Play Objects

I was looking through some old slides trying to find some student work from my 3D classes that I taught during grad. school and found this video. This is a video I shot for my MFA exhibition to play during the show. This is my husbands hands playing with the objects and a great friend Steve Kostell helped me edit the video. My committee was against me forgoing any type of cover over my work while my show was up because the pieces were not secure. I played the video to give the viewer an idea of how the objects could be manipulated. The coolest part of the playing the video was the sound that the vessels made. Although showing the video on a continuous loop stopped know one from picking them up and playing with them.........I even had some tiny 1" vessels that were shaped like spinning tops. In the end, nothing was stolen and I was happy with my choice. Like my kids tell me...."Life is multiple choice"!

Play Objects

The picture above is from my thesis work while I was in grad. school in 2004. It is enameled metal, copper and sterling silver. The top picture is closed and the bottom picture is open. I have been creating toys for the last 5 years out of all kinds of materials. I call them toys but they are really play objects. Most have no set requirements and allow the user to incorporate their own imagination. I love to hand someone one of my objects and see what they do.
My own children gravitate towards play objects more than all the battery operated toys. When my son was first crawling he played with a Pringles can. He would roll it and chase after it and drop things inside. A simple object is all they need.