Museum volunteers developing a taste for art

Sunday, May 21, 2006 | 7:40 a.m.

Rosalie Blackman is a curator of a different sort.

Ask her about Colombian painter Fernando Botero and she'll talk a blue streak about pickled onions, rum and grilled mangos.

Mention American comic actor and artist Martin Mull and she'll devise a menu of hot dogs, baked beans and potato chips.

Santa Fe artists? Chili, chips, taco salads and avocado dips.

Working with fellow volunteers Roseanne Krugelis and Mary Bailey, Blackman creates the culinary interpretation of what is hanging on the walls at Las Vegas Art Museum openings.

Sometimes it's not so easy. The Cindy Wright exhibit opening, which featured the Belgian artist's photorealistic images of raw meat, fell on Good Friday and the second day of Passover. For some, that meant no meat; for others, no sugar or leavened bread.

"The minute we saw what occurred we knew we were in trouble," says Blackman, who has been handling the catering for the museum's openings for seven years.

But they compromised successfully with pasta salad and fresh beet salad, putting the meatballs and apricot-glazed ham balls on another table.

To keep the menus coming, Bailey (the baker), Krugelis (the sous chef) and Blackman (the researcher) scour the newspapers, hit the bargain stores and nibble at buffets, restaurants and other gallery openings, stealing shamelessly, they say.

"And we're thrifty," Krugelis adds.

Some exhibits have provided for a little creative leeway. They considered serving a plate with a Jell-O cube or a slice of apple for "Southern California Minimalism," but instead went with fritters, believing the inventiveness of minimalism opened the door for "anything."

For "Adventures in a Temperate Climate: A Retrospective of Paintings by Martin Mull," which opens June 11, they've identified an "easy and cheap" menu.

"It's white-bread America," Blackman says, pushing the menu in front of her. "Grilled cheese, grilled tuna, hot dogs. A big bowl of chips. No greens. Nothing fresh."

With one caveat, Krugelis says: "When you do a grilled cheese sandwich, you have to use whole grain bread, not wheat. Whole grain gives it a nutty flavor."

Rolling her eyes in a joking manner, Blackman retorts: "She wouldn't let me do Wonder Bread."

If a grilled cheese and peanut butter sandwich tests OK, however, they may add it to a menu that includes apple pie and root beer floats.

"The tradition for a museum opening is of a very fine, sophisticated event, which normally wouldn't include themed food," says deputy director Renee Coppola, who approves the menus.

"But we're breaking new ground here. If it works, it works."

Besides, Coppola says with a laugh, "We've all been talking about these root beer floats."