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Pictures for Cheryllynn Saramaga-Martai

<strong>Bedlah Sisterhood</strong> (2009), installation in "Dinner Conversations" show at GoSA gallery.<p><br><br> <p align="justify"> A Bedlah is the beaded bra and belt set a cabaret belly dancer wears when she performs. <br><br> Belly dancing has been a gift to me! I’ve been fortunate to meet so many wonderful women and made good friends in my classes, through my costume business, and while travelling to attend workshops and shows. After more then a decade of belly dancing all of my best friends are belly dancers! <br><br> Traditional Middle Eastern meals are served on communal platters. Utensils aren’t used but sauces, stews, and pâtés are eaten with flatbreads. Mealtime is about friendship, comradery, and bonding for one would never share a plate with their enemy. <br><br> Food is always a part of every belly dance hafla (party). A group of us will come together, listen to music, nibble at food, work on new costumes, and share what is going on in our lives, both happy and sad. We talk about our favourite dancers; who’s dancing where and to what music. We take turns getting up to perform for each other or we will all get up and dance together. <br><br> I love to cook for my friends and put love, warmth, and well wishes into every dish I prepare. Elegant, sparkly, with a touch of flamboyance (because after all as belly dancers we are all divas) these dishes were designed to serve a communal meal and are a metaphoric sacred vessel to honour the friendships and sisterhood I enjoy with my fellow belly dancers. <br><br> When you look at my dinnerware set imagine its large bowls and casseroles filled with exotic foods. See lamb marinated with wine and cooked in exotic spices filling the large footed casserole dish. Picture a large bowl of couscous baked with wild mushrooms and roasted garlic. Envision the large platter loaded with hommous, baba ganouche, goat cheese, and roasted peppers together with pita bread for dipping. Notice the side dishes to be filled with olives, hot chillies, and chutneys or the bowl for dates, nuts, and honey soaked baklava for dessert. But most importantly picture a group of women sitting round eating, laughing and sewing taking pleasure in each others company.</p> Bedlah Sisterhood (2009), installation in "Dinner Conversations" show at GoSA gallery. Dinner Wear Cheryllynn Saramaga-Martai Working on a carved stoneware box.
Porcelain Mugs High fire porcelain mugs decorated with a cobalt wash under a Choy blue celadon glaze. Wood Fired Bowl Stoneware Soup Bowls Porcelain Vase
Shino glaze soup bowls Stoneware bowls with a shino glaze. Star Mugs Raku Wheat Plate Blue Meanie Teapot My husband Dennis nicknamed this the Blue Meanie Teapot because it reminded him of the Blue Meanies from the Yellow Submarine movie.
Raku vase Kiss Mug This was a gift I made for my little brother Ryan who is an avid Kiss fanatic. Dennis\' Devil Mug

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