Latin School of Chicago

arts In Passionate Pursuit: Madi Brandstetter '10 is passionate about food. She has taken culinary arts classes, watches "Top Chef" religiously and dreams about one day owning a bakery. She also has a love for art, having taken a full range of visual arts courses from photography to painting. During her junior year, working with Visual Arts Department Chair Betty Lark Ross, Madi developed an Independent Studies course that combined both her interests. She wrote and designed a cookbook with her own recipes and food photography. Along the way, she also created a Web site to showcase her work and took advantage of opportunities to spend time with a wellknown chef, a food stylist, the owner of a gourmet chocolate boutique and a food critic. Not only has Madi's cookbook project become a unique and beautiful addition to her college portfolio, it also has opened up new worlds to her. "I've gotten a chance to look at food from a completely different perspective," says Madi. "I was able to further develop my passion, but I also got a sense of being an author and food writer, a Web designer, and I learned a lot about the business of food and food advertising." At this point, Madi is considering studying journalism in college with the hope of becoming a traveling food writer for a publication like Bon Appétit or Saveur – as well as owning the bakery. "Madi's experience is a perfect example of how a customized program like Independent Studies can benefit students seeking to pursue personal passions beyond the limits of the regular curriculum, "explains Ross, who works with about a half-dozen Independent Studies students each year. While today Independent Studies are offered across disciplines throughout the upper school, 30 years ago the Visual Arts Department pioneered the program and continues to be the subject area with the greatest number and variety of offerings. "Visual Arts really lends itself to Independent Studies," explains Ross. "It is all about self-discovery. It is about an individual's approach to solving a problem or dabbling with an idea. It is a student's opportunity to say something unique through a product that he or she is creating." According to Ross, Visual Arts teachers are always looking for ways to further challenge their students beyond the limits of what they can teach in a classroom setting. Over the years, upper schoolers have taken Independent Studies focusing on fashion design and photography, sculpture, advertising, animation, night photography, modern art and video production – just to name a few. While the program gives students certain freedom, it also challenges students with a degree of rigor that pushes them to create at a higher level. Blackberry Cassis Jam Makes about 6 quarts 5 to 6 cups of regular white sugar (depending on how sweet you prefer your jam) 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 teaspoon of lemon zest 1 tablespoon of cassis liqueur 2 pints of blackberries (4 cups mashed) 1 box of powder pectin 1. Before making the jam, make sure you have cleaned the jars that you will be using for the jam. 2. Quickly rinse and lightly pat the blackberries dry, just to remove any extra liquid. 3. In a large non-aluminum pot, place the crushed berries (just use a potato masher to crush the berries), lemon juice, and the pectin powder. 4. Bring all of the combined ingredients to a roiling boil over a high heat, stirring constantly. 5. Quickly add the regular white sugar, still stirring. Return to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down; then boil and add the cassis liqueur. Just keep stirring for another minute letting the liqueur burn off. After that remove the hot "jam" from heat and skim off any foam. Place the jam in the jars with lids on, let sit for two hours, then refrigerate overnight. A recipe and food photography by Madi Brandstetter. 14 Latin Magazine

• Cover