June Foley’s art is of the “feel good” kind. There is an immediate sense of satisfaction that a Newfoundlander, specifically, gets when viewing her work. This is mainly due to the subject matter, which is almost exclusively genre paintings of Newfoundland life; snapshots of a time that may seem long gone but is fresh in the minds of many. There is a warm nostalgia in the traditions that Mrs. Foley has chosen to put to canvas. From the “The Caplin are In” to “Up the Pond,” she has reminded us of what makes growing up (and living) in Newfoundland so special. My favourite of Mrs. Foley’s paintings is “Jigg’s Dinner.” My attraction to this painting comes from both my heart and my stomach.
I sat down with Mrs. Foley to discuss "Jigg's Dinner."
"Jigg's Dinner," June Foley, painting, 16"x12", 2002
AQ: Did you take a photograph of this specific jigg’s dinner before making the painting?
JF: Well I actually cooked the Jigg’s dinner and my brother and his wife, and friends of ours, Otto and Janice, were [coming] for dinner. But before they could eat I set up the scene on the table and then I got my camera and took photos. I did some of it just before they arrived so that I would have the whole scene. I took pictures [of the Jigg’s] from my kitchen table, but I designed the tablecloth and the wallpaper to give it a more homey, Newfoundland traditional feeling.
AQ: Is the role of photography vital to the creative process of painting for you?
JF: Oh yes, it is, it’s 80% of the process. I like to have the image in front of me, at least starting, and then I use my own creativity to add on or delete from the picture.
AQ: Why did you choose to capture that particular moment in the meal?
JF: I think that if the plates were half empty or empty you wouldn’t get the same effect as you know, this is a feast, it’s inviting. When people see it, [they say] “oh I’d love to have that meal now” how often have I heard that, or “you’re making me hungry,” or “I’ve got to have a Jigg’s dinner now because I’ve seen that.” So, it kind of whets people’s appetites.
AQ: In growing up here, I’ve noticed there is a loyalty to brands among Newfoundlanders. In your sister painting, "Sunday Supper," you included Good Luck margarine, and here you included Bick’s Pickled Beets and Habitat pickles. Is that what was on your table growing up?
JF: We had the Good Luck margarine, we didn’t have the soft margarine, we had the hard block butter and that was used for everything from buttering your toast to mom frying in the pan, frying eggs with it or whatever. We had Mrs. Luke’s pickles at the time [but] you can’t get them anymore. I think we had Bick’s, but I’m not really sure. Today when I have Jigg’s dinner I’ll have Habitat pickles, sometimes now because of being so modern, you take them out of the jar and put them in a dish. But when we were growing up it would be in the jar on the table. A fork was put in it so that you could take your pickles from the jar, it would never be in a dish.
AQ: Were you looking to portray a universal Newfoundland experience or a more personal one?
JF: It was a universal Newfoundland experience. When we were growing up we didn’t call it Jigg’s dinner, it was called boiled dinner or beef and cabbage. Different communities called it different things, boiled dinner, beef and cabbage, cooked dinner. And when you said these words you knew exactly - it was like saying we were having fish for dinner - when Mom would say that we were going to have fish for dinner, we knew it was going to be cod. For any other fish, the name of what we were going to have, say halibut or salmon, the name was given to it. But if you just had fish, you automatically knew you were having cod. It’s the same thing for boiled dinner. From what I gather “Jigg’s” Dinner was a name put on it by the Americans, when they came to Newfoundland. Jigg was a cartoon character and he would always be having big sandwiches and I suppose when the Americans first came into contact with Jigg’s dinner they thought, oh look at all the food, that’s a “Jigg’s” dinner.
AQ: I think there is a lot more happening here than a simple meal. It speaks to the tough economic times of the past and the creative ways Newfoundlanders’ did the best they could with what they had. What are your thoughts on that statement?
JF: I grew up in Long Harbour, Placentia Bay, and I was from a family of twelve. My Mom and Dad always grew their own vegetables. If it was in the summer time you would take it directly from the ground, and in the winter you would have to go to the cellar. Also, the salt beef, it was cured and had throughout the year. Flour and other supplies would be brought to the community in the fall from Harbour Buffet that would come into the wharves. The fishermen would exchange their fish for food for the winter, like a barrel of pork and apples, things like that. It was a different sort of life entirely.
*Nelson Education, a publishing company in BC, is including June Foley’s “Jigg’s Dinner” in a social studies book for grade 3 students, in the section on Atlantic Canada. Congratulations, Mrs. Foley!
