The Artist Behind the Menus: Lillian Ripley

You sink into a booth, ready for something delicious, but what? A riot of color catches your eye, decadent cocktails nearly tumble from the page. A drizzle of cherry juice schusses down a mountain of whipped cream. You know exactly what to order.

Artist Lillian Ripley is the mastermind behind the intricate, beautiful menus you’ve been seeing on our tables, and her work doesn’t stop there. From “Hendrix Over the Spanish Steps” to “From the Kitchen,” her pieces fill Elks Temple – and other McMenamins – with beautiful history and visual storytelling.

In her own words…

“Where Art Inhabits Life”: Lillian Joins McMenamins

I’ve been drawing and painting my whole life, beginning with private lessons in oil when I was ten, but despite a passion for art I’ve always been put off by the sterility of art museums and galleries. While some work is precious and should be protected, I prefer spaces like McMenamins where art inhabits life.

I started with McMenamins via the Tacoma call for artists when the Elks Temple was under construction. The Elks Lodge had always been one of my favorite buildings, so I was excited that McMenamins was resurrecting it even before becoming part of the project.

No Fear: The Process

I view everything I create – from menus, labels and graphics to paintings and decorative borders – as problem solving, like visual puzzles. On top of the given parameters, I often seek out related things that interest me, and then I figure out how it all fits together.

I always do the research and design on my computer so that I can collage and manipulate endlessly. I also find it helpful in my creative process to be able to save multiple versions of things. That allows me to experiment and try out ideas without the fear of “ruining” what I’ve done so far.

The final polish is the hardest part for me. That’s when I fight with my printer or my paint to get all the colors to behave. Translating colors from screen to ink on paper isn’t ever 100% because that is literally impossible, and the difference between indoor and natural light is staggering. Not to mention the techno-gremlins that come with the printers themselves.

Making Things You’ve Never Seen: The Menus

I love “stupid-ghosts” (my own term for sheet-ghosts) and skeletons. In my everyday life I’ve cultivated a deep love of spooky things and anything inspired by Gothic Literature, from haunted houses to vampires. At home I celebrate the dark and the silly side of the changing seasons, so I was delighted when my winter cocktail menu featuring Mari Lwyd was approved. It is my favorite menu I’ve created so far. I’m thankful to be able to share my love for the wassailing skeletal hobby horse and her cohorts Punch and Judy. My stepfather was a Punch and Judy man, so I grew up with the swazzle-voiced puppets. Their inclusion is also a reference to Lyle Hehn’s puppet theater painting at Kennedy school which features Punch and Judy holding torches above a banner, called “Educating Tomorrows Leaders.”

I first began making illustrated cocktail menus with former McMenamins Beverage Director Jeramie. When Covid furloughed us, we teamed up to make an illustrated cocktail book: Quintessential Cocktails (you can buy it in online or in McMenamins gift shops). Jeramie left to open his own place in Silverton, so now I work with our Beverage Director Lynn and Corporate Chef Mary. Behind the scenes they, along with their teams, design and develop the selection of food and drinks, then create mockups and send me snapshots of them. From there I recreate them on my computer using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

With the illustrated menus my ambition is to make menus like I’ve never seen before. It’s important to me that I recreate the food accurately and then add life to them by giving them movement and light. Ultimately, I want them to have the allure of food from Studio Ghibli films, like Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I really enjoy layering all the reflections and finding ways to add narrative to these almost-still-lifes.

You can find Lillian’s artwork at Elks Temple, Kennedy School, Edgefield, Six Arms Pub, Olympic Club, Anderson School, and of course, on the tables in our pubs.