THE COOKBOOK LOOKBOOK PROJECT
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the SPICY edition
CookBook LookBook is an artist-led project that celebrates storytelling through food.
Our organizing concept is rooted in the note-passing, letter-writing, and mix-tape-curating culture of the 1970s-90s. We also draw from the possibilities of the early internet: to reach out and connect with someone new or far away. It reclaims technological potential from algorithms, growing our connections in a human-centered, woman-driven manner of our own making.
Our organizing concept is rooted in the note-passing, letter-writing, and mix-tape-curating culture of the 1970s-90s. We also draw from the possibilities of the early internet: to reach out and connect with someone new or far away. It reclaims technological potential from algorithms, growing our connections in a human-centered, woman-driven manner of our own making.
Meet our 2026 Cohort:
January/
Krystle Lemonias
Krystle Lemonias is a Jamaican-born interdisciplinary visual artist, labor activist, and art educator. Her art practice researches social class privilege, citizenship, labor rights, and how economic inequality affects Black communities. Using found materials, baby clothes, and iconography, she encourages education of Black immigrant cultural identities and their connection to the broader diaspora.
Listen to the Pimento Rebel.
February /
Damara Woodring
Damara Woodring is a multi-disciplinary artist who weaves together photography, collage, and installation to explore the fullness of identity and self-expression. Through her practice, she seeks to understand herself more deeply while creating spaces where perspectives can shift and stories can be reimagined.
Her art emerges from lived experiences. She bridges vulnerability and power, offering audiences a way into the layered realities of womanhood, diaspora, and personal transformation. Each project she creates an act of exploration and invitation—to question, connect, and embrace the complexity of their own journeys.
Watch the making of Old Bay.
March /
Ainaz Alipour
Ainaz Alipour is an Iranian-born interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans textiles, sculpture, digital media, and installation, exploring diasporic identity, gendered spaces, and cultural displacement. Holding an MFA from the University of South Florida, an MA in Animation and Film, and a BFA in Printmaking, their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Ringling Museum of Art, Vox Populi, and IceBox Project Space. Alipour has received fellowships at MASS MoCA, Vermont Studio Center, and Surel’s Place, and their projects merge Iranian craft traditions with technology to reimagine belonging and transhistorical memory.Stitch strands of turmeric for a gyemeh stew recipe
April /
Monifa Kincaid
Monifa Kincaid is a multifaceted arts professional with experience as a choreographer, visual artist and creative project manager. She is the Program Director for the Youth Arts Education Council at Arts Ed NJ, where she has developed curriculum and produced "Art Isn't A Limit", a youth-led podcast. Her teaching experience includes private studio instruction and tenured positions in dance education. She served as Project Arts Coordinator within the NYC Education Department, where she managed $110K budgets, coordinated workshops with NYC non-profit arts organizations, and created impactful arts education programs. She holds an M.A. in Choreography from the Laban Centre in London, an M.S. in Early Childhood Education from Lehman College, and a B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance from The University of the Arts. Along with extensive experience as a performing and visual artist, Monifa brings a unique blend of artistic expertise, program management, and community engagement skills to arts leadership. Her latest venture is Sew With Monifa, in-person sewing classes focused on the core fundamentals of sewing and basic garment construction for adults and teens in Union, NJ.
May /
Denise Cannon
Denise Cannon is a foreign language teacher, vegetable connoisseur, and proud New Jersey native. She has been in education for fourteen years and has also dabbled in the beverage industry. When she's not herding cats or sipping a Negroni, she is traveling to a northern state or Canadian province.
June /
Melisa Gerecci
Melisa Gereçci is a teaching artist who grew up between Houston and Istanbul. She tells stories in her drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. Her work is held by the Watson Library at The Met Museum of Art, the Newark Public Library, and the Fine Arts Library at UT Austin. She has been commissioned for public art installations on the East Coast Greenway and awarded grant support by The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts.
Listen to meditations on color and nationality.
July /
Ether of 9 Helix Productions
I’m Ether — a music creator, producer, and screenwriter from a small town in Michigan. Known for blending cinematic storytelling with sound, my work explores themes of resilience, identity, and transformation. With a unique vision that bridges music and film, I am shaping a creative voice that is both authentic and impactful.” I use music and storytelling to turn life experiences into art, whether that’s through a beat, a song, or a script. My work is all about connecting real emotions with creativity.
Listen to an instrumental meditation on salt.
August/
Bonnie Mae Carrow
Bonnie Mae Carrow is an artist, educator, and curator whose multidisciplinary practice is rooted in contemporary craft, sculpture, and installation. By recreating or manipulating household objects and architecture, they examine the emotional, social, and political implications of our embodied relationship with domestic space.They earned an MFA from University of South Florida and BFA from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. Their work has been exhibited regionally and internationally, including Target Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, Quaid Gallery in Tampa, Florida, and at the Hotel Pupik artist presentation in Scheifling, Austria. They have been awarded residencies at the Icelandic Textile Center and the Hotel Pupik Artist Residency. Their work has been included in multiple publications, including XinSai Magazine, Vox Populi’s Juried Publication, and Creative Quarterly.Watch the making of Lessons in Reactivity.
September/
Jenn Dierdorf
Jenn Dierdorf’s artistic practice is an act of reclamation, dedicated to recollecting what has been lost or marginalized through patriarchal domination. Through historical, archaeological, and ancestral practices, she engages with art-making methods tied to women for millennia.
This creative focus is paralleled by her deep investment in feminist ecosystems, evidenced through her leadership as Director of SOHO20 and A.I.R. Galleries, and as Co-Founder of the Lady Painters artist network. She has exhibited in NYC at Morgan Lehman, Cindy Rucker and Kathleen Cullen Galleries among others. Through residencies like the Mudhouse Art Colony in Crete, Wassaic Art Project, NY and the Vermont Studio Center, her work reconstructs a fragmented heritage, positioning the recovery of a feminine legacy as both a personal and collective endeavor.
Listen to a poetry reading.
October/
Yvette Molina
Yvette Molina is a Mexican-American artist interested in the relationship between justice and caring. Her work is multidisciplinary and includes public engagement, performance, processional banners, painting, ceramics, costumes, and collage. Learning and incorporating traditional techniques is significant to her practice as a means of connecting to embodied forms of ancestral knowledge. Yvette has exhibited across the US and internationally at venues such as the the Tang Teaching Museum, Brattleboro Museum, Newark Museum, the Visual Art Center of New Jersey, the American Embassies in Uruguay and Latvia, and the Stockholm Fringe Festival. Born in Kansas City, she splits her time between Oakland, CA and Brooklyn, NY.
Listen to a sage cleansing.
November/
Meg Ellis
Meg Ellis is just honored to be nominated. An erstwhile gallery and museum professional with a background in art history, music performance, nonprofit administration, and community volunteerism, she's an opportunistic creative who relishes interdisciplinary projects that combine elements of history, cultural exploration, and personal experience. She is a classically-trained clarinetist, an avid reader, and a mediocre but enthusiastic runner. Meg hangs her hat in Austin, Texas, and is always packing for her next getaway.
Personalize a postcard to be sent on your behalf.
December/
Ashley Whitmore
Ashley Whitmore spent years in the early hour glow of bakery ovens between New York and Paris, perfecting laminated doughs and wild sourdoughs before swapping her apron for a corporate laptop and a good project plan. These days she dabbles in mixed-media collage and comics (with a strip once published in World War 3 Illustrated #41), and can often be found in her butterfly garden, teaching the occasional baking class, making art with her daughter, or showing up for causes she cares about in Austin.