Artists Helen Reed and Hannah Jickling collaborated with grade six and seven students on a food-based piece of public artwork, as part of their ongoing residency at Queen Alexandra Elementary School known as “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” The gum, QA CHEW'S BUBBLE TROUBLE, was developed through a year long series of classroom workshops with the students and guest experts such as a food scientist and artists that compared texture, natural and artificial flavours, and gum ingredients such as sorbitol and xylitol.
The resulting gum is a uniquely abstract blend of both fruity and sweet notes, with some sharp and earthy tones. QA CHEW’S BUBBLE TROUBLE was distributed in 2018 to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night, and the artists would go on to sell the gum through retailers across Canada. All proceeds from the sale of the gum went to arts programming at Queen Alexandra Elementary School.