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A Growing Collection

Of Early Crown Lynn Vases

Populating Shelf Space May 2010. Ajr.

On Cafe Patrol

I visited a new café in New Brighton (Christchurch) the other day. Jungle Patrol is a couple of blocks back from the beach and several blocks from the main (easily forgettable) New Brighton shopping centre. It inhabits one of those quaint, old, closed-down corner shops, brought back to life with a new generation of temptations on offer - in this case, coffee and collectible Crown Lynn, that ubiquitous New Zealand pottery that colonised just about every New Zealand kitchen cupboard through the sixties and seventies. Jungle Patrol owner, David (I forgot to ask his surname) is a collector himself and in his first month of operating the café, he’s set out a terrific Crown Lynn display on retro shelving and sideboards. There are books on Crown Lynn for the coffee drinkers to browse and he has his computer set up on the counter and if you’re interested, he’ll direct you to Crown Lynn listings on the web. With just one big central table for customers and a few chairs outside, it’s an intimate and interesting experience – especially if you’re a Crown Lynn fan. Many of the pieces are for sale too, so make sure you roll up with your collector’s fund.

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It's been some time since I brought you something from my favourite Collectors series, so here, in a particularly decorative moment, is a fabulous collection that I spied last week - HAT PINS! I've often thought about collecting hat pins myself but there comes a time when one has to stop adding to the household clutter. I have a friend in the North Island who has a lovely hat pin collection and I did think this one quite colourful and splendid. It's tempting.... but no...for now I will take pleasure from someone else's efforts. If you'd like to see others in the Collectors Series just click on Collectors in the label line below.

On Stamp Collecting

I used to collect stamps as a kid. My grandfather was a passionate philatelist and every year every grandchild received First Day Covers. I wonder now what has become of my stamp collection. It’s possibly stored away in one of my cupboards with all my school books (and my father’s school books and my own children’s school books). (It’s safe to assume I am a hoarder).

All this was brought to mind last week when I saw these terrific new brooches by Auckland-based jeweller, Pauline Bern, which are part of a collection (called Collect) that includes thirteen brooches made from old postage stamps that are now showing at inform contemporary jewellery in Christchurch. Last year Pauline undertook the job of clearing her childhood family home and in the process, she discovered a large carton containing used postage stamps that had been collected by her mother and grandmother over five decades. They meticulously soaked them in water overnight, slipped them off their envelope remnants, dried them on trays, sorted them, labelled them and counted them. Most were passed onto charities for fundraising but it was perhaps fortuitous for Pauline that this one carton remained.

“That is the serendipitous story behind Collect, thirteen brooches that include fragments from the native flora stamp series, stamps that have travelled some distance within New Zealand, some time in the 1960s, arriving at an address in either Howick or Devonport,” she says in her artist statement. Collect follows on from Pauline’s earlier exhibitions, Gather, Sort, Scatter 2007 and Glean, shown at Fingers, Auckland earlier this year. All conceptually address the idea of “reconsidering and reconfiguring materials that have a former usage and meaning and shifting them into the jewellery genre.” In their new life, they gather new stories as they go out into the world adorning their new owners and ‘meeting new friends.’ Pauline is a senior tutor at Unitec NZ in Auckland and this is her first exhibition at inform. All images have been supplied by inform contemporary jewellery. www.informjewellery.co.nz

Visual Connections

I am a gatherer of things. One peek through the windows of my house would show you that. Every room is a testament to the layer upon layer of visual stimulii and memory that I have gathered over a lifetime so far. I am fascinated by the whole concept of collecting – why we even have the urge, what we choose to collect and how we choose to display it – or not, as the case may be. I have thought long and hard about why I surround myself with so much stuff – much of it completely valueless in a monetary sense. I’m not sure I have come up with any concrete and completely satisfying answers but I do know it is not about materialism. For me it is more about the notion of things – colours, textures, forms and the subtle combinations of all three – triggering some deeply-stored memory. For the writer and artist in me, those memories form the rich, creative storehouse that feeds and drives my output. I couldn’t be without them - and believe me I've tried. Not all creative people work and think this way or course; not all respond to visual stimulii; and those who gather things are not all engaged in creative pursuits. I was reminded of this recently when I stayed with friends in Auckland. I went about photographing things in their house – the things they have arranged to stamp their home with an individuality that can’t readily be replicated; at least not replicated in any way that comes from the heart. I saw recurring colours, recurring patterns, repeated forms, often-missed links – as the photographs here aptly demonstrate. It pleased me. More than that, it excited and inspired me and gave me a deeper insight into them as people.

I have returned to this topic on this blog many times and now that I sit here considering the matter (looking at my office windowsill crammed full with its little displays of birds’ eggs, seed pods, wooden cotton reels, feathers, stones, cones and a small Buddha), I am also reminded of an interview I did for a magazine last year. The owner was a complex character with a huge and impressive collection of modern art, furniture, design items, antiques and quirky collectibles.

It was like stepping inside a small private museum curated by someone with an inherent understanding of what moved them visually, emotionally and intellectually. Every space had a purpose and every treasure a place. It was an interior that combined history, design principles and personal stories. “I am a hunter and a gatherer,” the owner said. “But it is more than just collecting. It is about the manifestation of a certain consciousness – the almost subconscious gathering of aesthetically pleasing things that are subtly linked. Things are put together around central themes - that is what makes a house alive. The more contemporary downstairs is all about looking forward and outward and the more traditional upstairs is about looking backwards and inwards.” To illustrate his point, he drew attention to the simple black and white design elements in twelve fabric posters made in 1852 by the London Workingmen’s Educational Union (discovered in a Christchurch antique shop) and the stylistic similarities they shared with the exquisite hand-painted Fornisetti desk from Fornisetti in Milan. “It all comes together around subtle connections,” he said. “Individual items become something different when they are placed within a certain context. They expand and become alive – full of soul and spirit.” Someone else who has written about this subject recently is Christchurch art historian, Cheryl Bernstein. You can read her excellent piece "The Accidental Curator" on her blog, http://cherylbernstein.blogspot.com

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All photos April 2009. Auckland Ajr

Collectible Crown Lynn gathered across a piano top in Auckland. One collector's passion for early New Zealand ceramics is spreading throughout the house. Swans have alighted upon every surface and handpotted vases are clustered together in safe corners. For others in this series click on Collectors in the label line below this post.

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Talk to me about collecting and collectors and my heart skips a beat, my knees wobble and I feel faint with excitement. I'm fascinated to the core by the whole concept of collecting - what we collect, why we collect and the strange, obsessive urge that overtakes us in the pursuit of objects we become passionately focussed upon. So it was with true delight that I pounced on this small-but-growing collection of early, miniature Crown Lynn pottery vases recently. It all started with a gift apparently - two little vases given by a friend who was clearing out her cupboards. I haven't featured any collectors for a while but if you'd like to see those already covered, just click on Collectors in the index line below this post.

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Coffee bag collection. Feb 2009. Ajr

Here's a different perspective on collecting - someone (in the coffee industry) who collects coffee bean bags. This collection started when the owner visited Seattle on a coffee trip and it grew even more when she visited Hawaii. Now the wall is 'coloured' bags from all over.

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From the John Perry Collection. Image supplied by Christchurch Art Gallery

John Perry of Helensville, north of Auckland knows a thing or two about collecting. He was the director of the Rotorua Art Gallery and Rotorua Museum from 1978 to 1997 and he now runs Global Village Antiques and Collectables in Helensville’s old Art Deco picture theatre, The Regent – recently described in the NZ Herald as “a shop that thinks it’s a museum.” Now he’s coming to Christchurch - with a suitcase full of surprises – to present “The Business of Collection: Man-made and Natural Curiosities,” at Christchurch Art Gallery, on Wednesday, January 21st. It’s a talk that ties in perfectly with the gallery’s current exhibition Wunderbox, which brings together eccentric collections from some of New Zealand’s best known contemporary artists. (I wrote about it here in December 2008). John is reluctant to reveal what’s going to be in his suitcase but the audience can expect to see something unusual and extraordinary – including a little something from overseas that is 4,700 years old. He has a passion for collecting man-made and natural curiosities that reflect New Zealand’s cultural heritage – everything from stuffed birds, Kiwiana and mineral specimens to books and etchings. If it’s arresting and unusual, he’ll collect it; and he’s a firm believer that much of what we are currently throwing away – from junk mail to cell phones – will, 50 years from now, be considered highly collectable information by social historians and collectors. “That’s something to think about isn’t it,” says Adrienne, as she glances around her many chaotic piles of hoarded STUFF!

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My Place, Christchurch. Jan 2009. Ajr

Among the many odd things I collect my Buddha statues and my Buddhist prayer beads are among my favourites. I've gathered them from far and wide in Asia - a little reward perhaps, after I've climbed over 700 stone steps up a mountain to a Japanese temple; an exquisite little treasure bargained for in a Beijing antique market; a serene carving purchased from a remote temple in the South Korean mountains. All have special meaning for me and each one comes with a special set of travel memories.

Infinite Strangeness

Hot on the tail of my entry about Wunderkammer and Fiona Hall’s Force Field comes Wunderbox. (I’m beginning to feel like I’ve slipped through a crack in my verandah and landed in the 16th century). It’s now showing at Christchurch Art Gallery – a series of works drawn from the gallery collection, which act as perfect partners for the wonderful whackiness of Fiona Hall’s show next door. In short, it’s a comment on collecting, based on the 16th and 17th century ‘wunder cabinet’ concept – “an exhibition of bell jars, boxes, cabinets, dolls, display cases, two monkeys, several bees, hundreds of hooks and one miniature coffin……..of secretive spaces, model worlds, fictitious collections and idiosyncratic trophies by contemporary New Zealand artists.” All ‘very me!’ I loved it and came home with my fingers twitching with the urge to make things – and to stuff other things in jars. It’s not as if I’m not surrounded by surplus visual paraphernalia after all and putting some of it in jars and under glass domes might at least keep the dust at bay. (I think I'm a frustrated museum-keeper). The (much-reduced) work shown above is Neil Pardington’s superb photograph, “Land and Marine Mammals Store (tryptych) Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. 2006-2007. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery. Purchased 2007. www.christchurchartgallery.org

Uncommon Senses - The Collectors

"The Living Room Project" Lee Mingwei. Image courtesy Govett-Brewster Gallery

Taiwanese-born, New York-based artist, Lee Mingwei is all for inter-personal exchange inspired by ordinary human events and activities; and in his first New Zealand exhibition at New Plymouth’s Govett-Brewster Gallery – “Uncommon Senses” – he presents two projects that include the participation of Taranaki locals. “The Living Room Project” (pictured) becomes the setting for one of my favourite kind of people – COLLECTORS! Assorted Taranaki collectors will ‘take the stage’ in The Living Room, each showing off their collectables for a two-week period. The collectors also become hosts/guides for a day, sharing their passion for collecting and showing off their respective gatherings of chosen objects to the wider public. Great concept; I love it! Included in the project will be collections of: Masks and carvings from Micronesia, West Africa and Canada; Tea cosies; Meccano; Taranaki transferware; Indian saris, shawls, scarves and brassware from the Arabic states; LPs and Posters; and Maori Potatoes. Lee’s exhibition kicks off on December 6th and runs through to March 16, 2009. If you’re a collector keen to see any one of the above collections, go to http://www.govettbrewster.com/ to check the dates for individual collections. The architecturally-minded meanwhile, might enjoy Lee’s second show, “Nomad Exquisite,” which showcases his abiding interest in architectural space, inspired by the work of Japanese architect, Tadao Ando and Ch’an Buddhist aesthetics.

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Retropolitan, Christchurch. Sept. 2008. Ajr

It's been a while - too long in fact - since I added to my Collectors Series. The reason for that is? Oops! I tripped and stumbled on to another collection of my own! But more on that another time. Here, meanwhile, is a terrific collection of tea cosies and other knitted novelties that I spied at the marvellous Christchurch second-hand store, Retropolitan (great name too) in Kilmore Street. I wonder what motivates we collectors? If anyone has a brilliant theory I want to hear about it so leave a comment. And if you want to see others in this series, click on 'collectors' in the below tagline, or put it in the search box above left.

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Moorehouse Avenue, Christchurch. June 2008. Ajr

How's this for a quirky variation on The Collectors theme?

A collector of old red phone boxes!

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I'm always fascinated to learn what motivates a person to start collecting.

The owner of this amazing collection of brown and white china - and this is only part of the collection - was motivated by two things: the gift of a brown and white plate and a desire to move beyond the more commonly collected blue and white china.

The end result, or more precisely, the result thus far, is remarkable.

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Some people collect the strangest things – I’m one of them. One of my latest obsessions is perfume tester cards. Not only are the graphics beautiful but if you spray them with the appropriate perfume, you end up with a sweet smelling collection (always important). I gather them in airport duty free shops. It’s easy to pretend that I’m looking for a new perfume because I invariably am (perfume is a weakness); although if I’m viewed on security cameras I must appear dubious as I work my way around the displays looking shiftily over my left shoulder.

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Here’s another collector – someone who has become slightly potty about collecting coffee and espresso cups – chiefly Crown Lynn and Poole with a few surprises thrown in. It should be noted that this is only part of the ever-growing total collection.
I’m always fascinated by the phenomenon of collecting. Being a collector myself – of assorted and passing fancies – I know how addictive the whole business can become. Once you isolate something that resonates in some way, it becomes a compulsion almost. I speak for myself of course!

The Collectors 1

English ceramics, Shands Emporium Antiques, Christchurch, Feb.2008, Ajr

I am a collector - of many things; though it must be said that my interest in any particular collection waxes and wanes over time. My current focus is crucifixes (religious and decorative) - more for the form than any particular religious sentiments - and Buddha figurines and wooden Buddhist prayer beads, which I have gathered during my travels in China, Korea and Japan and do fall in with my interest in Buddhist philosophy. Yesterday I fell upon a gorgeous little wooden decorative crucifix in the store above Shands and, on my 'way back down to earth' I spied this stunning (mostly) English ceramic collection. I don't collect china and/or ceramics myself but I do appreciate them en masse. Such a luscious display of colour, pattern, form and texture.