Post from Donna Sink
[Ed. note: I am way overdue putting up this missive which came in last month. Donna Sink is an architect based in Indianapolis. She used to be based in Philadelphia and was the installation designer for Cheryl Harper‘s “A Happening Place” at Borowsky Gallery a few years back.]
Hi Roberta and Libby:
I was in town recently installing the show “Whimsical Works: The Playful Designs of Charles and Ray Eames”. Basic information below:
Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania
220 South 34th Street (in the Furness library)
Philadelphia PA
23 July – 11 September 2005
This exhibit examines the “whimsical” side of the design work of Charles and Ray Eames, focusing on their toy design projects and films.
The exhibition was organized by the Arthur Ross Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania in cooperation with the Eames Office by students in the Halpern-Rogath Curatorial Seminar supported by the Department of the History of Art, taught by Professor George H. Marcus.
The exhibit was curated by the Penn students in the seminar, I did the exhibit installation, and Orly Zeewy did the fantastic graphic design. The installation covers six examples of the Eames playful works, including three films by the Eames: “Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair” (projected on the floor so you can look down on it, with kaleidoscopes to play with), “Tops,” and “Toccata for Toy Trains.” The latter two are displayed in a theater construction that we built in the gallery. The Tops section also includes a play station: a video camera trained on a tabletop with tops to play with and a monitor, so you can “make your own” version of the Tops movie.
Other sections are on the House of Cards, The Toy, and Children’s Furniture. One very rare object we were able to get for the show is an early child’s chair made of molded plywood, like the famous bent plywood lounges of the Eames, but child-sized – it is absolutely the cutest piece I furniture I have ever seen. When it came out of the crate I could not stop giggling and cooing over it – a mother can’t resist! (images are installation shot from the exhibit.)
