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Broad art museum welcomes gelato chef for art event

July 26, 2014

Served up by Executive Chef James Sumpter of the Okemos-based, Italian restaurant Tannin, patrons dined on several gelatos, with flavors ranging from bacon to strawberry passionfruit. Attendees also received a lesson on how to make the Italian dessert using home appliances.

The sweet treat presentation is part of a series purposed to acquaint people with the Broad Art Museum, known as “The Art of,” Sandra Szymanski, the art museum’s development and membership coordinator, said.

Friday’s installment was “The Art of Gelato.”

Sheri Beecroft, a Mason resident and museum docent, attended the event and called it an “entrée into the museum,” because some can be intimidated by the art and need to be eased into the venue.

Beecroft said she was attending the event because she is a fan of Sumpter’s cooking, and because making gelato can be a fun activity when entertaining company.

“I wanted to learn how to make gelato,” Beecroft said. “This is what we’re going to do table-side next time we entertain. It’s fun. It’s something different.”

Jacqueline Babcock, consortium coordinator at the Center For The Study Of Curriculum, said the chocolate gelato was “fabulous.”

Having a place to experience art and hold events is what makes the Broad Art Museum special, Babcock said.

“The Broad (Art Museum) is just amazing,” she said. “We would have never had this before.”

At the event, Sumpter demonstrated how to make gelato using dry ice, several ingredients and home appliances.

“They wanted something I could illustrate to people,” he said.

Sumpter said gelato at the Broad Art Museum makes sense, because the patrons appreciate culture. And at Tannin, a restaurant Sumpter cofounded, cultural experience is what he aims for in his cooking, he said.

“We’re trying to be part of a cultural change in the area,” Sumpter said.

Last month, the Broad Art Museum hosted The Art of: BBQ.

Szymanski said the events are chosen based on their appeal to a wide audience and on timeliness.

“I was trying to think of things that go good in the summer,” she said.

Next month, she said, the Broad Art Museum is hosting a gardening session that allows patrons to “make and take.”

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