Art Metropole

#13765

QA CHEW’s BUBBLE TROUBLE

Date

2018

Publisher

Big Rock Candy Mountain

Format

Multiples

Genre

Food

QA CHEW’s BUBBLE TROUBLE is a 2-in-1, limited-run chewing gum. It was developed over the 2017–18 academic year in collaboration with Karen Sandhu’s Grade 6/7 class at Queen Alexandra Elementary School, located in East Vancouver on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. The students included Aiden, Alex, Andrew, Angelo, Anna, Anthony, Celest, Edwin, Ellaine, Ellie, Farhin, Hannah, Jacky, Jaden, Jaymes, Jaykwon, Kaleb, Levi, Lily, Saiyaka, Susan, Tatiana, Tessa, and Yoni.

The gum was designed through a series of classroom workshops with students, teachers, support staff, and guest experts such as food scientist Kathrin Wallace. In these workshops, students compared gum textures, natural and artificial flavours, and standard ingredients such as sorbitol and xylitol. We explored gum as an art material, a confectionery, and even as a public nuisance when it gets stuck underneath desks and on sidewalks. The result is QA CHEW’s BUBBLE TROUBLE, which has a uniquely abstract blend of both fruity and sweet notes, with some sharp and earthy tones. Students have variously described the flavour as “Hello Kitty bubble bath,” “pungent,” and “mysterious.”

QA CHEW’s BUBBLE TROUBLE has received invaluable support from Queen Alexandra Elementary School staff including; Jamine Hickman, Megan Davies, Jon McCormick, Justin Reist, Joe Mergens, and Carole Gomez.

All proceeds will support continued art programming at Queen Alexandra Elementary School. Students want to see the profits go towards good quality art supplies for the school, more artist visits (with “less talking and more hard skills”), and a workshop on how to make memes.