Friday, September 30, 2005

A Word about the Word Nanny

Someone mentioned in passing conversation today that the anti-smoking laws in New York were a form of nannyism. Hmm. I can see why, though I had never heard the expression before.

According to web definitions, the word "nanny" refers to a custodian of children or a child's nurse. The traditional nanny is a servant in a large household who looks after a rich person's children full-time, and might be expected to do other domestic work as well.

I wonder why peddler dolls were given the name "notion nannies" when they first appeared in America. Was it a misinterpretation of the English peddler dolls? The appearance of Mary Poppins at the door with her bottomless carpetbag comes to mind.

I have discovered that the word "notion" also raises questions. People here tend to think of it in reference to vague impressions, general inclusive concepts, odd, fanciful, capricious ideas and whimsy. In the US it is also used when referring to personal articles or sewing items like buttons or needles, which at least explains the first half of "notion nanny" from an American historical perspective.

I like the notion of a custodian of ideas.
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Thursday, September 29, 2005

Craft and Conflict


Masonic P.O.W. Charms
Originally uploaded by notionnanny.
At London's Library and Museum of Freemasonry, I saw these "jewels" made by Worshipful Brother J.R. Skipper, a WWII Prisoner of War at Changi Jail, Singapore from material salvaged from a bombed bus. They were used by the Royal Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1555, an impromptu lodge that met clandestinely in the prison camp and practiced Masonic rituals using books written from memory.

Such jewels are part of Masonic regalia indicating the rank and role of the wearer, and are worn for their symbolic significance during lodge ceremonies in which ritual morality plays are performed. Included in this collection is the badge of the almoner's purse, which is interesting considering the extreme conditions under which the lodge was operating. It is known that the lodge collected cigarettes and distributed them as a charity to less fortunate prisoners in the camp.

I was very happy to find a slim volume called “Craft and Conflict: Masonic Trench Art and Military Memorabilia” written by in-house curator Mark Dennis and Nicholas J. Saunders, whose book "Trench Art: Memories and Materialities of War" (2003) hugely inspired my practice as an artist.
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Sunday, September 25, 2005

Lost and Foundlings

In addition to the tokens left by mothers with their children at the Foundling Hospital, including engraved metal tags and coins, ribbons and beaded trinkets, rings, lockets, keys and even a hazel nut shell, there were also written notes and poems.

Hard is my Lot in deep Distress
To have no help where Most should find
Sure Nature meant her sacred Laws
Should men as strong as Women bind
Regardless he, Unable I,
To keep this Image of my Heart
'Tis vile to murder! hard to Starve
And Death almost to me to part
If Fortune should her favours give
That I in Better plight may Live
I'd try to have my boy again
And Train him up the best of Men.
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Mother of Pearl


Mother of Pearl
Originally uploaded by notionnanny.
Something extraordinary happened today. I was out and about, having a lovely time. I had gone to the Columbia Road flower market, the weather was glorious, and I was in a wonderful mood. I called B+B curator Sarah Carrington, as she and I had intended to meet up at my place in the afternoon. She got sidetracked visiting with her mother, and asked if I could meet her instead at a museum that they had spontaneously gone to. Feeling up for anything, I headed over to the Foundling Museum, which Sarah said was something about the social history of children in London...

In the lobby I met Sarah, who, clearly moved by the museum, was busy becoming a member and buying a book. For some reason, really only connected to the idea of orphans, I asked her if she had read the blog entry on the NN web site about Rebecca Purcell's tokens of identity. She had not. So I began explaining them, and what they were inspired by, the man who had an orphanage and collected these tokens left pinned to children....and suddenly I realized maybe - could it be? that this was a museum about the same story, and just as I said it she said, "I just saw them."

Can you believe it?! Four days ago I am sitting in Rebecca's studio looking at the magazine article and today I saw the tokens themselves. The red heart, the mother of pearl tag, the string of seeds, the paper tag edged in black ribbon...They are such powerful and haunting objects, made all the more magical to me considering this astounding serendipity.

The tokens were collected from "exposed and deserted young children" between 1741-1760 at the Foundling Hospital started by Captain Thomas Coram. They were recorded as identifying information in case a parent wanted to reclaim their child, which happened only on rare occasions. The tokens were also saved as a record in defense of mothers who were accused of having disposed of their babies by murdering them.
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Saturday, September 24, 2005

Red Ribbon Key


Red Ribbon Key
Originally uploaded by notionnanny.
Today I arrived in London for the "second phase" of Notion Nanny. I am very lucky to be house sitting in a beautiful 19th century brick house, originally built for the workers at a local brewery.

I won't tell you whose house it is, but I will say that there is a beautiful garden and an amazing library here. Why would I ever want to go out into the rain to peddle my wares?
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Thursday, September 22, 2005

R.P.'s T.O.I.s


R.P.'s T.O.I.s
Originally uploaded by notionnanny.
Yesterday I spent a lovely day working with Rebecca Purcell, an artist in New York.

Theorizing at the early age of three or four that objects have a soul, Rebecca has spent her life developing a complex numbering system based on aesthetic preference.

A number three, for example, represents the motto "Necessity is the Mother of Invention." Things that fall into the category of number three include sewing, ploughs and other old worn tools, linen, barley candy, homemade bread and baskets. According to Rebecca, Notion Nanny is a three.

She started making these "tokens of identity" after reading a fascinating article about a man in the early 1800s who collected the precious objects found pinned to orphaned children. When she showed these to me, I knew they would be perfect traveling charms for the Notion Nanny project.

A collection of "nines," they represent things associated with a brave new world, the idea of just starting out, and utopian ideals.
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Wednesday, September 14, 2005

God Speed the Plough


God Speed the Plough
Originally uploaded by notionnanny.
This passage in Fletcher's book caught my eye:

"In England part of the price of progress has been the spoiling of the countryside and the almost total disappearance of rural life and traditional art. There is, you see, a point at which innovation is a distinct advantage: the trouble arises from the fact that men seem unable to see the point at which development must cease. The history of the motor-car is a characteristic example: originally an advantage, it has been allowed to make town life intolerable and the countryside in many cases into a mere seedy appendage to the nearest big town. Now that we have become a nation of stockbroker farmers, now that we buy our natty country clothes at expensive shops in Bond Street in order to play at living in the country at weekends, it is all but impossible to visualize what English rural life was up to fifty years or so ago, before so much of the old traditional art of country areas had been driven into museums -- a sure indication of its decline. Many of the kinds of popular art we shall be discussing in this chapter [Popular Art in the Country] will, therefore, be bygones."
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Farmers' Arms


Farmers' Arms
Originally uploaded by notionnanny.
Last night in an insomnia-induced treasure hunt on eBay, I found this lovely mug depicting the implements of farming as a coat of arms. This morning when I awoke, I finished reading Geoffrey S. Fletcher's slim 1962 volume "Popular Art in England," in which he happens to mention such mugs, belonging to "the golden age of English farming -- a period that began with the introduction of the swede turnip and ended about 1850."

Fletcher meanders through his subject, organized as a journey: popular art in towns, popular art at home, popular art in the country, popular art at the seaside...covering everything from sailors' love tokens, tobacconists' jars, wool-work pictures, and cast-iron door-stops, to matchbox labels, gypsy caravans, tombstones, and tattooing. He is an opinionated chap, unafraid to say if he finds a thing dreadful or delightful, though most often he encourages the reader to collect it "before it is too late." (It's a good thing I bought the mug.)
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Wednesday, September 07, 2005

TODAY

Today received a kind letter from Acting Master J.S. Dearden, D.LITT. (HON.), the Director for Ruskin Affairs, inviting me to apply to be a Companion of the Guild of Saint George. In a brief description of the guild, an enclosed pamphlet states, "Details of plans for the Guild appeared from 1871 onwards in [John Ruskin's] "Fors Clavigera" [in which] there emerges a picture, sometimes fanciful, of a series of agriculturally-based communities in which social classes are integrated, where work is healthy and meaningful, machinery driven by natural forces, and sound craftsmanship encouraged. The surroundings, he insisted, should be beautiful, with wildlife protected, and all should have access to examples of great art, workmanship, and literature."

Initial funds donated by Ruskin led to the establishment of the guild in 1878, which continues today as a company limited by guarantee, and a registered charity. Despite the fact that the "picture" described above seems of another time and place, the pamphlet ends on this note: Companions, who come from all walks of life, are united in their conviction that the Guild of St. George is still relevant. "TODAY", in fact, was John Ruskin's motto.
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