The Hormel Girls' Last Parade by Eve Anderson

“The Hormel Girls (aka ‘Spamettes’) were an all-female marching band hired by the Hormel Foods Company in 1946. Up until that point, Hormel Foods had been earning the majority of its profit from the US Military, which bought Spam in bulk as war rations. In an effort to promote their products to average Americans after WWII, the company sent the Hormel Girls on tour to perform in heavily patriotic Spam-themed parades. The Hormel Company doubled their sales during this time, but the Spamettes were no longer necessary and forced to disband in 1953. This painting responds to the idea of constructed Americana by paralleling Hormel’s parades to production lines, visually represented by the intersection of a slightly abstracted parade scene and cartoonish Spam production lines. The work also contemplates consumerism as it relates to entertainment (specifically female entertainment) and food, mirrored by the orange crowed and pink hand in the top right corner. “

-Eve Anderson

The Hormel Girls’ Last Parade

Oil on Canvas

22’’x 28’’