Standout Spartan: Edward Alan Gross

“Much of my work is an effect of colliding qualities: isolation and inclusion, vulnerability and resilience, profound tragedy and absurd comedy,” said artist (and Steward's executive chef) Edward Alan Gross, whose work is currently on exhibit in Steward’s Carolyn R. Brandt Gallery. “It’s fitting that Steward’s 2025-26 schoolwide theme is nature. [In thinking about] how things interact in nature and depend on one another, one basic shape is discovered: the circle. I am constantly painting this shape and its repetition, then expanding the rings by illustrating a particular moment with performing characters … without citing the action that came before or after. This leads the viewer to decide the characters’ past or present.”

Mr. Gross said he doesn’t see much difference between being a chef and an artist.  

“They have far too much in common,” he noted. “Food is art. Both involve senses, ranges of color, seasonal effects, and are very performative. Not to mention that both disciplines produce and attract the most colorful of characters.”

Mr. Gross said that art “makes us feel heard, seen, and less alone. I can trace all of those feelings directly to a painting I saw when I was very young,” he recalled. “The painting, ‘Green Target’ by Jasper Johns, still has a power over me. It was the first guidance to my creative constructions — the piece that was missing from my foundation.”

Although he is colorblind (he cannot see red or green), Mr. Gross said he’s never thought of it as a hindrance.

“My coping mechanism is to constantly challenge myself by arranging a painting using a palette of reds and greens. It’s very satisfying.”

Of working at Steward as a chef and having his art on display, Mr. Gross shared, “I love the idea of an environment that showcases all of my talents. I was thrilled when [Upper School Visual Arts Teacher] Kristin Snellings asked me to participate. I’m always hopeful that I can pass the spark that Jasper Johns and his ‘Green Target’ unknowingly passed to me all those years ago.”