The book was released this past Monday, October 5th, and can be purchased at Amazon.
via World of Wonder
I find this interesting, just because I tend to ruminate on "the end of childhood," which is like a big dark arch way we pass under at some point in our youth. Dark, because it sneaks up on us, we don't really know it has happened until something painfully reminds us that it has. Exhibit A: Winnie the Pooh. Nearly everyone, at some point in their childhood, has had, if you will, a teddy-bear, I had one too. The one I clearly remember is the teddy bear I got from Children's Memorial hospital, which, I won in a game of all hospital Bingo, aside from triumphing over death on the operating table, this was my real victory. My teddy bear was never my favorite stuffed animal, I was particularly fond of my pink plesiosaur, the most bizarre stuffed animal for a child you could think of, but I loved that thing, but not enough to keep it forever. I couldn't tell you where all my stuffed animals went to, it seems my pension for keeping things didn't extend to belongings of the stuffed variety.
But I can tell you where the stuffed animals of my friends are. They are snuggled in the beds of their owners, in their college dorms, perhaps on their book shelves, in the chair, but mostly in their beds. Some people still need their teddys, I do not say this disparagingly but mostly as an observation. The teddy bears I've been collecting for my project have all come from the thrift store. These teddy bears, unlike their college counterparts, still managed to end up in the a college, albeit the sculpture studio; from loving home to thrift store, unknowingly awaiting their fate, ended up in the possession of studio art major, their outlook: grim. However, I like to believe, make-believe even, that these teddy bears [which I collect] serve a higher purpose, greater than comfort and the attachment to childhood. These bears have been consciously thrown away, and with them, the symbolism that is childhood. It is also important to note that the teddy bear is something that is entirely and completely manufactured and man made, man-made affection and a man-made symbol of childhood which we make alive, and give life to through imagination as we go on attributing human emotions to these inanimate objects.
However, it is not as if the teddy bear is a common stranger to the Art World or the Global Economy. Yes, even teddy bears are apart of the great circle of life. However, it has never been entirely what the teddy bear symbolizes, though that is important, what most emphasis has been placed on is what the teddy bear is made from. The material is what makes the teddy bear it seems, the material which makes its appearance, is the teddy bear's attraction.
Exhibit B: The latest in kid's toys: Placenta Teddy
This teddy bear was made by designer Alex Green, a "toy design" displayed at the 2009 Doing it for the Kids exhibition. The Concept: sustainable toys. The exhibition's goal was to inspire designers, educators and parents to be critical of toys that shape a child’s values and the impact toy makers have on the environment. Nothing else screams "Sustainable!" other than the sac that encompassed you for nine months of your tiny life, while being jumbled around, though snug, in your mommy's tummy. If this were in a gallery we might think its brilliant, what a perfect commentary on the connection between child and mother embodied in the ultimate symbol that is childhood. However, marketed as an object on behalf of the Green Bandwagon (to which, the university I attend is no stranger), I myself would typically draw the line. Now mother's have another alternative in regards to handling the placenta after birth, instead of throwing it out, or donating to research, morally opposed mothers can turn it into a gift for their children, quaint? I won't say I told you so on this one, but, Build-A-Bear should start taking notes on the competition.
Exhibit C: Dave Cole Knit Lead Teddy
Sculptor, Dave Cole uses a variety of industrial materials in his work, his primary use of them is to have them knitted into everyday object, flags, teddy bears etc. His knit lead teddy bear, once again takes the object and changes the material of which it is typically made out of, fuzzy stuffing and soft furry skin. It doesn't stand very high, just under 7 inches, its size isn't very important but the material is what makes it, the fact that its is supposed to be this soft thing and is now a lump of industrial now knitted lead, makes it this industrial piece of handwork underlined with domestic handiwork and lifestyles, it the teddy bear can hardly hold up the idea of childhood it is crushed by its own hefty weight of the space it embodies. Another dimension to the piece is this idea of lead and toys created with lead that might poison children. no one likes to think that the toys that they give their children could also potentially harm them. So making something so common out of such a dangerous metal also says caution. It contrasts quite nicely to Placenta teddy, the more natural and just as equally disturbing teddy bear.
More daunting than the two is Dave Cole's Fiberglass Teddy Bear
This teddy like, lead teddy, is about 14 feet tall, twice the size of a human, and is made from fiberglass, another uncomfortable material. Changing the scale of the teddy bear to something so large, seems so fanciful and intriguing, but nevertheless is still made cautionary by the material.
Faceless-ness is a characteristic that all three bears mentioned have in common. Removing the face of the teddy bear may not make the shape of the object any less of teddy bear, but it remove the ability to give life to the bear, because of its monstrous appearence, all of these removed the element of imagination, which one could argue removes that element from the childhood aspect. If these bears came to life, you or child would be locking their bedroom door.
Exhibit D: Stephanie Metz Wool Teddy Skulls
Sculptor, Stephanie Metz uses wool as her material of choice to create soft felt wool skeletal studies of teddy bears. Her work pulls back the soft integument of the teddy bear and discards the soft fluffy tissue to reveal an interesting morphology on the forms and structure of teddy bear skulls. It is nothing less than a intereting faux-anatomy study. As someone who has memorized all the parts of the human skull, and other vertebrae, I feel a deep connection with this work, entitled to them, and a little resentment, "why didn't I think of that!". The image is once again like placenta teddy, is emotionally loaded. It takes a keystone childhood toy and deconstructs the image which lets us think about the object in a new light. I find that the artist and myself both agree that the teddy bear is an object given life by our imaginations!
- N.M.S.
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