Nerdist: I have a few talents. For one, I always know the perfect sized container needed for any amount of food. I also know how to cut a mango perfectly. And….uh….well that’s about it. Just those two, really. Impressive? No. No, obviously not. But that doesn’t mean I’m jealous of people with real talent. If I were, I wouldn’t be telling you about Grace McClung,
7 comments:
I find it really interesting how this article helps demonstrate the intersectionality of art and brings culinary arts and cosplay to the spotlight. Cosplay and culinary arts - from my experience - are not often recognized as artforms by the average person, even though the two are majorly involved in art and are major artforms by themselves. So, it is nice to see an article recognize cosplay and culinary arts. This article also highlights how an artist can use their skills from one artform to another. Ms. Mclung’s work clearly demonstrates her attention to detail and how she applies it to express her interests across different mediums of art. It makes me wonder how many skills from making cosplays transfer over to her work on the cakes and if she herself feels the two artforms are similar in any way.
I forgot to mention this in the original comment, but the article also makes me think about how in baking cakes with fancier and more intricate designs, there are ingredients that often mimic substances that are not edible. These ingredients must play a major part in Ms. Mclung's work. I wonder if she makes correlations between an ingredient that - for example - mimics fabric and actual fabric and if that helps her with her creative process with cosplay and culinary arts.
These cakes are not only beautiful but they remind me of my dad, when I was a kid he used to make me an incredibly impressive cake every year for my birthday. One year was Rapunzel’s tower, once was lightning McQueen, whatever he made it was always meticulously put together, he would put in hours and hours of work. It always killed me that he put so much effort into something so temporary, to watch someone cut slices into his work and then to dig into it myself for a bite. Looking back, I think he taught me a lot about the beauty of ephemeral work. As a theatrical designer, it’s been a rocky road to accepting that part of my own work. I find it very difficult to watch things I put so much of myself into get taken down, torn apart but stories like this highlight the beauty of something that doesn’t remain. Cakes and theater might not have much in common, but they’re both a very temporary thing and there’s beauty in that.
There is absolutely zero question that Grace McClung is extremely talented, dedicated, committed, and honestly kind of awesome. But, I can't help but wonder how she not only developed these talents but also received recognition for them. I wish the writer of this article went into a little bit more detail about Grace McClung and her life’s journey if I am being honest, especially considering how unusual her occupation/hobbies are. I mean if we are being fully, truly, deeply honest, cosplay is not a sustainable occupation. Does she sell these cakes and use the money for cosplay materials? Most likely not because cosplay can be extremely expensive and time consuming because you are physically constructing and/or buying the elements of the costume. Maybe, she's able to stay afloat doing so with social media and brand deals. That is most likely the case which is a whole other component to her lifestyle that is kinda crazy.
I really admire her talent for creating such detailed cosplay outfits. I understand that it’s not just talent, but also an unimaginable amount of effort, time, and money that goes into each of her creations. As someone with experience in making clothes, I respect all that she has accomplished, as well as all she will continue to do. I’m especially curious about how long it takes her to make an outfit, do the hair and makeup, and then take the pictures.
Her cakes are also incredibly impressive. They’re another form of art that I haven’t experienced myself, and I wonder how her thought process differs when she’s designing outfits versus when she’s designing cakes. Both are unique and highly detailed, and I would love to see the process behind each of her creations and learn from them. I also wonder what the cakes taste like, I would love to try one!
I have many friends who do cosplay and make their own costumes and every time I am blown away by their craftsmanship. The technical aspects of what they do is incredible. Hela’s armor was the piece that most caught my eye. To create armor that is custom fit to her body like that would take some major detailing and designing and patterning to create. Her headpiece has to be strong and hard to break, but not too heavy. I would be interested in seeing what she made each piece out of and how much is foam vs other things and how she kept the structure of the piece. Something like that has a lot of breakable pieces, so I would also be curious to see how she stores each of these cosplays. Presumably, she would keep each of these costumes that she has created but to do that you would have to have a. a large amount of space to accommodate that, b. ways to make sure that the structure stays intact, and c. potentially a space that has all that and has easy access to each piece.
Emma L
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