Artist purees 50s housewife myth

Kristianna Smith dropped out of high school around 13 and applied to community college courses at 15. She said high school wasn’t her “jam” and that she was a misfit, which, she hopes, is better in the long run and not a delusion to make her suffering worthwhile (her words, not this reporter’s). She’s returning to finish an art studio degree after living in New York and Paris. She is recently married, evidenced not only by her declaration, but her constant twisting of her wedding rings. She sat down with the Daily Lobo to talk about kitchen appliances, the domestic sphere and housewives in the 50s.

DL: Well, tell me about your art.
KS: Well, it’s an installation. I hate video art, which is really funny that I am doing a largely video art piece. I filmed, in total, 81 kitchen appliances in sets of nines.

DL: What do people think when you tell them you have filmed a bunch of kitchen appliances?
KS: To be telling them about it? Or them seeing it?

DL: I mean, either way.
KS: I think they are very different. I mean, it’s one thing to say, “I’ve got a bunch of appliances, and they all running, and you know I make some waffles.” I don’t think that’s representative of what I do at all.

DL: You’re right. When I first got your first press release, I was a little skeptical, too. You said it was about kitchen appliances, but when I watched the clips it was just entrancing. I never knew blenders could be so entertaining.
KS: Yeah, at any given time there are 27 clips running.

DL: So where did this idea come from?
KS: It sort of started with the toasters. In some ways — hang on I am trying to be articulate about this. I cook a lot. I love gadgets, and I love this totally antiquated idea that these new appliances are going to make life so much easier.

DL: Like the 50s?
KS: Yeah, you put foodstuffs on one side and out comes a hot meal for your whole family. I don’t know what you do in the interim. I guess you read a magazine. I am a slow food person. I love to start from nothing and really get involved with the process of cooking. What I didn’t realize when I started it is that appliances are pretty much inherently destructive.

DL: How so?
KS: You’re chopping, blending. When it happens one by itself, you don’t notice. When nine of them are going, it’s really loud and unnerving, and cooking is common. The installation is going to be nice because it’s going to have the smell of waffles being made, and I am going to try to get it warm. It’s going to be everything that I sort of associate with the nostalgia of waiting for my mom to make me cookies as a safe place. And the videos are really violent.

DL: That’s a really interesting disparity going on there.
KS: Yeah, you know it’s indicative of the domestic sphere, right, especially if we are talking about the 50s and this touch-button kitchen. There’s this idea that you’re going to be so happy — this housewife, she’s so happy. In reality, I think a lot of those relationships were screwed up.

DL: Did you see a relationship like that? Is that where all this nostalgia comes from?
KS: Well … I got married this summer, and there’s a lot of expectations that go with that. Even if I feel that I am different than those ideals, you can’t help but have them affect you. It’s like, “What is this going to look like? How do I become the adult I want to be without eschewing domesticity?” I don’t want to be contrary. I like to cook. It’s something I love to do. I like a lot of woman work. I love to garden. At the same time, there’s this expectation of who I am going to be because of those things, like, “I am married. I like to cook. I like to garden, so I better have children, settle down and clean my house.” I am not. I am the handyman around my house. Without realizing it, this project has become a way to both embrace those expectations and destroy them.

DL: And what does your husband think of the project?
KS: (Laughs) I think he likes them. I didn’t start saying, “I am going to make this project that talks about the domestic sphere and how I am dealing with it.” It’s definitely one of those things that came out on the other side. I didn’t mean to, but it has all these feminist connotations — the kitchen, you’re talking ladies. What does he think of them? I think he likes them. I don’t (know). … He smiles.