Meet Olivia Girard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia Girard.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I fell in love with photogravure when I was seeking a second major in Printmaking at ASU. It’s a long, detailed- almost meditative process that fit me like a missing piece. It’s the path I saw myself on. I ordered my very own etching press and was in the process of setting up a home studio. Gathering & collecting inks, special paper, and shooting as much as possible to build up a backlog of prints to work on when my press arrived. Construction for one of these guys is a few months, and when that time passed and I still hadn’t heard anything from the makers, I kind of freaked out. And I had already sent them a check paying for the press in full. Turns out, hard times fell upon the company that used to be one of the biggest producers of fine art presses and it was looking more and more like my machine was not going to be made. So, I pulled my check – surrounded by all of the supplies I had been accumulating over the last few years and just felt… deflated.

There was a lot restless energy to create – to be involved in a process but, I was totally empty of inspiration. I felt trapped. After a few months of wallowing in my disappointment, I picked up some books at the library on bread. I really couldn’t tell you why, other than I absolutely love eating it and wanted to make some on my own. I didn’t realize it was the kind of process I wanted. I began with sourdoughs, setting my alarms at all hours of the night to get up and feed my starter. I was obsessed with it. Always checking on it, smelling it… touching, tasting. And the seemingly simple list of ingredients but endless outcomes due to minute environmental changes breathed a bit of life back into me. This meant there was a lot of bread at the house. A lot. John, my partner, is telling me “we can’t have this much bread here!” Really. it’s all we were eating.

So – I thought, ‘I’ll create a sammie menu with 3 options on it & send it out via text to people I know. I’ll package them up, serve it in a box with chips and a cookie and deliver it to you.’ I did this one day a week (on my day off from Ollie Vaughns). Three months later, I quit Ollie Vaughn’s and offered sammie deliveries 5 days a week.

leDinersaur & I have morphed and changed a lot since it first started – 3 years ago. Most recently, I have partnered up with Chris Bianco and have a much stronger focus on pastries. Always excited to grow into what’s next.

Please tell us about your art.
I make things to eat. On a simple note, I bake because I am infatuated with the process. every. single. step. But I also bake because I like feeding people. It gives me comfort – it makes me feel at ease in social situations. I like creating memories that have a direct connection to taste & smell, to a good evening with good people.

I never liked sweets as a kid. Even if I lean towards ordering dessert more often then I used to, I’m still a “can we have another appetizer for dessert?” person. Grocery store bought cakes left a permanent scar. Fondant, a deeper one. Why is there all of that pretty to look at but inedibly sweet decoration on top.

“Can I have another hot dog?” One of my girlfriends harvested a bunch of oranges from her tree and brought them over. At the time, leDinersaur was a little sammie delivery service so I was doing a lot of bread baking. I felt like I didn’t have much use for all of these oranges. But I thought… I could bake something. The first thing I baked was an orange olive oil cake. I never really had anything like it. I assumed all desserts were insanely sweet so I always avoided them. Gosh did my world open up after that. I wanted to bake as much as possible. To play. To try new things. 3 years later, I feel that way even more. I can only hope that my desserts pass along a feeling like that to someone else – to the person that thinks they don’t like something but just needs to dive in and start going.

Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
Food is definitely political. Where you choose to buy your ingredients affects people, and how those people live. That’s why it’s so important to support local. Local farmers, butchers, purveyors. In doing that, you are directly impacting those that live in your community. I am fortunate to be a part of the team at Bianco because that is how they operate. That’s how they’ve always operated. Artists need to support other artists. A good meal, a good dessert. These are great opportunities to be with people and have conversations. Given everything that is going on in the world today, dialogue seems so important. And food can be of such comfort that, having challenging conversations with others seems easier. More relaxed. The heaviness in the world drives me to bake stuff that may push people into something they’ve never had before – but is a bite of comfort, of ease, of openness.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Come into Pane Bianco – there are always cookies and various pastries available for sale. or make it a date! at Tratto where 3 different desserts are always featured. You can also follow on Instagram @ledinersaur – sometimes there are small pop ups, etc. where you can taste & support

Contact Info:

• Email: olivia@biancorestaurants.com
• Instagram: ledinersaur

Image Credit:
John Wagner Photography (portrait)

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