Featured artist Sofie Matzen, left, and curator Emily Kate Johnson speak with attendees during a short artist's talk.

First course: shrimp ceviche with salsa criolla and plantain chips.

Second course: tomato and corn salad with toasted queso fresco, smoked mussels and pickled radish.

Third course: pork carnitas with lime crema and onion relish.

Fourth course: sweet corn quesillo with ancho chili caramel and spiced peaches.

Featured artist and Lawrence native Sofie Matzen is pictured next to one of her works, 44.0007555,

By day, Decade is an East Lawrence coffee shop. But on this July night it has been transformed into an intimate fine dining restaurant with woodcut prints on the walls.

Cocktail hour begins at 6:30, with guests circulating and investigating the bird-themed artwork. Someone with a trained eye might suggest the work symbolizes migration or a transition in the artist’s life. Others see beautifully printed birds — nothing more.

Then everyone sits down for a four-course meal prepared by former Pachamamas chef Juan Carlos “Jay” Tovar-Ballagh. On the menu: shrimp ceviche, tomato and corn salad, pork carnitas with lime crema, and sweet corn quesillo, or flan, with ancho caramel and spiced peaches for dessert.

Ideas about the artwork are exchanged at the tables while guests eat. The artist behind the prints , Sofie Matzen, stands up before dessert is served to speak about her work and take questions.

This is one of many instances of The Dinner Party Project, the business of Lawrence “art caterer” Emily Kate Johnson, 21, who caters artwork and pairs it with a meal, then lets the combination spark conversation among the guests.

It’s not simply putting food and art components in one room. The idea is to make the food on the guests’ plates reflect the art they see on the walls.

“It’s a hard collaboration to have because chefs are artists, and artists are artists,” Johnson says.

Johnson recently worked with Louis Wigen-Toccalino owner of Decade, for a monthly “Dinner at Decade” series. Wigen-Toccalino also showcased his cooking expertise at a show entitled “Epistrophe” featuring five local artists.

Themes in the artwork at that show included repetition and the coming together of multiple perspectives. Wigen-Toccalino mirrored these themes in his menu of kale Caesar salad, Moroccan beef stew and cappuccino bread pudding.

“Regionally and culturally, none of these dishes go together,” he says. “But I tied them together with the repeated use of local ingredients.”

Wigen-Toccalino says he is most impressed by “the power of food” to introduce new audiences to artwork. It doesn’t matter if you can talk about art, he says. Everyone can share a meal.

Same goes for the artwork bringing in those who wouldn’t normally have a fine-dining experience, he says.

“The overall experience is greater than each individual one on its own,” he says.

Project’s beginnings

Johnson came home to Lawrence two years ago after dropping out of Lesley University of Art and Design in Boston. Knowing she didn’t want to return to art school, she decided she’d like to hold functions that paired food and art.

She wanted to create a relaxed setting where people could dig into conversation about artworks that aren’t normally shown.

“I’ve always liked the idea of the way that art and food can work together to make for an experience that makes art more accessible than when you’re in a gallery,” Johnson says.

Johnson held the first dinner party in 2012 in an unfinished warehouse in East Lawrence that didn’t have running water, electricity or air conditioning. In July.

As a young working multimedia artist with no managerial experience, it was a huge undertaking for Johnson.

“I felt like I had something to prove,” she says. “I was coming back from school. I was trying to convince everybody that I hadn’t failed.”

Johnson curated art from 25 local artists to put on display in the warehouse for 55 guests to enjoy, in addition to providing a three-course meal made by friend and former 715 cook Harrison Soelter. Entry was $10.

There have been six dinner parties since then, plus private parties, with Johnson now charging $35 per guest and just recently making her first profit from the project. The next party will be announced in early September. Those interested in attending can register online at dinnerpartyproject.squarespace.com under “reservations.”

With The Dinner Party Project settling into place in Lawrence, Johnson is having more opportunities to bring in artists from farther away. For Matzen’s show at Decade, “Even the Stork in the Sky Knows Her Seasons,” Johnson drove to Minneapolis, where Matzen now lives, to transport the pieces to Lawrence.

Fresh out of Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Matzen was excited for a solo show as an emerging artist. She had shown at galleries before, Matzen says, but this showing didn’t feel as stiff or awkward.

“People were so relaxed and were more willing to level with the art and with me,” Matzen says.

Katy Clagett, a Lawrence resident who has attended three parties, appreciates Johnson’s attention to detail. A winter beef stew dinner held in a big white barn on the outskirts of town with family as the theme stands out in Clagett’s mind. Candles lit the space with artwork covering the walls.

“You could feel [Johnson’s] authentic Kansas roots at this event from the space to the art to the food,” Clagett says.

Lawrence is chock full of musicians, artists and chefs, Clagett says, but rarely do they meet in one setting. She hopes these dinner parties inspire more people to mix art mediums at more events.

“Collaboration is essential in Lawrence,” she says.