TOYS: A Journey Down Memory Lane

I loved playing with dolls. I pretended to be a teacher and using a black chalkboard, not the ubiquitous white boards in classroom's today, instructed all of the 'students' lined up in a row. Using a hairbrush as a microphone, I also enjoyed performing before throngs of people I imagined were stampeding into Madison Square Garden to hear me belt out Michael Jackson or the entire cast album of “My Fair Lady.” (Yes, I had eclectic tastes even then!)

Swinging outdoors on my tire swing, I daydreamed about the novels I would one day write featuring a bright, attractive female sleuth, similar to Nancy Drew, my favorite fictional heroine. There's a blissful ignorance in childhood play. My only reality is the world of make believe. It's safe; it's sweet. Miracles were possible.

Much of the artwork on display at the Westport Arts Center's current visual arts exhibit Toy Stories addresses the loss of innocence I feel when I reminisce about the days long ago. They take me back to a time when I believed in the Tooth Fairy, knights in shining armor and the possibility of a lasting world peace between all nations, races, and religions.

Yet, some of the work is political. Some is provocative. Some is darkly humorous. All of the work—be it paintings, photographs, sculptures, video  or an installation--asks its viewers to ruminate on the notion of 'play' in a society that values 'work' and has become increasingly more 'busy.'

I was fortunate to receive a tour from the Westport Arts Center's dynamic Visual Arts Director Helen Klisser During, who masterfully highlighted each of 34 artists' diverse and fascinating interpretations of play. One of these artists, Tammy Winser, happened to be there following the popular Friday morning ArtCafe. A former fashion designer for Marc Jacobs, Winser has more recently turned her
creative talents toward crafting the miniature, three-dimensional scenes, hidden in one corner of the gallery. In “Discord in the Playroom,” a large teddy bear has a missile on his shoulder. A green army man, standing on top of a block, is pointing his bazooka gun at him. A woman in a Victorian gown wields a sword and a contemporary-looking business woman in a trench coat grips her weapon of choice, a cell phone.

“It's witty and ironic,” explains During. “There's an incredible depth to her work. It's not purely decorative.”

Winser agreed. She stated, “I always like to put something in there for people to think about.”

Well, it certainly got me thinking. Is there some kind of violence—be it verbal, unconscious or even more overt—going on in the playrooms of today? What about the golf course, where adults go to play?

Winser never gets too serious, though; There's always a sense of capriciousness present. To illlustrate this further, Winser enjoys placing her whimsical scenes in nooks and crannies wherever she goes, including European cities.  “If you're willing to look, this is what you may find,” she said, with a sly smile.

Ah. To be a child again and expect to find something fun and new and
interesting lurking around the corner....

Larry Silver's poignant photograph "Child at Airport 1966" juxtaposes two images of an airplane, the 'real' one flying overhead and the toy held tightly in the boy's hand. Due to perspective, the 'real' plane appears to be smaller, when in actuality it isn't. The boy is perhaps realizing for the first time just how big a real plane
is. Though we never see the boy's face,  I sensed a fascination with the real planes, and his adult realization regarding their scope and power. His time in childhood in dwindling down. There's a loss of innocence as he looks towards the skies, literally and figuratively. He is looking up to his future as the toy plane, representing his youth, is diminishing.

I remember that time well. Once you know the truth, there's no turning back.

Innocence to experience is explicitly chronicled in the back of the Westport Arts Center, where "Crystal City" surreptitiously hangs. Artist Hye Rim Lee's piece, with all of its ripe sexual imagery, mentally engages adults in its presentation of
erotic playthings. I was struck by the beautiful design colored in bright hues of pink, bold black and gray. As Helen pointed out the erotica not-so-subtly displayed, I was reminded of her earlier comment. “That's what art does—it makes you look.”

Toy Stories will be at the Westport Arts Center until March 18th. The work will be discussed informally during Friday morning ArtCafe, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. A special Happy Hour ArtCafe is Friday night, Feb. 24 and March 16 from 6 to 7.m.

Children are invited to experience the exhibit at WACky Family Day: Toys on
Sunday, March 11, 2 to 4 p.m. For more information, go to www.westportartscenter.org and call 203-222-7070.