Soul food means more to Evanston resident Edna Porter than cornbread and black-eyed peas. Growing up in Bogue Chitto, Miss., helped her see the true purpose of “soul food,” she said.

“Soul food nurtures you spiritually, too,” Porter said. When she needs spiritual nourishment, she paints pictures of the backwoods of Mississippi, where she was raised. “It’s easy to go back there.”

Porter was one of the artists featured Sunday night at the Evanston Cultural Arts Division exhibit celebrating Black History Month. This year’s event at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., titled “Soul Food,” highlighted the works of 15 local artists. The event also featured several performances, including an Evanston dance group, a gospel singer and an acoustic blues band.

“We started out with the idea of soul food,” said Theresa Pacione, the event’s coordinator. “Then we expanded to include everything that nourishes the soul.”

The celebration offered a double serving for soul and body. Photography, oil paintings and pencil drawings were offered downstairs while red beans and rice and fried chicken from Evanston restaurants were served upstairs.

A panel of professional artists selected the visual artists who were invited to exhibit their work, Pacione said. A cultural diversity committee suggested local performance artists. Several artists also offered workshops.

Eric Futran, whose photos at the exhibit portrayed blacks in Chicago restaurants, bakeries and markets, said his work helped him discover the meaning behind the soul food tradition.

“The food was created out of inexpensive foodstuffs,” said Futran, whose training as a photojournalist led him to food and restaurant photography. “But it’s all about the culture and the love that goes into making it.”

The exhibit also featured Lucille Graham, an Evanston artist whose jewelry incorporates chicken bones, painted orange peels and dried fruits and vegetables.

“I appreciate recycling things,” Graham said. “(Dried rutabagas) can look like amber. Turnips can look like ivory.”

She brought plastic bags full of these materials to the exhibit, where she helped participants string ornate necklaces. Graham said her art reflects her culture because of its focus on saving and creatively reusing valuable items.

“I grew up in a household where you didn’t throw anything away,” Graham said.

Pacione said she was pleased with the turnout Sunday night, that more than 250 people attended.

Evanston resident Dolores Reynolds Mitchell said she was pleased the exhibit featured different types of art. “I like that they’ve combined such a wide variety of expressions – very nice.”

The annual celebration is necessary to foster the diversity that is a highlight of of the Evanston community, said Evanston gospel singer and event performer Sandra Leconte.

“I like performing in Evanston better than anywhere else,” Leconte said. “It’s important for a cosmopolitan community like this one, a multicultural community, to experience diversity. Through soul food, through soul art – this is a perfect example of the integration of art that we need. This is the way the real world should be.”

Although the cultural focus of the event was universal, the large number of artists and attendees that live in Evanston brought the exhibit closer to home. Dino Robinson, who presented Evanston’s musical history at the event, said Evanston’s contribution to culture has gone largely ignored.

“Most people are surprised about Evanston’s cultural history,” he said. “It’s below their radar screens.”