Date: Fri 09-Oct-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Bruce-play-wheels-toys

Full Text:

After All The Hard Work, It's Time To Play At Bruce Museum

(with cuts & sidebar)

BY SHANNON HICKS

GREENWICH -- The Bruce Museum of Arts and Science opened its major fall

exhibition last week. On view through January 3 is "Spinning Spheres and

Whirling Wheels: The Art of Play." The exhibition is not only interesting and

colorful, but downright fun for any age.

By examining the role of play in society, the family exhibition presents a

multi-media visual and sensory experience for all ages and interests.

Featuring toys, games and sports based on the circle and the sphere -- balls,

hoops, marbles, wheels and tops -- the exhibition uses art, artifacts and

interactive elements to demonstrate the importance of these forms in the world

of play.

"This show really is a combination of art and science," explained Cynthia

Ehlinger, the museum's assistant curator of sciences. "We've tried to use the

ball, and talk about how it is a part of our culture.

"The ball was one of the first toys ever. It was found in Egyptian tombs," she

pointed out. "Our emphasis is that play is universal. It touches all ages and

all cultures throughout the world."

While toys have always been around, they were not always seen as something

aimed at children's use. It was not until the introduction of the Industrial

Revolution, Ms Ehlinger said, that our culture's idea of playtime changed.

"It was then that we saw the difference of adult and childhood," she said.

"Toys began to be used more as learning devices."

A showcase of antique toys includes child's pull toys, teething rings for

babies and a table-top croquet set. Many of the tin toys in the showcase were

made right in Connecticut, Ms Ehlinger pointed out. Tin toymaking became

something of a "cottage industry," she said, when people began making such

toys from leftover pieces of scrap metal.

"Spinning Spheres and Whirling Wheels" includes prints, paintings, drawings

and sculpture by such artists as Winslow Homer, Red Grooms, Janet Fish, Louise

Abbema and Jacob Lawrence. These artists' works show how play has differed

over time and from one culture to another.

One very humorous painting on view was done by the English artist William

Heath Robinson in 1928. The work, a pen and ink monochrome with construction

paper, is called "How to Relieve the Monotony of an Agricultural Existence."

The drawing shows a number of people in a large field. At the forefront is a

farmer who has created his own version of croquet, using his hoe to hit a

potato under a weed he has taken and bent into a U-shape. A pair of shepherds

are seen using their staffs to play golf, by hitting beets across the field.

And two other farmers are seen playing a game of tennis, using their shovels

to bat a beet back and forth over a row of hedges.

Images of some of the greats from the world of sports such as Ted Williams,

Julius Erving, Jack Nicklaus and John McEnroe capture the flavor, history and

excitement of the professional game. Antique toys and memorabilia illustrate

the continuity and change in the design of balls, hoops and wheels, and their

role in the world of play.

Another showcase in the exhibition presents viewers with the different forms

balls can take, whether through the use of different fabric in their

construction or the different shapes and sizes of golf balls, baseballs,

tennis balls and footballs. Included in this showcase is the catcher's mitt

Robert Redford used in his movie The Natural , and a Mickey Mantle autographed

baseball.

Any exhibit that studies the science of play, however, cannot be all

look-but-not-touch. The Bruce has created a number of interactive elements to

encourage visitors to experiment and learn more about the behavior of their

favorite toys, games or sports through play. "The Art of Play" also explains

how understanding these forces improves performance.

For example, visitors can play on an early pinball machine, one that actually

has pins, and then play a modern version to compare their skills and note the

differences that have occurred in games over time. (Mike Horyczun, director of

public relations at the museum, was overheard laughing about how popular the

"new" version of the pinball machine had become among the staff during the

exhibition's set-up.)

Visitors are also encouraged to participate in several interactive areas that

show how spinning spheres and whirling wheels respond to frictional and

gravitational forces. Children (of all ages...) can enjoy experimenting with

marble runs, spinning tops and interlocking gears, then sit in and steer a

go-cart. Families are invited to play on an antique car racing game on

display, or discover the principles behind the high-wheel bicycle.

The exhibition's inclusion of so many sports- and game-related images and

collectibles was made possible through loans from other museums and private

collections, Ms Ehlinger said. The majority of the toys themselves are from

the museum's own collection. "It's been a lot of work, to talk about play.

These exhibits are truly a team effort," she said.

Hollister Sturges, the director of the Bruce Museum, called the show one of

the museum's "most ambitious, from the technical point of view, that we have

attempted in some time.

"It is unique, I think, in that part of our mission is to bridge the gap

between arts and sciences," Mr Sturges said last week. "It's been a tremendous

challenge for our staff, but I think the public will appreciate what has been

put together."

The public, in fact, will probably have a ball going through this show.