The smell of sugar wafts through the air in the Weyerhaeuser Reception Hall at the Cameron Art Museum, where more than two dozen Christmas trees and nine gingerbread houses are on display for the annual Cape Fear Festival of Trees.
A new addition to the festival, the first Art of Gingerbread competition drew bakers of all ages and abilities. Nan Pope, museum shop manager and Cape Fear Festival of Trees event coordinator, said the gingerbread competition taps into the museum’s artistic mission while fitting the festival’s holiday theme.
“Our exhibitions are about art, and the trees are about the holidays, but we wanted this to be about both. The gingerbreads are about the holidays and art,” Pope said.
Built with only edible materials, submissions ranged from a towering replica of Thalian Hall, complete with Necco Wafer columns and cinnamon stick stairs, to a beach scene of gingerbread surfers and sunbathers created by a fifth grade class at the Friends School of Wilmington, all fit to the same 2-by-2-foot foundation.
The Davis Community, a sponsor of the gingerbread competition, worked with the architect and interior designers behind the new household model of care at the assisted living facility to recreate four of 10 homes where residents live. Davis Community marketing and public relations administrator Julie Rehder spent a day baking gingerbread, mixing six pounds of royal icing and rolling out fondant. After she constructed the gingerbread quadraplex based on a design by architect Bruce Bowman, the design team at Big Sky Designs stenciled food coloring on fondant walls, weaved Fruit Roll-Ups into braided rugs, and shaped Rice Krispie treats into chairs.
“I don’t even want to think about how long it took,” Big Sky Designs owner Jennifer Kraner joked. “It was a lot of fun, though.”
The design team even crafted tiny marzipan versions of Davis Community cats Haley and Cece, which is one of Rehder’s favorite features of the gingerbread house replicas.
“It’s home. You would find the cats curled up on the couch somewhere,” Rehder said.
Pope said the museum hoped to allow each baker creative freedom by keeping rules and requirements minimal, a strategy that seemed to work based on the diverse approach taken to each submission.
“This is what we love, to see people using their memories and hearts to create something they can share. It’s an opportunity of expression for them,” Pope said.
The museum set up an online auction for the gingerbread creations, with a starting bid of $10. The gingerbread that rakes in the highest overall bidding price will be announced as the grand prizewinner during a Dec. 6 Ginger Blast party. After the party, each gingerbread creation will be given to its highest bidder. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the museum’s educational programming.
The Ginger Blast party will begin at 7 p.m., with live music by The Blarney Brogues, ginger-inspired fare by CAM Café chef Jessica Cabo, and a cash bar. Tickets cost $30 and include admission to two current museum exhibitions: Matter of Reverence by clay artist Hiroshi Sueyoshi in the Brown Wing; and State of the Art/Art of the State, featuring work of more than 600 North Carolina artists, in the Hughes Wing.
The Cape Fear Festival of Trees comes to a close Dec. 7.
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