Riffs on Art and Quirky Toys and Games

As you know from Artventures! Game, I’m so happy to play with the over-seriousness of art.  One thing we need more of in the world right now is laughs.  So I’m delighted to introduce you to Bjorn Okholm Skaarup’s work currently on exhibit at the Bruce.

2015-12-11 11.41.32

 

 

Riffing on Degas.

 

 

 

 

 

2015-12-11 11.42.34

 

Ingres’ Odalisque

2015-12-11 11.43.04

 

Sphinx cat and Nefertiti

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just what I needed after a tough day.

Being a game inventor now (really?), I was especially interested in the look at historic Connecticut toys and games today at the Connecticut Historical Society.

I know that you like me can’t wait to play these games!

2015-12-12 14.04.32

In particular, I can hardly wait to play the board game ‘Connecticut’s Great Blizzard’.  Not.  Today, temps reached into the 60s.  Global warming has given us an incredibly mild fall.  Imagine during that first big storm calling out, “honey, want to play the Great Blizzard?”

The game is about getting all your errands done before Snowmageddon.  Really.

2015-12-12 14.04.42

Maybe in the 1980s, people loved just this kind of thing, cuddling up with a big mug of tea.  Would that be more fun than, say, ‘Campaigning for Election’–a game that seems to be about fundraising, too.  Both are a little too Reality-Showish for me.  Hilarious nonetheless.

2015-12-12 14.07.03

I’m getting a sense of my age, because toys from my childhood have hit the historic ranks.  We played telephone, my brother and I.  And with the Erector Set and Silly Putty and Whiffle Ball–all Connecticut-made.

2015-12-12 14.08.41

 

 

 

 

 

In that era of gendered toys, I’m pretty sure my brother had a chemistry set.

2015-12-12 14.07.31

 

We definitely had the toys that teach about the world of work–banks, fire trucks, and peculiarly here, a delivery truck of G. Fox & Co.  Maybe to help children to grow up to aspire to work there?  Or just good ol’ fashioned promotion.

 

2015-12-12 14.22.51

 

I’ve always found dolls creepy, and this c1902 doll in its underwear is absolutely no exception.  But below may be the first Teddy Bear I have ever found off-putting, this one made by the German Steiff Company.

2015-12-12 14.18.59

 

 

 

 

Gilbert was a New Haven company

Gilbert was a New Haven company

 

 

 

 

Some toys don’t seem to go out of favor and even become timely again–the Star Wars Pez dispenser heads, Barbie Dolls, and this James Bond Action Figure, strongly resembling the young Sean Connery.

Tough enough for boys, buff enough for girls.

How do you like that ad slogan I just invented?

 

I’ve written before about the Frisbee game invention that started with Yalie’s tossing the Frisbee’s 2015-12-12 14.28.25Pie tins.  What I didn’t know is that the Frisbee was originally called the ‘Pluto Platter’, a tie-in to the craze from Pluto’s discovery.  Which do you think works better–Frisbee or the Pluto Platter?

These hotly-debated questions fill my mind as I curl up with my hippo odalisque.

 

 

 

 

3 thoughts on “Riffs on Art and Quirky Toys and Games

  1. Tough enough for boys, buff enough for girls. — sounds good, You may have missed your calling for Ad work! And, yes, that doll is really creepy. Weird that I can’t tell you what the Riff is on Degas. The facial, dress off shoulder. Can’t remember the original

Comments are closed.