Monday 18 March 2013

Comfort Reading - Collecting Pony Books, Mary's Story.

A long as I can remember my mother has read a lot. Books tumbled around the house I grew up in like an out of control forest of paper and words. But it wasn't till I was older that I realised a lot of the books were actually old children's books, and, more often than not, pony books. And it was then that I also realised that rather than just an avid reader Mum was a collector, and that books, like objects, could hold meaning beyond what was written on their pages. They were collectable not just in their interesting retro covers and illustrations, or being first editions, but also in how they soothed the mind. The pony books in particular were comfort reading. People often see collections as an almost clinical thing - all about gaining that missing part of the collection  - seeing the collection as a whole rather than a selection of things full of individual meaning, but I think a collection can sometimes be not about gaining missing items at all, but rather about creating an evolving mass of meaning that can be dipped into and that can really be of help in times of stress. Books are obviously particularly good at this as we can escape into their worlds, but all objects do this to an extent... Could it be seen as dream collecting? Childhood memory curating?

Anyway here's a little my mother Mary has to say on pony book collecting:

"There are, it appears to us... far more ponies in the world than there used to be", wrote Angela Thirkell in Love at all Ages, her Barsetshire novel published in 1959. And indeed the post-war pony fervour was then at its peak - a peak which has retained its height more or less ever since. To cater for all these young enthusiasts, a new genre of children's literature had sprung up in the pony story. I supposed Black Beauty was the original inspiration for these, and many of the early examples also took the form of horse autobiographies, such as Moorland Mousie and Golden Gorse published in 1929, the same year in which The Pony Club was founded. Soon however the pony story took its familiar form of an adventure story, featuring a heroine who typically overcomes various obstacles to at last be rewarded with her own pony. Joanna Cannan was the first of this type of author, closely followed by Primrose Cumming, Monica Edwards, Kathleen Mackenzie, the Pullein-Thompson sisters, Ruby Ferguson etc.

For me, living in a small, remote village, far from suburbia where most of the Pony Club activity took place, it was joining the Children's Book Club in the mid '50s that introduced me to the world of pony stories. No Entry by Monica Edwards immediately had me hooked. Then I discovered the Jill books, and although Jill was not the sort of person I would have been friends with in real life - far too bossy and sure of herself - I soaked up all the information about looking after and 'braining ponies', and it soon became my goal, like all the fictional girls I read about, to have my own pony.

Yes, this did happen eventually - Sugar the naughty Exmoor - which is another story, but I always kept my library of pony books, discovering new authors and adding new titles to my collection. I still read them for pleasure today. As Susanna Forrest writes in her book If Wishes were Horses, "you can sink into the plots and atmospheres as you might into a welcoming sofa with a plate of hot, buttered toast balanced on its arm." Pony books are truly perfect comfort reading!

Reading through what Mum has written I love this idea that you can sink into a collection and that plots and atmospheres work in the way that comforting cosy furniture (objects) do. It is like a book collection is a collection of worlds - a collection of atmospheres and internal places to escape to. It's interesting too that in this instance it's pony stories - for many young girls I think pony collections work in this way. As I mentioned previously when talking about childhood collections I collected a whole grooming kit - a hay net, headband and saddle soap too - for the pony I wanted. There is an aspirational dream thing as well as an imaginary world thing that is comforting. I'm sure for other children other things worked in this way - and in the past for young adults - collecting things for your dream house - a wedding chest, clothes for future children etc. But back to books I do think its interesting that there is a collection that can start as your present and aspirational future and then turn into a collection about your past and the comfort of childhood memories. I wonder if other objects work in this way as well as books for this - can evolve in the way that story places can...


Wednesday 6 March 2013

Childhood craze collection - Pokemon etc

There's something a little different about childhood crazes when thinking of collecting. In many ways the collection urge is as strong if not stronger than the most dedicated adult "serious" collection, yet often we don't know why we collect these things - the very conscious decision to become a collector of something is almost superceded by an instinctive need. Now we could say it was peer pressure or simply wanted to join in, but I think it is more than just that. I was struck when talking to my dad about his childhood collections in the 1950s how completely surreal some of them were - paper cut offs from the printer's for example - he had no idea why he collected them, but that was the craze amongst him and his friends, so he did it. I'm fascinated about when something as rational as collecting can become irrational.

I can strongly remember the crazes when I was little. There were the usual marble collections. And then there was a craze for yoyos, flower seed packets (?), friendship bracelets, and then there was the toys. Cabbage Patch Kids (no way according to my mum - but I remember the scenes of hysteria in the shops), trolls (likewise), my sister was obsessed with Beanie Babies, but I don't think there was anything like the current craze for Moshi Monsters, or that late '90s wonder that was Pokemon. Now I have a soft spot for Pokemon - Bulbasaur was my favourite as he was like a plant tortoise dinosaur - what's not to like - but even in the cartoon's catchphrase "gotta catch them all" there was a new marketing savvy insight into the different between a collection and a craze and the potential of combining the two. Kids I spoke to at the time who thought it was funny that I knew about Pokemon (this was their vs the grown up world's), didn't just want to complete their collection, they felt something was lacking if they were missing certain Pokemon. They felt they would be happier if they had them. I don't remember this strength of feeling when I was younger - I would have like more of the toys I liked but I didn't feel I was missing something vital - there was no craving - collecting wasn't an addiction. And whilst collecting can be like that for an adult collector, there it is a conscious thing, but with some of the kids I don't think they understood why they wanted these toys. Do you really love Pokemon was almost a confusing question. Why do you want all of them, even more so. I'd presumed kids wanted them because they liked the characters, that they were creating a fantasy world where they were powerful and could battle and win, that there were some they would want because they liked them best, but not others, that they essentially functioned like any child collection of the past - that they offered imagination expansion and escape, or at least complex games with their pals. But this seemed more like Dad and his paper cut offs - they didn't know why they collected them, and it seemed more about competition with their friends than competing in imaginary creature battles. It was almost collective collecting, yet rather than sharing, each wanted to have the most.

Now of course this is not the case for everyone - I'm certain there were thousands of children who genuinely loved the Pokemon world and played amazing games, and in many cases I may be over thinking this. And I'm not anti such collections even if I was being cynical of marketing forces etc. I also understand that both children and adults can have serious Pokemon collections, and I think that's as great as any other collection. There's no hierarchy of what's collected here on museeme! But I do think it's interesting to think of where collection meets craze, and whether the true collector (that can be of Pokemon!) thinks differently. I guess this could be answered by how craze collections tend to get moved on from and forgotten about when the next craze comes along, whereas with true collectors it can be a lifelong passion. Again I'm not putting a value judgement on that. I just find it interesting - things like how these crazes arise, where the next one will come from, how much they'll influence the childhood memories of the next generation - are we all partly formed by the crazes we live through? I don't know - but for now here's some photos of rather good Pokemon collections. Gotta catch 'em all, after all...

From Dabid Robinson

From Emakura

From Kayleigh 29

And my personal fave




Tuesday 5 March 2013

Life in a (felt creature full) Bell Jar.

As well as collectors museeme is a huge fan of makers - diorama builders, stitchers, model makers and crafty folk in general. My second discovery of the day is the blog Life in a Bell Jar, which features the work of the author (no name!) who makes wonderful miniature worlds in, well, bell jars! She describes herself as a curator of tiny worlds, and therefore I think more than deserves a place in my little curated world.



Her blog can be visited here

Le Cabinet de Sorcellerie - Maissa Toulet

Maissa Toulet is a French artist whose work often includes fabulous cabinets of curiosity. Whether small scale surreal cabinets, or full blown installations such as the wonderful Le Cabinet de Sorcellerie. Here are some photos of the latter - it's like walking into a magical collection! Witchy, dreamy, I love it...






I could go on adding photos but really you should visit her website and scroll through them. I think one of the many interesting things about cabinets of curiosity is how for each person what attracts them is different - an object that might be passed over by one person could be strongly resonant to the next. But one of the things I love about this art work is how it shows how collections go beyond the individual objects that make them to become a collective experience - a collection can have an atmosphere, can create a new place by what is placed in it. Each object in close up in this work triggers a story of its own, yet the atmosphere of the whole is unique and powerful and while I love to say witchy I think that is in danger of simplifying things - its meaning is more than that. For me it shows the magic of the everyday and how there is arguably nothing more powerful or strange or beautiful than that...

I also love this individual work from her cabinets of curiosity series called La Menagerie:

I recommend you visit Maissa's website www.maissatoulet.fr

I would love to interview her for museeme... I think she is a kindred spirit...


Calling all collectors!

Do you have an interesting collection? It could be anything - it doesn't matter how esoteric. Do you have your own alternative museum - a strange corner of your house? A windowsill? A cabinet of curiosities? Have you organised an exhibition in a non-traditional space? If so museeme would like to hear from you, so do message me.