Utica, N.Y. — Ella Weber, 2017-18 Munson Artist-in-Residence and printmaking artist, will present an art talk and book signing at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, in the Museum of Art’s Sinnott Family – Bank of Utica Auditorium in Downtown Utica. This event is free and open to the public.
Weber is a basement-based artist blending humor, storytelling, and play into her work. With an MFA in printmaking from the University of Kansas, she transforms day jobs into art, capturing life’s absurdities. Her debut novel, “The Deli Diaries,” published by Latah Book, is a sharp and heartfelt take on life behind the counter. With inimitable quirkiness and fever dream flair, this novel is a hysterical yet heartfelt parody of millennial plight, midwest mediocrity, overweening artistic ambition, and the inanity of the daily delicatessen grind.
“We are so thrilled to have Ella Weber returning to Utica to promote ‘Deli Diaries’ and the creative ephemera that surround it,” said Audrey Taylor, community arts and residency director.
“While Ella draws on her own life experiences for this book, the beginnings of the project really began to take shape while she was Artist-in-Residence at Munson back in 2017. To have her back in town presenting the witty, beautiful, and subversive finished product feels a little like a homecoming of sorts.”
“The Deli Diaries” follows Della, fresh out of art school with a pile of debt and a broken heart, as she moves into her parents’ basement in suburban Nebraska and lands a “temporary” job as a deli clerk. Struggling to smile under the small talk of corporate commands, she contends with mind-numbing eight-hour shifts, bumbling management, ruthless secret shoppers, and a crew of misfit coworkers. Despite the monotonous drudgery, can Della stay true to herself and find creative inspiration in a life behind the counter?
For more information about Weber, visit ellaweber.com/the-deli-diaries
