Artist Statement
As an artist and a chef, Cookie Art has become the ultimate expression of creativity for me. My mother and I started “painting” gingerbread cookies over thirty-five years ago as Christmas gifts for our friends and relatives. After the release of our book “Sweet Memories, A Gingerbread Family Scrapbook” in November of 2006, I began to explore the idea of the cookie as a piece of art. I love the challenge of designing the perfect cookie for any occasion. From developing the most delicious recipe, to choosing or creating the shape, to learning different techniques for applying frosting, to incorporating sprinkles and decorative elements, I get completely immersed in the process.
There are three equally important dimensions to my work, the idea, the
artistic execution, and the taste. I am always looking for a quirky idea
or interesting theme as a base for my designs. I add the creative use
of decorative elements from my extensive “sprinkle” collection
to give each cookie a unique look. Most importantly, every cookie must
be delicious! People always tell me my cookies are too beautiful to eat
but once they try one they can’t stop eating them!
Biography
Sarah Brady Underwood designs cookies and gardens in Northeast Connecticut where she lives with her husband and two little boys. After graduating from Connecticut College in 1987 with a major in Studio Art, she worked as a chef and in retail merchandising. Her exploration of different artistic mediums moved from food to retail displays and then to gardens when she enrolled in the New York Botanical Garden’s Landscape Design program in 1999. During Sarah’s time at home with her young children, she rediscovered her passion for the culinary arts.
In 2006 she teamed up with her mother and two other artists to release
“Sweet Memories, A Gingerbread Family Scrapbook”, an irreverent
collection of photographs depicting the lives of a slightly dysfunctional
gingerbread family. Designing the cookies for the book inspired Underwood
to pursue cookie decorating as an art form. She recently went into business
as Cookie Art, baking unique and custom cookies. Underwood hopes that
the popularity of her artfully painted cookies will continue to grow but
is determined to keep the focus on quality.
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