Saturday, May 17, 2008
Kokeshi Krazy
When we were first thinking about vinyl art toys as a subject for a show, we tried to put them in some sort of historical context (because that’s what museums do…contextualize objects). An interesting parallel to individual artists mixing specific personal style with mass production happened in Japan in the mid -19th century with the popularization of kokeshi, the limbless, wooden, folk dolls. In fact, one of the artists whose work is associated with the current art toy movement describes his work as modern day kokeshi.
So that was the first starting point for what eventually became the Beyond Ultraman show – an exhibit showing the parallels between the rise of kokeshi making/collecting in Japan moving into the West, and the rise of vinyl toy making/collecting from Japan and other parts of Asia moving into the West. History-repeats-itself sort of show. And within that, an exploration of gender roles between makers and collectors. Sounds pretty cool, no? Well, after doing a lot of research on kokeshi, the concept of the exhibition and fit for a venue underwent drastic changes, and kokeshi fell by the wayside.
Still, it never left our minds that kokeshi were an interesting phenomenon. During casual conversation with people of all sorts, we discovered that there were almost as many closet kokeshi enthusiasts in the art world as vinyl toy lovers. To date though, only one book dedicated to kokeshi has been published in English, whereas many have been published in Japanese – some on single artists!
Then last year, through some of the casual kokeshi connections that were established during the R & D phase, we got word of a show at Subtext Gallery in San Diego. It was like your basic custom vinyl toy show – get a platform or canvas toy and send it to a bunch of swell artists and ask them to customize them in their own style. But this show was using wooden kokeshi as blanks.
The Kokeshi Show at Subtext was the brainchild of Chris Conway, a San Diego graphic designer and illustrator with a degree and interest in Art Education. Her 2007 exhibition consisted of 85 customized wooden kokeshi dolls produced by 78 artists from 13 different countries. Her interest in the designer toy culture combined with a desire to see a more feminine and positive influence in that movement led her to use the kokeshi doll as a vehicle for a custom toy. She also connected her exhibition to the Japanese Bunka-no-hi, or Culture Day. (Conway has a strong link to Japan through her father who was stationed there and exposed her to all manner of Japanese culture.)
Suddenly the idea of a larger exhibition about kokeshi started to take on a new shape and relevance. We took a trip down to see the show in San Diego and meet the curator. And LATDA is now in the throes of developing its next exhibition.
Until the ink is set on a contract, we aren’t at liberty to announce the venue, but we do have a tentative date set for June 2009. It’s a much shorter lead time than the last exhibition, but as we mentioned, we had some work done already. And lest you think we are skimping on scale to get this done, know that we will be including the work of about a dozen artists some who are not local, and that Chris Conway will be curating another of her shows that will be part of our exhibition – a show within a show – and she is targeting 100 artists from all over the world!
What we need to do ASAP is fundraise for this exhibit. As always, we are mindful of tight budgets and bad economies, but the support of our members is always appreciated when it comes to paying the increased costs of postage and printing.
Watch this space!
So that was the first starting point for what eventually became the Beyond Ultraman show – an exhibit showing the parallels between the rise of kokeshi making/collecting in Japan moving into the West, and the rise of vinyl toy making/collecting from Japan and other parts of Asia moving into the West. History-repeats-itself sort of show. And within that, an exploration of gender roles between makers and collectors. Sounds pretty cool, no? Well, after doing a lot of research on kokeshi, the concept of the exhibition and fit for a venue underwent drastic changes, and kokeshi fell by the wayside.
Still, it never left our minds that kokeshi were an interesting phenomenon. During casual conversation with people of all sorts, we discovered that there were almost as many closet kokeshi enthusiasts in the art world as vinyl toy lovers. To date though, only one book dedicated to kokeshi has been published in English, whereas many have been published in Japanese – some on single artists!
Then last year, through some of the casual kokeshi connections that were established during the R & D phase, we got word of a show at Subtext Gallery in San Diego. It was like your basic custom vinyl toy show – get a platform or canvas toy and send it to a bunch of swell artists and ask them to customize them in their own style. But this show was using wooden kokeshi as blanks.
The Kokeshi Show at Subtext was the brainchild of Chris Conway, a San Diego graphic designer and illustrator with a degree and interest in Art Education. Her 2007 exhibition consisted of 85 customized wooden kokeshi dolls produced by 78 artists from 13 different countries. Her interest in the designer toy culture combined with a desire to see a more feminine and positive influence in that movement led her to use the kokeshi doll as a vehicle for a custom toy. She also connected her exhibition to the Japanese Bunka-no-hi, or Culture Day. (Conway has a strong link to Japan through her father who was stationed there and exposed her to all manner of Japanese culture.)
Suddenly the idea of a larger exhibition about kokeshi started to take on a new shape and relevance. We took a trip down to see the show in San Diego and meet the curator. And LATDA is now in the throes of developing its next exhibition.
Until the ink is set on a contract, we aren’t at liberty to announce the venue, but we do have a tentative date set for June 2009. It’s a much shorter lead time than the last exhibition, but as we mentioned, we had some work done already. And lest you think we are skimping on scale to get this done, know that we will be including the work of about a dozen artists some who are not local, and that Chris Conway will be curating another of her shows that will be part of our exhibition – a show within a show – and she is targeting 100 artists from all over the world!
What we need to do ASAP is fundraise for this exhibit. As always, we are mindful of tight budgets and bad economies, but the support of our members is always appreciated when it comes to paying the increased costs of postage and printing.
Watch this space!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Beyond Beyond Ultraman -- A New Year, A New Show
I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that Beyond Ultraman has come and gone already. The last day of the show we had a program with David Gonzales that brought in a standing-room-only crowd of over 150 to a space that held chairs for 70. It was a heady way to end a successful exhibition. A great front page article in the Pasadena Weekly preceded the event and attracted a wonderfully diverse crowd, many who had never visited the PMCA before.
We are still in the process of summarizing the metrics of the show (how many visitors, how many press imprints etc.) But here are a few factoids: The exhibit appeared on television three times – on KNBC news as part of Pasadena’s Art Night coverage (10/12/07); on KTLA as part of Gayle Anderson’s live broadcast (11/27/07); and again on KNBC for a solo piece by Cary Berglund on Beyond Ultraman (12/13/07). The exhibit was written up in the Los Angeles Times Guide section at the beginning and the end of the exhibition run. Other articles about the show appeared in Artillery Magazine and the Daily Bruin. David Gonzales was featured in two large articles because of the show – one in the LA Times and one in the Pasadena Weekly. We were a top listing on Flavorpill.com for many weeks and managed to appear in all the best blogs.
So where do we go from here? Well, we are currently working on another museum collaboration with the Japanese American National Museum, with an exhibition scheduled to open in 2009 (yes, 2009 does seem far away, but in museum time, it is tomorrow!) OK, I guess I can say this much, the show will be about kokeshi dolls – the simple, limbless wooden folk dolls that have come to embody Japanese-ness. But it won’t just be a display of old kokeshi dolls – it will have a LATDA twist to it which we hope will send people away with a broadened view of this cultural icon. We will be working with Christina Conway, curator of the lovely and wonderful kokeshi show at Subtext Gallery in San Diego. We will also be working with a number of artists and collectors as well as combing the National Museum’s permanent collection for significant kokeshi.
Since submitting the proposal for the new show, a number of eerie signs have come to pass that (to me)reinforce the energy of the venture. The best happened during a recent first visit to the Shine Gallery in Farmer’s Market led to the discovery of a pair of vintage kokeshi-shaped, hand-painted paper lanterns. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was a vintage cardboard box next to the lanterns, the assumption being that this was the box the lanterns were stored in. When I looked at the yellowed mailing label, it bore the logo of “Quon-Quon Co.” Imagine my astonishment, as this was where both my parents worked when they met. Cue a lower jaw-drop when the person whose name appeared in the address field of the 50+year-old box was a man that I knew had been a friend of my mother’s – who had no apparent connection to Quon-Quon, according to her. Well, maybe that doesn’t read as dramatically as it seemed to me as I stood over the case at Farmer’s Market, but it made me feel as if the kokeshi show was about to lead me to some very interesting connections. The pair of the Shine Gallery lanterns will be part of the exhibition.
Nothing, they say, can be harder than your first major exhibition. Beyond Ultraman was not only hard, it was audacious. Thanks to everyone who came to see our show and who became new members or supported LATDA’s mission by shopping. We hope to get faster at producing audacious and interesting shows for your enjoyment and edification. Your faith keeps us stoked!
P.S. Credit to my husband who pointed out the Quon-Quon box to me at the Shine Gallery!
We are still in the process of summarizing the metrics of the show (how many visitors, how many press imprints etc.) But here are a few factoids: The exhibit appeared on television three times – on KNBC news as part of Pasadena’s Art Night coverage (10/12/07); on KTLA as part of Gayle Anderson’s live broadcast (11/27/07); and again on KNBC for a solo piece by Cary Berglund on Beyond Ultraman (12/13/07). The exhibit was written up in the Los Angeles Times Guide section at the beginning and the end of the exhibition run. Other articles about the show appeared in Artillery Magazine and the Daily Bruin. David Gonzales was featured in two large articles because of the show – one in the LA Times and one in the Pasadena Weekly. We were a top listing on Flavorpill.com for many weeks and managed to appear in all the best blogs.
So where do we go from here? Well, we are currently working on another museum collaboration with the Japanese American National Museum, with an exhibition scheduled to open in 2009 (yes, 2009 does seem far away, but in museum time, it is tomorrow!) OK, I guess I can say this much, the show will be about kokeshi dolls – the simple, limbless wooden folk dolls that have come to embody Japanese-ness. But it won’t just be a display of old kokeshi dolls – it will have a LATDA twist to it which we hope will send people away with a broadened view of this cultural icon. We will be working with Christina Conway, curator of the lovely and wonderful kokeshi show at Subtext Gallery in San Diego. We will also be working with a number of artists and collectors as well as combing the National Museum’s permanent collection for significant kokeshi.
Since submitting the proposal for the new show, a number of eerie signs have come to pass that (to me)reinforce the energy of the venture. The best happened during a recent first visit to the Shine Gallery in Farmer’s Market led to the discovery of a pair of vintage kokeshi-shaped, hand-painted paper lanterns. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was a vintage cardboard box next to the lanterns, the assumption being that this was the box the lanterns were stored in. When I looked at the yellowed mailing label, it bore the logo of “Quon-Quon Co.” Imagine my astonishment, as this was where both my parents worked when they met. Cue a lower jaw-drop when the person whose name appeared in the address field of the 50+year-old box was a man that I knew had been a friend of my mother’s – who had no apparent connection to Quon-Quon, according to her. Well, maybe that doesn’t read as dramatically as it seemed to me as I stood over the case at Farmer’s Market, but it made me feel as if the kokeshi show was about to lead me to some very interesting connections. The pair of the Shine Gallery lanterns will be part of the exhibition.
Nothing, they say, can be harder than your first major exhibition. Beyond Ultraman was not only hard, it was audacious. Thanks to everyone who came to see our show and who became new members or supported LATDA’s mission by shopping. We hope to get faster at producing audacious and interesting shows for your enjoyment and edification. Your faith keeps us stoked!
P.S. Credit to my husband who pointed out the Quon-Quon box to me at the Shine Gallery!
Labels: Beyond Ultraman, David Gonzales, kokeshi
Monday, December 17, 2007
The Deadly Doll
Did that catch your eye? Well, when I was ten, it caught mine too. At that time I thought I had read every book in the Cahuenga Branch library about dolls. Then I discovered the adult card catalog and found a book I hadn't read --"The Deadly Doll." I included it in my biweekly stack of ten books, but it was confiscated by a well-meaning librarian. It was some Perry Masonesque pulp novel.
There was another book about dolls that haunted me into adulthood. I couldn't remember the title or author, but I could remember the plot and the distinctive line drawing illustrations. It was a creepy story about two girls who owned two dolls that looked just like them. They met a strange man who ran a toy store who gave them some magic tea for a doll's tea party. When they drank the tea, they switched places with their dolls, who turned out to be quite unpleasant and evil. The girls experienced the toy cupboard with toys who were all out for revenge for the way they were treated or neglected by the girls. In fact, they wanted to kill the girls.
Not surprisingly this story made quite an impression on me and made me very conscious of how I treated my toys. I searched for the book in every children's library I found myself in for the next ten or so years. And then one night, as I walked into the downtown L.A. Central library's children's section for the first time, I felt myself being drawn to a section that vaguely corresponded to the alphabetical shelving in my old library. All I really remembered was that it was a blue book (anyone know the old W.C. Fields line about the book with a blue cover?)It was like a magnetic pull, and my hand went out and touched the spine that read, "The Village of Hidden Wishes". It was the book. I was amazed and took it home to read. It was even creepier than I remembered! And the illustrations by Dorothea Stefula were exactly as I had pictured them all those years.
This was before the days of Abebooks.com, Ebay, and Powell's Books online. Finding an out-of-print book was not as easy as it is today. But after telling the story of my quest to several people after that, one of my mother's students, who was a librarian in South Central L.A. surprised me with a retired copy of the book. It hadn't been checked out since 1964 -- over ten years. I still treasure it as one of my favorite books.
When I was a child, we didn't own many books. Our family had a few Golden Books, a Mother Goose treasury, a worn copy of "The Night Before Christmas", some Nancy Drew books, and my mother's Oz books. Books were special birthday or Christmas presents, not something you purchased casually for a one-time read. To own a book was a big thing. And this amazes me, because I remember wanting a copy of Edward Gorey's "Ghastlycrumb Tinies" when I was in junior high, but not being able to afford it. I was finally given one as a gift, and when I looked at the price recently, I was astonished to see it was $5.95!
Owning books -- especially hardcover books -- can still be a great treasure. My head spins when I walk into a megastore and see how many children's books are published every year. So if you are looking for a substitute for that lead-laced train, consider a book about a train. And if you know an old-fashioned girly-girl who likes stories about dolls, consider Rumer Godden's "Miss Happiness and Miss Flower". Or if she likes her stories a little dark, look for a copy of David Fletcher's "The Village of Hidden Wishes."
Update: 1/20/08 - I just reviewed this blog and realized that I wrote about the same thing in 2004! It's my first sign of aging...repetitive stories. But I guess it's also a sign of how much these books meant to me.
There was another book about dolls that haunted me into adulthood. I couldn't remember the title or author, but I could remember the plot and the distinctive line drawing illustrations. It was a creepy story about two girls who owned two dolls that looked just like them. They met a strange man who ran a toy store who gave them some magic tea for a doll's tea party. When they drank the tea, they switched places with their dolls, who turned out to be quite unpleasant and evil. The girls experienced the toy cupboard with toys who were all out for revenge for the way they were treated or neglected by the girls. In fact, they wanted to kill the girls.
Not surprisingly this story made quite an impression on me and made me very conscious of how I treated my toys. I searched for the book in every children's library I found myself in for the next ten or so years. And then one night, as I walked into the downtown L.A. Central library's children's section for the first time, I felt myself being drawn to a section that vaguely corresponded to the alphabetical shelving in my old library. All I really remembered was that it was a blue book (anyone know the old W.C. Fields line about the book with a blue cover?)It was like a magnetic pull, and my hand went out and touched the spine that read, "The Village of Hidden Wishes". It was the book. I was amazed and took it home to read. It was even creepier than I remembered! And the illustrations by Dorothea Stefula were exactly as I had pictured them all those years.
This was before the days of Abebooks.com, Ebay, and Powell's Books online. Finding an out-of-print book was not as easy as it is today. But after telling the story of my quest to several people after that, one of my mother's students, who was a librarian in South Central L.A. surprised me with a retired copy of the book. It hadn't been checked out since 1964 -- over ten years. I still treasure it as one of my favorite books.
When I was a child, we didn't own many books. Our family had a few Golden Books, a Mother Goose treasury, a worn copy of "The Night Before Christmas", some Nancy Drew books, and my mother's Oz books. Books were special birthday or Christmas presents, not something you purchased casually for a one-time read. To own a book was a big thing. And this amazes me, because I remember wanting a copy of Edward Gorey's "Ghastlycrumb Tinies" when I was in junior high, but not being able to afford it. I was finally given one as a gift, and when I looked at the price recently, I was astonished to see it was $5.95!
Owning books -- especially hardcover books -- can still be a great treasure. My head spins when I walk into a megastore and see how many children's books are published every year. So if you are looking for a substitute for that lead-laced train, consider a book about a train. And if you know an old-fashioned girly-girl who likes stories about dolls, consider Rumer Godden's "Miss Happiness and Miss Flower". Or if she likes her stories a little dark, look for a copy of David Fletcher's "The Village of Hidden Wishes."
Update: 1/20/08 - I just reviewed this blog and realized that I wrote about the same thing in 2004! It's my first sign of aging...repetitive stories. But I guess it's also a sign of how much these books meant to me.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Time Flies
We are already a month and a day into "Beyond Ultraman." Not content to sit on our collective laurels, we are madly seeking other venues for the show because we can't stand the thought of the beautiful result of all our hard work ending in January! If you have any suggestions or insider connections to PS 1, the Cooper- Hewitt, or the Oakland Museum please let us know!
While we look around for another location for "Beyond Ultraman," we also ponder our next show. There are so many ideas in our files that it is difficult to focus sometimes, but we will probably let the opportunity of a venue guide us to our next project. We are considering an exploration of the "D" part of our acronym - but you can bet it won't be your grandmother's doll show... or maybe it will? Stay tuned.
Young Explorers – Creative Educational Products
Page Count: 56
Cover Image: Two kids (boy and girl), both Caucasian (same as last year). The girl is hugging (hey, hey) Uglydolls, while the boy is playing with a magic set. Caption says, "Imagine, Create, Explore...Play!"
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $99.95 for a slot car set; lowest priced toy - $21.95 each for Uglydolls and a sticker machine.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $136.95 for a pirate ship and accessories; lowest priced toy - $29.95 for an alphabet to go play set. There is also an inset with a picture of a little girl (Caucasian, again). Interesting item for $34.95 - a bank called a "Money Hungry Monster" that eats money and says "Keep away from my money" when you try to remove money.
Met Kids - The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store
Page Count: 31
Cover Image: One kid (Caucasian girl) holding a paint palette.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $48.00 for a wooden block set; lowest priced toy - $4.95 for Met Twist Crayons.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $75.00 for a...wall clock? Watches make up the rest of the product selection. No models on the back cover. (BTW - one Asian child and two African American kids appear within the catalog (out of 14 models total).
Hearth Song
Page Count: 88
Cover Image: No book illustration on the cover this year. A toy dominates the cover, but there is a blurry Caucasian child in the background.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $32.98 for a Hokey Pokey Musical Skirt (it plays the song while you dance...); lowest priced toy - $9.98 for a chocolate advent calendar and a planting toy.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $49.98 for an exclusive musical tower made of wood and operated by marbles. One boy of unspecific cultural background on the back cover. For some strange reason they offer a real flower basket/arrangement on the back cover too.
etoys.com – Childhood Dreams Delivered
Page Count: 124
Cover Image: One Caucasian child sitting in front of a pristine fireplace (sans fire or any trace of soot).
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $99.99 (on sale from $159.99) Little Tikes Talking Train with Track. lowest priced toy - $14.99 for stuffed animals. Of note: $79.99 for Brian the Brain who acts as "an integrated speaker phone, personal assistant, motion sensor, interactive friend, dictionary, encyclopedia and much more." and $69.99 for Zillions Touch Screen ATM bank. (I need one of those Brians...)
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $69.99 for a Cheetah Girls Rockin' Tour Bus; lowest priced toy - $19.99 for a Hannah Montana doll or any one of four Cheetah girls. One Caucasian boy on the back cover.
Target Toys
Page Count: 51
Cover Image: One Caucasian girl holding a Caucasian baby doll.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy (the only toy on the inside cover)- $54.99 A programmable talking Macaw.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $49.99 for a Driving Force Land Rover; lowest priced toy - $19.99 for a Sing Along Spider-Man. One African American child on the back cover.
Toys R Us
Page Count: 72
Cover Image: Multicultural illustration of two girls (one African American one Caucasian) and one boy (could be Hispanic...)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $189.99 (on sale from $229.99!) A Razor Electric Powered motor scooter; lowest priced toy - $29.99 Monopoly Pink Boutique Edition game.
Back cover: Only toy - $7.99 for a Jumbo Lounging Elmo (that price with any $50 purchase) One Caucasian girl on the back cover.
Archie McPhee still gets my vote for fun.
Page Count: 48
Cover Image: Zombies of indeterminate race.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $15.95 World's Largest Underpants; lowest priced toy - $4.95 will buy you two sets of plastic ants, a giant wooden pencil, or a squirt cigarette pack.
Back cover: Ads for Yodeling Pickle, switchblade comb, crime scene bandages, sky-diving Sigmund Freud, glow-in-the-dark-skeleton pirates, and, of course, zombies.
-30-
While we look around for another location for "Beyond Ultraman," we also ponder our next show. There are so many ideas in our files that it is difficult to focus sometimes, but we will probably let the opportunity of a venue guide us to our next project. We are considering an exploration of the "D" part of our acronym - but you can bet it won't be your grandmother's doll show... or maybe it will? Stay tuned.
Toy Catalogs Redux
The holidays have been sneaking up on us while we've been pre-occupied with the show opening and incumbent activity of promoting same. I have accumulated a stack of toy catalogs (they arrived early this year and almost bypassed me into the recycle bin). I thought it would be interesting to compare them to last year's selection to see what trends could be gleaned from the cover art and toy selections. (For last year's lineup look at the 11/13/06 blog entry - wow, exactly a year ago) Here is this year's report:Young Explorers – Creative Educational Products
Page Count: 56
Cover Image: Two kids (boy and girl), both Caucasian (same as last year). The girl is hugging (hey, hey) Uglydolls, while the boy is playing with a magic set. Caption says, "Imagine, Create, Explore...Play!"
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $99.95 for a slot car set; lowest priced toy - $21.95 each for Uglydolls and a sticker machine.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $136.95 for a pirate ship and accessories; lowest priced toy - $29.95 for an alphabet to go play set. There is also an inset with a picture of a little girl (Caucasian, again). Interesting item for $34.95 - a bank called a "Money Hungry Monster" that eats money and says "Keep away from my money" when you try to remove money.
Met Kids - The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store
Page Count: 31
Cover Image: One kid (Caucasian girl) holding a paint palette.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $48.00 for a wooden block set; lowest priced toy - $4.95 for Met Twist Crayons.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $75.00 for a...wall clock? Watches make up the rest of the product selection. No models on the back cover. (BTW - one Asian child and two African American kids appear within the catalog (out of 14 models total).
Hearth Song
Page Count: 88
Cover Image: No book illustration on the cover this year. A toy dominates the cover, but there is a blurry Caucasian child in the background.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $32.98 for a Hokey Pokey Musical Skirt (it plays the song while you dance...); lowest priced toy - $9.98 for a chocolate advent calendar and a planting toy.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $49.98 for an exclusive musical tower made of wood and operated by marbles. One boy of unspecific cultural background on the back cover. For some strange reason they offer a real flower basket/arrangement on the back cover too.
etoys.com – Childhood Dreams Delivered
Page Count: 124
Cover Image: One Caucasian child sitting in front of a pristine fireplace (sans fire or any trace of soot).
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $99.99 (on sale from $159.99) Little Tikes Talking Train with Track. lowest priced toy - $14.99 for stuffed animals. Of note: $79.99 for Brian the Brain who acts as "an integrated speaker phone, personal assistant, motion sensor, interactive friend, dictionary, encyclopedia and much more." and $69.99 for Zillions Touch Screen ATM bank. (I need one of those Brians...)
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $69.99 for a Cheetah Girls Rockin' Tour Bus; lowest priced toy - $19.99 for a Hannah Montana doll or any one of four Cheetah girls. One Caucasian boy on the back cover.
Target Toys
Page Count: 51
Cover Image: One Caucasian girl holding a Caucasian baby doll.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy (the only toy on the inside cover)- $54.99 A programmable talking Macaw.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $49.99 for a Driving Force Land Rover; lowest priced toy - $19.99 for a Sing Along Spider-Man. One African American child on the back cover.
Toys R Us
Page Count: 72
Cover Image: Multicultural illustration of two girls (one African American one Caucasian) and one boy (could be Hispanic...)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $189.99 (on sale from $229.99!) A Razor Electric Powered motor scooter; lowest priced toy - $29.99 Monopoly Pink Boutique Edition game.
Back cover: Only toy - $7.99 for a Jumbo Lounging Elmo (that price with any $50 purchase) One Caucasian girl on the back cover.
Archie McPhee still gets my vote for fun.
Page Count: 48
Cover Image: Zombies of indeterminate race.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $15.95 World's Largest Underpants; lowest priced toy - $4.95 will buy you two sets of plastic ants, a giant wooden pencil, or a squirt cigarette pack.
Back cover: Ads for Yodeling Pickle, switchblade comb, crime scene bandages, sky-diving Sigmund Freud, glow-in-the-dark-skeleton pirates, and, of course, zombies.
Overall Comments:
Copy: Lots of information, but who cares. The layouts are so awful that it's hard to focus on copy. Models: Less attention to political correctness than ever. Maybe only white families can afford toys this year. Content: The main thing I noticed is that price points are much lower and the toys more modest this year, no doubt a reflection of the economy. Hence the toy ATM banks too.-30-
Sunday, October 21, 2007
LA Times Article
I almost forgot to include this back story. When I was interviewed by the LA Times reporter we talked of many things. Shana Ting Lipton apologized for asking me more questions than would be covered by the article (which BTW was included in the last LA Times Weekend Calendar format - more's the pity since that was the only reason I continued to take the LA Times home delivery - I LIKED the original Calendar format and hardly ever read the Sunday Times Calendar section). We spoke of many things, like biculturalism, parents, etc. At the end of the hour-long interview on my cell phone (which I am paying dearly for) she said, "Oh, I almost forgot, my dad asked me to ask you if you were connected to another Kwong. He had a friend who spelled his named the same as yours. He was a photographer named Sam." I said, "That would be my dad!" She said, "My dad bought your dad's duplex!" And that was when I had to move because I was living in the downstairs unit.
Post Party-um Reflections
Mounting a major exhibition is not unlike giving birth, take heed all aspiring male curators, it is as close as you'll come to the pain and joy of childbirth.
Actually, I revisited many emotional states fom the past during the two weeks leading up to the opening of Beyond Ultraman. The night before the opening I experienced that old feeling of childhood: the night before Christmas. You lie awake in bed, knowing that you should go to sleep, unable to turn off your feverish brain, and worrying that if you don't go to sleep the magic part of the next day may never come. The agony of anticipation, the realization of desire, the knowledge that you need to rest to have strength to enjoy tomorrow. Then on the day of the reception, as I went through the motions of a normal workday at my day job, I was reminded of Halloweens of yore. Looking forward to dressing up and being someone different than normal, being able to leave the routine day early to gather with friends who are sharing in the special event. And then the demons of new relationships - Will they like the show? Will they like me? Was I too pushy? How's my breath?
So, here are some statistics from the first weekend of the exhibition (those of you linking from the LATDA email bear with me):
During the first five days of the show, over 3,000 visitors viewed Beyond Ultraman! The opening reception drew just under 500 people into the traffic on a Thursday night. Friday was Art Night in Pasadena, when shuttle buses delivered more than 2,000 people over a four hour period. On Saturday morning before the Bossy Bear reading and Mothman toy launch, people were standing in line waiting for the museum to open! All the Bossy Bears, large and small, were sold out before 3:00 PM. We went through 250 Homies in the vending machine in two days.
Sound bites on Art Night:
- A woman standing in the middle of the gallery called her friend on her cell phone and said, “You must come here immediately! This is the best exhibit I’ve ever seen!”
- A dazed young man was walking around looking at the exhibit. I asked him if he had any questions and he said, “I came to Art Night to see the exhibit at the Pacific Asia Museum but they were closed, so I came here. I am so glad I found this exhibit! Thank you for putting it together!”
- A woman who came to see the plein air painting show walked around and remarked to a friend, “This isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but it is really interesting!” She then walked over to the vending machine and bought a Homie.
The best visual reactions were those captured in the mirror behind the Homie display –- how often do you get to see people’s reactions to artwork they are viewing? I saw lots of smiles, some guffaws, and wide-eyed awe from people of all ages and backgrounds. It was the best affirmation of the exhibition one could receive.
As we were leaving the museum on Friday, there was a clutch of young people standing in front of the museum talking in the light rain (the rain was a surprise to us who were inside all night). I stopped and asked them what they thought of the show. It turned out that I was speaking to some heavy hitters in the vinyl art world –- Jonathan Cathey of Super Rad Toys, whose work was represented in the show in one of Brian McCarty’s photographs; Luke Chueh, also represented in a McCarty photo; and Joe Ledbetter, who has been a longtime supporter of PMCA and who I had hoped would be the subject of a new McCarty photograph in time for the exhibition. With each introduction, my eyes got bigger and my voice got higher as I recognized each artist’s name. I admitted I was surprised at how young they all were (and a voice from afar said, ‘They’re probably surprised at how old YOU are!’) and expressed that I hoped we would work together in the future. Beyond Ultraman is the first museum exhibition about the world of vinyl art toys, but it doesn’t mean it will be the only or last one.
We haven't processed the fact that the exhibition is up and running yet. I have to go back again and again to reassure myself that it really is open. Now we are thinking that it should travel...
Actually, I revisited many emotional states fom the past during the two weeks leading up to the opening of Beyond Ultraman. The night before the opening I experienced that old feeling of childhood: the night before Christmas. You lie awake in bed, knowing that you should go to sleep, unable to turn off your feverish brain, and worrying that if you don't go to sleep the magic part of the next day may never come. The agony of anticipation, the realization of desire, the knowledge that you need to rest to have strength to enjoy tomorrow. Then on the day of the reception, as I went through the motions of a normal workday at my day job, I was reminded of Halloweens of yore. Looking forward to dressing up and being someone different than normal, being able to leave the routine day early to gather with friends who are sharing in the special event. And then the demons of new relationships - Will they like the show? Will they like me? Was I too pushy? How's my breath?
So, here are some statistics from the first weekend of the exhibition (those of you linking from the LATDA email bear with me):
During the first five days of the show, over 3,000 visitors viewed Beyond Ultraman! The opening reception drew just under 500 people into the traffic on a Thursday night. Friday was Art Night in Pasadena, when shuttle buses delivered more than 2,000 people over a four hour period. On Saturday morning before the Bossy Bear reading and Mothman toy launch, people were standing in line waiting for the museum to open! All the Bossy Bears, large and small, were sold out before 3:00 PM. We went through 250 Homies in the vending machine in two days.
Sound bites on Art Night:
- A woman standing in the middle of the gallery called her friend on her cell phone and said, “You must come here immediately! This is the best exhibit I’ve ever seen!”
- A dazed young man was walking around looking at the exhibit. I asked him if he had any questions and he said, “I came to Art Night to see the exhibit at the Pacific Asia Museum but they were closed, so I came here. I am so glad I found this exhibit! Thank you for putting it together!”
- A woman who came to see the plein air painting show walked around and remarked to a friend, “This isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but it is really interesting!” She then walked over to the vending machine and bought a Homie.
The best visual reactions were those captured in the mirror behind the Homie display –- how often do you get to see people’s reactions to artwork they are viewing? I saw lots of smiles, some guffaws, and wide-eyed awe from people of all ages and backgrounds. It was the best affirmation of the exhibition one could receive.
As we were leaving the museum on Friday, there was a clutch of young people standing in front of the museum talking in the light rain (the rain was a surprise to us who were inside all night). I stopped and asked them what they thought of the show. It turned out that I was speaking to some heavy hitters in the vinyl art world –- Jonathan Cathey of Super Rad Toys, whose work was represented in the show in one of Brian McCarty’s photographs; Luke Chueh, also represented in a McCarty photo; and Joe Ledbetter, who has been a longtime supporter of PMCA and who I had hoped would be the subject of a new McCarty photograph in time for the exhibition. With each introduction, my eyes got bigger and my voice got higher as I recognized each artist’s name. I admitted I was surprised at how young they all were (and a voice from afar said, ‘They’re probably surprised at how old YOU are!’) and expressed that I hoped we would work together in the future. Beyond Ultraman is the first museum exhibition about the world of vinyl art toys, but it doesn’t mean it will be the only or last one.
We haven't processed the fact that the exhibition is up and running yet. I have to go back again and again to reassure myself that it really is open. Now we are thinking that it should travel...
Labels: Beyond Ultraman, LATDA Museum, vinyl art toy exhibit
Saturday, January 06, 2007
January 2007 and counting...
I have had the luxury of spending the first week of the new year focusing on LATDA and our upcoming exhibit with the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Artifact lists are being generated, fundraising has begun, and a catalogue may be in the works. The exhibition space is now expanded to 6,000 square feet, and after a recent site visit, I could actually visualize the show falling in place and I started getting very excited.
The new year also brought an early Christmas of sorts. LATDA received nine cartons of toys from Alex Dong of Lexin Toys. Lexin was one of the main distributors of tin wind-up toys in the U.S. With the changing toy market, tin toys have been a harder sell. For one thing, they are not able to be marketed as toys, but have to be marked as 'collectibles'. We who grew up in the days before safety laws would naturally be careful with the hard-edges of metal toys and could be reasonably safe from swallowing metal keys, but toy manufacturers today need to adhere to higher safety standards. Tin toys are being made with more plastic parts than before, and in fact most wind-up toys are made with all plastic parts.
When I play with these toys I try to imagine a time when these would have inspired wonderment and delight to children. It is hard to imagine a child of the 21st century spending more than a cursory A.D.D. minute on a hopping frog or a pecking chicken. And what were the inventors of these toys thinking?
There is something charming and simple about a tin wind-up toy. I don't think it is just nostalgia for the cheap lithographics or subject matter that makes them so appealing. There is something so comprehensible about knowing that there is a key that tightens up a mainspring which in turn expands to cause gears to turn and consequently limbs or wheels to move. The sound of it is real. The motion so obviously mechanical. And by having to turn the key, you become an important part of the process.
The contents of the nine cartons are so vast that cataloging is going to take a few more woman-hours, but a cursory search through the boxes revealed a few treasures. Many of the toys are Lexin's display samples, so it is like having one of every tin toy, precious and profane, I've ever coveted in a store. In addition to these samples there is the occasional odd piece that looks like very old stock or something purchased as R&D.
There is a chicken in a box with Russian writing that has some of the finest pecking action I've seen in a tin wind-up. Many of the toys haven't been wound in a long time so they are sticky at first and get a little better with repeated windings. But this Russian chicken took off immediately and ran around for quite awhile on just s few turns of the key.
There are some robots that have some serious balance problems, so despite their colorful appearance, they are not very efficient robots. One of them seems to be doing a Michael Jackson imitation of a moon walk - I wonder if someone in China was inspired by his music. There is an army of hopping frogs, a battalion of jumping orioles, and a contingent of Hong Kong trolleys. Many of the spacemen have distinctively Asian features - I wonder if at this very moment someone is rescreening a tin form to look like Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut?
Another inspiring find was a large number of wind-up white mice. 2008 is going to be the Year of the Rat - I see an artist event in LATDA's future - customized mechanical mice!
Happy New Year to all!
The new year also brought an early Christmas of sorts. LATDA received nine cartons of toys from Alex Dong of Lexin Toys. Lexin was one of the main distributors of tin wind-up toys in the U.S. With the changing toy market, tin toys have been a harder sell. For one thing, they are not able to be marketed as toys, but have to be marked as 'collectibles'. We who grew up in the days before safety laws would naturally be careful with the hard-edges of metal toys and could be reasonably safe from swallowing metal keys, but toy manufacturers today need to adhere to higher safety standards. Tin toys are being made with more plastic parts than before, and in fact most wind-up toys are made with all plastic parts.
When I play with these toys I try to imagine a time when these would have inspired wonderment and delight to children. It is hard to imagine a child of the 21st century spending more than a cursory A.D.D. minute on a hopping frog or a pecking chicken. And what were the inventors of these toys thinking?
There is something charming and simple about a tin wind-up toy. I don't think it is just nostalgia for the cheap lithographics or subject matter that makes them so appealing. There is something so comprehensible about knowing that there is a key that tightens up a mainspring which in turn expands to cause gears to turn and consequently limbs or wheels to move. The sound of it is real. The motion so obviously mechanical. And by having to turn the key, you become an important part of the process.
The contents of the nine cartons are so vast that cataloging is going to take a few more woman-hours, but a cursory search through the boxes revealed a few treasures. Many of the toys are Lexin's display samples, so it is like having one of every tin toy, precious and profane, I've ever coveted in a store. In addition to these samples there is the occasional odd piece that looks like very old stock or something purchased as R&D.
There is a chicken in a box with Russian writing that has some of the finest pecking action I've seen in a tin wind-up. Many of the toys haven't been wound in a long time so they are sticky at first and get a little better with repeated windings. But this Russian chicken took off immediately and ran around for quite awhile on just s few turns of the key.
There are some robots that have some serious balance problems, so despite their colorful appearance, they are not very efficient robots. One of them seems to be doing a Michael Jackson imitation of a moon walk - I wonder if someone in China was inspired by his music. There is an army of hopping frogs, a battalion of jumping orioles, and a contingent of Hong Kong trolleys. Many of the spacemen have distinctively Asian features - I wonder if at this very moment someone is rescreening a tin form to look like Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut?
Another inspiring find was a large number of wind-up white mice. 2008 is going to be the Year of the Rat - I see an artist event in LATDA's future - customized mechanical mice!
Happy New Year to all!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Toy Catalogs
It’s hard to believe that after years of being bombarded with what must amount to tonnage of mail order catalogs, that the sight of a toy catalog can still raise a prickle of hope and anticipation in someone as jaded as an old catalog hand like me. Of all the catalogs I receive, the toy catalogs receive the heaviest scrutiny. And I don’t just mean for content, but also for style, ease of use, paper quality, and photography.
When I went on Ebay to find a copy of the first FAO Schwarz catalog I ever sent for, I was amazed at how many people collect catalogs – especially toy catalogs. There are businesses that just sell reproductions of old ‘wish books’ for fools like me who are looking for lost memories (actually I was informed by one of these booksellers that the most frequent buyers are museum collection departments or other people doing research, and not nostalgia junkies.)
In the name of research, I performed a mini survey of my own on the current selection of catalogs that have arrived through the mail. I’m only including the ones that are specifically aimed at kids (or their parents) and not ones like Archie McPhee (my favorite) or the very rarefied Dollmasters catalog that caters to collectors. In catalog design-land, the most important real estate besides the front cover is the back cover and the first two inside pages. I could go on at length about center spreads, mail order inserts, etc., but this would become tedious. Here are a few choice observations:
Young Explorers – Creative Educational Products (what a title…makes your blood get hot, no?)
Page Count: 56
Cover Image: Two kids (boy and girl), both Caucasian, surrounded by spot images of toys. The boy is playing with a metal detector; girl is playing with a remote control build-it-yourself robot. Caption says, ‘Just What We Wanted!’ Really?
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $99.95 for a talking globe; lowest priced toy (batteries not included) - $12.95 for a Money Maze bank
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $89.95 for a wooden castle and knights; lowest priced toy (batteries not included) - $29.95 for Sugar Snaps – some kind of new paper doll. There is also an inset with a picture of a little girl (Caucasian)
Highlights Holiday Toy Catalog– (I still read Highlights when I am in the doctor’s office…used to love the hidden pictures)
Page Count: 66
Cover Image: One kid (girl of possible ethnic extraction, but sort of Caucasian) playing with a potter’s wheel. (BTW we had one of these wheels but it didn’t work worth beans. Our child ended up taking lessons with a real potter on a real wheel. I guess it worked as inspiration)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $159.95 for a wooden building/racing set called Quadrilla; lowest priced toy - $14.98 for an Amazing Money Jar (another bank! Interesting messaging here)
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $99.98 for a 3-in-1 Target Soccer Goal; lowest priced toy - $19.95 for Hidden Pictures Book Set (ooooh). Two kids appear in the Soccer Goal shots – a girl and boy, African American.
Back to Basics Toys (I’ve been receiving this one for many years. Like the idea, but have never been wowed by their catalog)
Page Count: 76
Cover Image: 5 (!) kids in various play modes (lying in leaves, hugging a stuffed giraffe, playing musical instruments, building, and riding in a fire truck) 3 are boys (Caucasian) and two are girls (1 Caucasian, 1 African American)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $319.99 for a Coke (product placement!) Roadster Pedal Car; lowest priced toy - $119.99 for Play Cube (a multi-feature toddler toy)
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $299.99 for a life size battery operated roadster (yeah, that’s basic…); lowest priced toy - $199.99 for a multi-game table One Caucasian boy pictured shooting hoops on the game table.
Hearth Song (This used to be the one catalog I actually purchased from every year. They always had a good selection of exclusive crafty kits and folk toys from other countries. They used to be operated out of Northern California and had that sort of politically correct sensibility, but I think they were sold some time ago, and their catalog has become less interesting somehow – like it lost its soul. Still, I like the fact that they often use book illustrations for their covers.)
Page Count: 92
Cover Image: Illustration from a book called My Penguin Osbert, by Elizabeth Cody Himmel; illustrated by H.B. Lewis. One boy (?) bundled up and one penguin (multicultural?)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $555.55 for an Imagine My Place doll house; lowest priced toy - $59.95 for the 12”x 12” Bungalow in the same doll house series.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $159.95 for a Junior Electric Guitar: lowest priced toy - $5.95 for a stretchy spiky glove. Three Caucasian boys on the back cover.
etoys.com – Childhood Dreams Delivered (I thought they went out of business?)
Page Count: 124
Cover Image: Three kids lying under the Christmas tree – two girls cuddling a stuffed bear and a doll; one boy cuddling a huge plastic fire engine. All Caucasian.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $299.99 for an Victorian doll house and accessories; lowest priced toy - $49.99 for Gut Wrenchers, a remote control car.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $39.99 for a Speed Stack set (and I don’t get this toy at all…training for working in a supermarket?): lowest priced toy - $4.99 for a Puppy Gift Card Holder. One Caucasian boy (stacking) on the back cover.
Overall comments:
Copy: As a museum professional, I certainly applaud the attempt to provide lots of information, but most of these catalogs have so much copy that they can’t make a decent page layout or size images properly. Add more pages or cut copy.
Models: Well, you get the drift from my descriptions above. Interestingly, Target’s holiday toy catalog always features multi-cultures on the front cover. They know who’s buying toys. They also seem to hire real models and photographers who can actually convince you that the kids are enjoying the toys. Of course there are those toys that even a professional can’t possibly fake enthusiasm for, like the child’s hand bell set.
Content: There is a lot of overlap of products, which is understandable. After all, the selection is dictated by what is available on the market. The internet has made it so pricing doesn’t fluctuate wildly – being able to instantly comparison shop has made retailers more creative about attracting customers. I wonder if kids still dog-ear catalogs for Christmas, and if they do, what toys really attract them? My sense is that parents must look at catalogs more than kids.
Two of my favorite toy catalogs are Archie McPhee and American Girl. Actually the latter used to be more sumptuous before Mattel bought the doll division. Their oversize catalogs were a graphic designer’s (ahem) dream, according to our graphics guy. The Archie McPhee catalog is full of tacky and affordable amusements that you could buy from other stores, but seem better from the source. I am dog-earing pages as I type.
When I went on Ebay to find a copy of the first FAO Schwarz catalog I ever sent for, I was amazed at how many people collect catalogs – especially toy catalogs. There are businesses that just sell reproductions of old ‘wish books’ for fools like me who are looking for lost memories (actually I was informed by one of these booksellers that the most frequent buyers are museum collection departments or other people doing research, and not nostalgia junkies.)
In the name of research, I performed a mini survey of my own on the current selection of catalogs that have arrived through the mail. I’m only including the ones that are specifically aimed at kids (or their parents) and not ones like Archie McPhee (my favorite) or the very rarefied Dollmasters catalog that caters to collectors. In catalog design-land, the most important real estate besides the front cover is the back cover and the first two inside pages. I could go on at length about center spreads, mail order inserts, etc., but this would become tedious. Here are a few choice observations:
Young Explorers – Creative Educational Products (what a title…makes your blood get hot, no?)
Page Count: 56
Cover Image: Two kids (boy and girl), both Caucasian, surrounded by spot images of toys. The boy is playing with a metal detector; girl is playing with a remote control build-it-yourself robot. Caption says, ‘Just What We Wanted!’ Really?
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $99.95 for a talking globe; lowest priced toy (batteries not included) - $12.95 for a Money Maze bank
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $89.95 for a wooden castle and knights; lowest priced toy (batteries not included) - $29.95 for Sugar Snaps – some kind of new paper doll. There is also an inset with a picture of a little girl (Caucasian)
Highlights Holiday Toy Catalog– (I still read Highlights when I am in the doctor’s office…used to love the hidden pictures)
Page Count: 66
Cover Image: One kid (girl of possible ethnic extraction, but sort of Caucasian) playing with a potter’s wheel. (BTW we had one of these wheels but it didn’t work worth beans. Our child ended up taking lessons with a real potter on a real wheel. I guess it worked as inspiration)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $159.95 for a wooden building/racing set called Quadrilla; lowest priced toy - $14.98 for an Amazing Money Jar (another bank! Interesting messaging here)
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $99.98 for a 3-in-1 Target Soccer Goal; lowest priced toy - $19.95 for Hidden Pictures Book Set (ooooh). Two kids appear in the Soccer Goal shots – a girl and boy, African American.
Back to Basics Toys (I’ve been receiving this one for many years. Like the idea, but have never been wowed by their catalog)
Page Count: 76
Cover Image: 5 (!) kids in various play modes (lying in leaves, hugging a stuffed giraffe, playing musical instruments, building, and riding in a fire truck) 3 are boys (Caucasian) and two are girls (1 Caucasian, 1 African American)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $319.99 for a Coke (product placement!) Roadster Pedal Car; lowest priced toy - $119.99 for Play Cube (a multi-feature toddler toy)
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $299.99 for a life size battery operated roadster (yeah, that’s basic…); lowest priced toy - $199.99 for a multi-game table One Caucasian boy pictured shooting hoops on the game table.
Hearth Song (This used to be the one catalog I actually purchased from every year. They always had a good selection of exclusive crafty kits and folk toys from other countries. They used to be operated out of Northern California and had that sort of politically correct sensibility, but I think they were sold some time ago, and their catalog has become less interesting somehow – like it lost its soul. Still, I like the fact that they often use book illustrations for their covers.)
Page Count: 92
Cover Image: Illustration from a book called My Penguin Osbert, by Elizabeth Cody Himmel; illustrated by H.B. Lewis. One boy (?) bundled up and one penguin (multicultural?)
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $555.55 for an Imagine My Place doll house; lowest priced toy - $59.95 for the 12”x 12” Bungalow in the same doll house series.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $159.95 for a Junior Electric Guitar: lowest priced toy - $5.95 for a stretchy spiky glove. Three Caucasian boys on the back cover.
etoys.com – Childhood Dreams Delivered (I thought they went out of business?)
Page Count: 124
Cover Image: Three kids lying under the Christmas tree – two girls cuddling a stuffed bear and a doll; one boy cuddling a huge plastic fire engine. All Caucasian.
Inside cover: Highest priced toy - $299.99 for an Victorian doll house and accessories; lowest priced toy - $49.99 for Gut Wrenchers, a remote control car.
Back cover: Highest priced toy - $39.99 for a Speed Stack set (and I don’t get this toy at all…training for working in a supermarket?): lowest priced toy - $4.99 for a Puppy Gift Card Holder. One Caucasian boy (stacking) on the back cover.
Overall comments:
Copy: As a museum professional, I certainly applaud the attempt to provide lots of information, but most of these catalogs have so much copy that they can’t make a decent page layout or size images properly. Add more pages or cut copy.
Models: Well, you get the drift from my descriptions above. Interestingly, Target’s holiday toy catalog always features multi-cultures on the front cover. They know who’s buying toys. They also seem to hire real models and photographers who can actually convince you that the kids are enjoying the toys. Of course there are those toys that even a professional can’t possibly fake enthusiasm for, like the child’s hand bell set.
Content: There is a lot of overlap of products, which is understandable. After all, the selection is dictated by what is available on the market. The internet has made it so pricing doesn’t fluctuate wildly – being able to instantly comparison shop has made retailers more creative about attracting customers. I wonder if kids still dog-ear catalogs for Christmas, and if they do, what toys really attract them? My sense is that parents must look at catalogs more than kids.
Two of my favorite toy catalogs are Archie McPhee and American Girl. Actually the latter used to be more sumptuous before Mattel bought the doll division. Their oversize catalogs were a graphic designer’s (ahem) dream, according to our graphics guy. The Archie McPhee catalog is full of tacky and affordable amusements that you could buy from other stores, but seem better from the source. I am dog-earing pages as I type.
