BONES, STONES AND KALEIDOSCOPES

Lincoln's skulls

This week I was joined for Collectors Corner by Lincoln Taylor and Sheila Richardson.

Lincoln brought in a sample of his many collections. He collects his skulls and stones with holes in whilst out on walks or, as he says, as something to do on the beach. The stones with holes are a new collection, just started. Lincoln's not quite sure what he's going to do with them yet. The skulls caused much curiosity especially among young visitors who were keen to know their origins. Lincoln pointed out his fox and badger skulls, his sheep and deer skulls, and in pride of place, his beaver and his rhesus monkey.

We talked about the pleasure of finding unexpected "treasures" and the way many of us are drawn to collecting natural objects - driftwood, stones, fir cones and bones. Someone brought up the subject of hoarding and we tried to think about what was the difference between hoarding and collecting . At times, we agreed, the line between the two was very fine.

Lincoln also brought in part of a very different collection. It consisted of a wooden box frame, in which were carefully arranged and mounted a number of items: some coins and a £5 note, a flyer and a travel leaflet, a bus ticket, an unopened packet of chewing gum, a letter. The box was part of a year long project, a collaboration with Lincoln's friend, Danny, in the year 2000. At the end of each month that year, Lincoln and Danny would meet, and systematically empty their pockets, meticulously recording the contents, left pocket, right pocket,  and then file them away into envelopes to be stored. Eventually the whole collection was framed in 24 glass-fronted boxes to be exhibited as an archive of the year.

Looking into one of Sheila's kaleidoscopes

Sheila had brought in her collection of kaleidoscopes which were a big hit with adults and children alike. We all agreed that part of the fascination of other people's collections and of Tomoko Takahashi's work and Lincoln and Danny's millenium pocket project, is that we can so often find things within them that we can relate to or identify with; things from our childhood or that remind us of a place or a person.

Once people had looked through one of Sheila's kaleidoscopes they wanted to try them all. I think that everyone had childhood memories of kaleidoscopes, but most people had not looked through one for many years. Sheila certainly had an amazing array of them. Some just simple cardboard tubes with shiny beads or fragments of foil in their mirrored interiors. Others were more sophisticated with revolving bases or musical turntables, or tubes of oil filled with glitter which flowed back and forth beneath the lens like starbursts provoking oo's and aah's and other exclamations of pleasure and delight.

Junk and Stuff

The first person I spoke to on Saturday was Carol, who saw a kindred spirit in Tomoko. She loved the installations and said that she relished collecting, so much so that apart from a small area on the floor where she sleeps on a layer of sponge, she has given over her bedroom to storing objects. At some point she will put it all in order and use it to make things. "I don't call it junk, I call it STUFF!". Interestingly, she has an ordered, tidy kitchen where she doesn't like clutter. When her daughters go to college this year she intends to expand into their bedrooms...

It gives me great pleasure that my stash of wrapped objects is diminishing. I noticed that everyone paused a little or shook the parcels before choosing, rather like children at a lucky dip. Fiona wouldn't be drawn into the game though; she said she had enough of her own rubbish at home. Clearing fifty years worth of books in her parent's home, loft, garage and outhouse had cured her of visiting junk shops and buying bits and pieces. She said that seeing so many stacks of rotting books had left a lasting impression.

Ruth took part though and was pleased with her choice; her daughter less so. Ruth was now the owner of some small painted paper squares, whilst her daughter had the bits of plastic and netting that I used to make the painted squares. These for me are more useful than the discarded little paintings. She, like many of us, keeps things out of guilt, nostalgia, for kudos, because of the potential for usefulness and though we didn't exchange objects, she did give me the best story of the day. She told me of a friend who has kept a beautiful oak door just in case the house he should move to doesn't have a front door!

Edward Twohig brought along some of his collection of prints by artists Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, Samual Palmer and Patrick Caulfield for today’s Collectors Corner. Although these were lovely pieces of work his real passion is the work of Charlotte Rhead (1885 -1947) a ceramic designer from Stoke on Trent. Rhead worked at the time of Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff but her work was more traditional in style and she used a range of decorative motifs influenced by patterns commonly used in India, China and southern Europe.


Edward recounted how each piece in his collection was the result of detailed research, planning, anticipation, and the excitement of travelling far and wide and bidding in auctions. On his many travels Edward has met other enthusiasts and fans of Rhead and has struck up friendships with those of similar passions in the UK and around the world including in America and Uruguay. On the wall he stuck up pictures of his collection of Rhead’s work – at his home every wall space is covered with plates and platters of all sizes and colours, tables and floors shimmer with a riot of brightly glazed jugs, vases, bowls and tiles. His passion is palpable and the audience were entranced by the many stories behind his acquisitions, acquaintances and accidents.

Our other collector was Tom Estes who arrived after prolonged and fraught journey from London with a suitcase of newspaper cuttings – hundreds of articles and photographs of stories that had caught is eye, or made him laugh over the years. Two women were caught up in articles about Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn and they spent some time discussing the vagaries of Movie Stars and the truths told about them.

collage and conversation

A sunny and windy afternoon of cutting and pasting …. today the principal visitors to the
Gallery Interpretation area had some kind of creative background – artists, photographers and printmakers… all sat down and inspired by Tomoko Takahashi’s work, got really stuck into creating their own collage collection. The Beano as a source material proved very popular and the conversation wondered from children’s comics to the changes in print quality and inkiness to changing characters and stories.
One visitor who worked as a Doctor’s receptionist said that Takahashi’s installations reminded her of one Dr’s office which was rather chaotic …but in a hygienic way! Another visitor felt annoyed that not all the clocks looked like they came from a skip …she suspected that some were new ….so we talked about how the artist might have to start with one idea and set of rules but then have to change or break them in order to make it ‘work’.

75th Birthday Party - Thanks to everyone who came!

On August Bank Holiday Monday, the De La Warr Pavilion celebrated its 75th Birthday with a huge party on the terrace, its focal point being the re-creation of a famous photograph first printed in the Daily Mirror in 1936.

In the Bank Holiday sunshine over 1500 people gathered on the terrace in front of photographer Sheila Burnett who was lifted 5metres on a Genie lift to be in exactly the same angle and position as the Daily Mirror photographer must have been 74 years ago. The Daily Mirror Eight, the dance troupe in the middle of the terrace, were replaced by parkour/free-running outfit The Urban Shadows, who put on a spectacular show for a cheering crowd before staging the actual shot.

At 10am that morning, 120 people from the local community – none of whom had met before – put together a “scratch” choir and “scratch” orchestra, led by choir leader John Langridge and composer/musician Mike Hatchard. The choir sang a Summertime, Sway and Abba’s Mamma Mia. The orchestra played Spread a Little Happiness and a Beatles medley, as well as a new piece – Seventy Five Years of the De La Warr – composed by Mike Hatchard to celebrate the day. Julian Humphries led a group of young drummers who warmed up the crowd for the afternoon.

After the performance everyone sang happy birthday!

Free Tea and cake were then served to everyone outside the auditorium, courtesy Yorkshire Tea and Jubilee Hire.

And then the dancing started…. seventy-five tunes for seventy-five years kept us dancing until sunset with an playlist of classics and re-discovered hits put together by DJ Nikki Beatnik.

This fantastic party came at the end of an enormously successful weekend for the Pavilion which saw 10,000 people visit Tomoko Takahashi’s exhibition and Antony Gormley’s installation in just three days, with over 600 attending our family films, shown outdoors on the sea-facing wall, on Saturday and Sunday.

Please post any pics you have and visit our website to see forthcoming events at the Pavilion!

Photo by Sheila Burnett.

TAKAHASHI GALLERY INTERACTION SESSION 30th AUGUST 2010

Many thanks to everyone who joined in the fun and games today! The Japanese Song of The Sea has never sounded more beautiful! Very apt celebration of the building's Big Birthday.

Thanks especially to all the children, who joined in with the folktale of Momo Taro (Little Peach Boy) and showed no fear - or hardly any - when the monsters appeared!

PAINTED MILK BOTTLES AND DISCARDED DISPOSABLE LIGHTERS

Sunday saw a very popular couple of collectors displaying their treasures at Collectors' Corner.

James Kedge had brought along his collection of 81 painted (or rather printed) milk bottles which he had begun collecting in the 1970s when the milkman delivered the first one and he thought it was attractive.

Penny Hobson was showing her collection of used disposable lighters all collected from the beach in Bexhill and which she arranged in the colours of the rainbow on the table in the interactive area. Penny also brought along photos of the lighters she had taken together with documentation of her archiving activities including maps of where the items had been found and individual labels for each one with the detail of a thumbnail image on them of the object concerned.

The milk bottles formed a very pretty line along the top of the low partition wall collecting the light from the windows and drawing in visitors' eyes as they approached the end of Gallery One.

Advertising anything from Mars Bars to The Samaritans they were fascinating to consider as such ordinary yet distinctive objects from everyday life. People liked looking at their detail, the fonts and colours used specific to the particular era in which they had been made and remembering when they too had been in possession of similar bottles.

A lot of discussion arose around the two collections often concerning why the collectors had chosen to collect these things in particular, although all seemed to agree that they had their own charm and fascination.

It was the first time that Jim had displayed his collection as a whole apart from in his home and for Penny it was an opportunity to try out an idea for a forthcoming art exhibition. Jim's bottles usually live wrapped up in paper in two large cardboard boxes in the loft and Penny's lighters take their place amongst the other flotsam and jetsam that she amasses on her walks along the beach. Both enjoyed sharing their enthusiasm with others and for visitors it was a unique chance to admire such disparate objects in relation to each other and to talk to their owners about their passion.