Collectors like lots of the same thing or variations of the same thing, so I was fascinated when I came across the work of Lisa Hoke at two different art museums recently. I went to the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield to see another exhibit but on the way to the bathroom I was stopped dead in my tracks by several large pieces grouped together as “Love, American Style”.
Here is part of description of the show from the website:
This colorful art is created from things that we all encounter every day: paper, cardboard, product packaging, paper plates, plastic cups, matchbook covers, printed advertising material, and all sorts of other discarded flotsam and jetsam from our consumer society. The title of the exhibition refers to advertisers’ marketing messages that try to persuade us that we can express love and solve all our problems by buying their products. “Our constant exposure to packaging, color and ‘look at me, buy me’ messages gives us a sense of shared experience,” said Hoke. “People will recognize their lives in this exhibit. Nobody will walk in here and not see something that’s familiar to them.”
Yeah, all that but also the visual joy of the same packaging over and over again! And then a week later as I was walking up the stairs of the New Britain Museum of American Art to see a Toulouse Lautrec exhibit, I found another installation that I immediately knew was also by Lisa Hoke. This one titled “The Gravity of Color” includes approximately 20,000 cups!
I worked in the preschool room at the Y the other day and I brought my “jewels and gems” along with many of those small bags that favors come in, several clear plastic containers with compartments, and some velvet covered cardboard. As the children arranged and sorted the gems, I thought about the innate behaviors that lead us to become collectors.
“I love to sort, don’t you?” said one child. “I certainly do”, I replied!
Another child put all the clear glass flowers in one bag and all the pink gems in another. “Look at my collections”, she exclaimed.
While most of the Christmas decorations are put away, we keep the window decorations up till the end of February and I decorate the kitchen garland for Valentine’s Day. Many of the hearts are part of my series that are attached each year to little bags of candy. For many years I was focusing on red fabric. If you look closely you can see red and white ticking (Sweet Dreams Valentine), a bandanna print (given with Red Hots), Dotted Swiss (tiny Toblerone bars), a toile print (nonpareils), polka dots (with a Morse code message and Dot candies), a vintage cherry print (cherry jellies), and red and white gingham cut with pinking shears (watermelon candy). This year’s heart features owls, of course, two owls that form a heart and the saying “Owl you need is love” – a tip of the heart to Molly and Jeff.
This China Cabinet belonged to my husband’s parents and I coveted it before I knew about Stickley, Arts and Crafts or Mission furniture. My in-laws actually had quite a lot of Stickley furniture, they had purchased it as a young married couple and they still had the bill of sale for several pieces. The China Closet has no mark but I was so happy to get it. The contents, my blue and orange or yellow china collection, is described in the previous posts. The top is host to an eclectic assortment – some carved gourds, two little animals – one pottery from South America one carved soapstone one from Africa that are facing each other on the right, two birds fashioned from seeds, a wooden bird, a bowl my husband made when he was a child, a Redware plate from Pennsylvania given to us by my husband’s brother, a couple of eggs in stands, also in a stand a carved walnut, a collectible Kelvin Chen teapot given to me by my sister, an Italian coffee pot that belonged to my parents, a fertility symbol from Africa that we bought in Stockbridge MA from a store that was going out of business, and a print of a red guitar on a metal “picture frame” fashioned from an old red truck given to us by the nephew on my husband’s side. Above the China cabinet a print by Dane Tilghman – part of our paintings of musicians collection and two blue guitars. Under the China Cabinet is a silverware box also inherited from my husband’s parents.
The bottom shelf is a bit more eclectic than the top two as I am actually using it as a china closet rather than a display case because I store the wonderful trifle dish my daughter Molly gave me for my birthday last year on it. Next to that is a blue pot that came from my husband’s mother. She was a ceramicist and made the flower plate behind the two pieces but I don’t think she made the pot. While it has no markings I think it is an arts and craft pot. In front of the trifle dish is a small pitcher from Italy, a tag sale purchase that both my sister and I wanted but that I snagged. There are some glass vases behind the blue pot. Next to the flowered plate is a tray with Mexican tiles and in front of that a pitcher from Mexico with sunflowers that my parents gave me sitting on another tray this one with a sunflower tile. Also on the tray is a stack of Quimper little plates from my grandmother and a new “made in China” creamer and sugar bowl. Behind them another blue pot, I think it came from a florist with an arrangement but its color and shape go well with the arts and craft pot. Click the picture to see the whole shelf.
Don’t forget to click on the picture so you can see everything. Starting at the left, you can see a tiny bit of what I think is a miniature wedding jug – a souvenir from Madrid. I am not sure where it came from. Next to that is the newest addition, two pots from Italy – one with a sun and one with a moon. I must have admired them enough at my sister’s house since they were one of my Christmas presents this year. Most of the china on this shelf is a Quimper set that I inherited from my grandmother. To the right of the Quimper bowl is a piece of Polish pottery from my friends Jen and Kimm. And to the right of that a small bowl from Morocco, I think and a tiny little angel made by a local potter and given to me by my friend Shannon. In the back on the left is a stunning plate my husband gave me one year, in the middle a plate from Italy, and on the right a piece of pottery that we bought at a craft fair in Fort Worth, Texas. The small thing on the left that doesn’t look like anything is a frog tile, which is actually pretty nice. My mother had it standing up in her kitchen. I’ll have to feature it in a future frog blog,
Here is a picture of my china cabinet with the door open so that my blue and orange or yellow china is visible. Click picture to see the whole cabinet. On the top shelf in the front of the upper left is the piece that started the collection. When we were little we had the small bowls from this set and I loved them. They came from my Grandmother and at some point I got the big bowl from her. One of the little bowls is tucked in behind. They are from Spain. Next to the bowl is a pitcher that my daughter brought me in Spain and next to that a small pitcher my mother gave me as a souvenir from a trip to Italy. Behind that is a pitcher from France that my sister gave me for my birthday one year. After she gave it to me she asked me how I would use it. I said “I will put it in my china cabinet.” And she said “But how will you use it?” I repeated, “I will put it in my china cabinet.”
Click picture to see the whole shelf. Next to that is another bowl from my Grandmother that says “Grazia in Deruta” and next to that a creamer and sugar bowl on a little tray with the brand name Deruta but they were cheap and made in China. The large fish plate and the blue and yellow plate in the back are also new and cheap. The candlesticks and the small vase in front of the fish plate are from Israel and they are one of my few tag sale purchases. To the left of the candlesticks is a mug from Italy with an orange on it, a gift from my husband. Stay tuned for future posts on the items on the second and third shelves and the china cabinet itself.
My sister in law Louise makes multiples of a mini quilt ornament each year. We are just back from our Christmas celebration – it takes place on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend each year. It is always exciting to see the newest design. This year’s quilt was quite a departure (not as Christmassy):
We have a very large collection of the mini quilts now, we hang the first few years on the tree and the rest on the China cabinet glass panels (on the doors and the sides). Click on the photo to see the complete picture
As you can see we began doubling up this year. Next year we may need to think of a whole new idea. My niece hangs hers on a clothesline with tiny clothespins.
Usually we leave our Christmas decorations up till the end of January – the decorations not the tree! This year, though, since we are going away this weekend for our last Christmas celebration with my husband’s family and we are integrating a new cat into our household which involves running and chasing and we fear for our snowpeople and Santas in our absence, we are putting them away before we go. These small eclectic (in style and materials) collections sit on top of our speakers which usually host our woven shaker instruments. While they are back in their boxes in the basement, their images can live on here. Click on the photos to see the whole collection.
I couldn’t resist stopping to take a shot of these cool owls crafted by a kindergarten class that were hanging in the local bagel place. Made of stuffed nylons/pantyhose and painted, they look almost real!
Collections and Other Stuff I Like 