Art
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Leslie

I participate in the longest running Jell-O art show the nation, which is sponsored each year by a loose association of women artists and provocateurs known as the Radar Angels to benefit a local arts center. The Jell-O show features between 20-30 ephemeral works of art made from gelatin and mixed media that can be beautiful, silly, thought provoking, or runny, depending on the skill of the artist, the barometer reading (rainy days make the gelatin take longer to set up), or the temperature of the overhead lights. One year, when I was rushed and didn't have time to cook, my contribution was a Jell-O Zen garden: a shallow wooden box filled with fragrant Jell-O that gallery-goers could rake into patterns. Candy rocks completed the aesthetic design.

One of the high points of the Jell-O Art show is the Tacky Food Buffet, a tempting display of treats and food mistakes that have featured Jell-O Sushi, Tie-dyed eggs with Jell-O, colorful cereal treats and blue sauerkraut salad on toast points (I made those—people said they were delicious).

Tour Images, piece by piece.

View thumbnails of Images.





Leslie What is a Nebula Award-winning writer and the author of the novel Olympic Games and a collection, The Sweet and Sour Tongue. Her radio commentaries are a regular feature of public radio. She lives in Oregon, where she teaches writing, makes jewelry and masks, and exhibits in the longest-running Jell-O Art show in the nation. For more about her and her work, see her website.
Current Issue
9 Feb 2026

“I’ve never actually visited the pā before,” she said out loud. “Is this where they gather lāʻī to make the pūʻolo?” she asked. “Yes,” Benny responded, glancing to see where Nanea was pointing. “Here and in other places as well. Many of these ti have been growing for decades now.” She paused for a moment. “I think about all the work you guys do, you know, up in those offices, and I think that all of that work actually starts from right here, in the ground, all covered in the earth and the pōhaku and the ti. Most people don’t even know it, but it all starts right here.
sometime in the night, we heard rocking and knocking and rapping and tapping, a million trillion tiny feet
The triangles bred and twisted, replicating themselves.
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