Refectory

Refectory is an artist dinner inspired by Medieval Catholic food traditions

Refectory, a collaboration between Elise Schloff and Meera Chauhan is an areligious, and ecological culinary performance. Named after the room in which cloistered Catholic nuns gathered for eating, Refectory’s feast will take place at South Solon Meeting House, a former church with stunning interior frescoes. Refectory's menu references Catholic food traditions — such as eucharistic devotion, feasting, and fasting — and strange food behaviors both actual and mythical, such as food multiplication, virgin lactation, and consuming spoiled or ash-adulterated foods. Ingredients will be sourced through gathering wild foods or from Maine farms. The meal will be served on dishware made by artist Joshua Clukey from wild foraged clay. The meal will be vegetarian.

Refectory has been in the works for many years and iss made possible by the support of SPACE Gallery's Kindling Fund, endowed by the Andy Warhol Foundation. While our material and structural costs are covered by grant resources, ticket costs allow us to pay ourselves for our work and support future iterations of the project. We strongly encourage participants to pay what they can.