can be viewed on http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=123873644302227 Here people will also be able to see a selection of portraits from the potato hall of fame slide show, and will be able add their own potato stars among the ranks.by Melinda McCarthy