HANCOCK — How do you think about recipes? Are they universal tools that carry the same meaning and purpose for all, or are they personal reminders of a loved one or shared experience? Could they be all these things and more?

For artist Emily Lanctot, they are the subject and inspiration for her exhibition “Salaiset Ruokaohjeet: Secret Recipes” which is displayed at Finlandia Art Gallery through March 5.

Most of the paintings in this exhibition are based on recipes from people of the Copper Country, sourced from locals and community cookbooks.

“In my research, I uncovered recipes from family members and friends that I didn’t previously know existed,” Lanctot explained. One cookbook, “500 Recipes of the Copper Country’s Finest Cooking,” was produced by the same church that later became the Finnish American Heritage Center where Lanctot’s paintings are now on display.

Another cookbook produced in Copper Harbor, “Copper Country Recipes,” contained a recipe from Lanctot’s childhood neighbor and the first director of the Finlandia Art Gallery, Phyllis Fredendall. With bursts of color and texture, Lanctot brings people together across space and time while welcoming viewers into a sensory experience like a shared meal.

“I hope the exhibition inspires people to gather and share recipes and ways of making (rather than keep them secret) from loved ones and friends and encourages viewers to reimagine how they might approach their everyday lives,” said Lanctot.

Emily Lanctot is an artist, curator, professor and museum director at Northern Michigan University. Her multi-media art practice focuses on place, material culture and the everyday. Projects, whether experiential, painting, performance or installation, are often collaborative and examine memory, desire, exchange, the limitations of language, and institutional/ideological frameworks.

A reception for the artist will take place from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Finlandia Art Gallery in Hanock. There will be an artist talk at 7:20 p.m. For more information call 906-370-3722 or visit www.finlandiaartgallery.com.