See Saw

SeeSaw is a featured blog at TypePad today. YAY!

Just have to brag a bit today. Thanks so much to Typepad for making SeeSaw a featured blog.

 

BARBIE TEENAGE FASHION MODEL BOOKLET: 1958

Barbie Booklet 1958. Various pages. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections. All Barbie images ©Mattel International. All photos ©Liza Cowan.

Ebay score! I got two original Barbie booklets, the kind that came with the dolls. How well I remember these. I loved the booklets almost as much as I loved the dolls. Thumbing through them for the first time in over forty years, I am, in my minds eye, nine years old, the year the orignal Barbie came out. I got her as a holiday present, and over the next couple of years I acquired almost every outfit in this book, and I can still feel the textures, the tiny stitches, the petite buttons and hooks and tiny accessories. Barbie and Poor Pitiful Pearl were the only dolls I ever cared for.

Barbie Booklet, Cover. 1958. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections

 

Barbie booklet 1958. In her first bathing suit and undergarments. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections

 

Barbie booklet 1958, floral petticoat, detail

Barbie Booklet, Sweet Dreams. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections.

Barbie Booklet 1988. Barbie Q and Friday Night Date.  Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections

 

Barbie booklet 1958. Busy Gal and Cotton Casual. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections.

 

Barbie booklet. Busy Gal, detail.

Barbie booklet 1958. Sweater Girl, Suburban Shopper, Picnic Set. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections.

Barbie Booklet, 1958, Sweater Girl, detail. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections

Barbie booklet 1958. Winter Holiday, Resort Set, Apple Print Sheath, Cruise Stripe Dress. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections.

 

Barbie booklet 1958, Apple Print Sheath. Detail.

Barbie booklet 1958. Evening Splendor. Liza Cowan ephemera Collections.

Barbie Booklet 1958, Peachy Fleecy Coat, detail

 

Barbie Booklet 1958, Let's Dance, Enchanted Evening. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections

Barbie Booklet, Silken Flame, Commuter Set. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections. 

Barbie Booklet, 1958, Commuter, detail. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections.

Barbie Booklet 1958 Solo In The Spotlight, Plantation Belle Dress Set, Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections

Barbie Booklet, 1958. Wedding Dress. Liza Cowan Ephemera Collections

 

For more about Barbie I suggest these two books:

Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll by M.G. Lord 

The Good, The Bad, And The Barbie: A Doll's History And Her Impact On Us by Tanya Stone.

JUST HATCHED FOR EASTER GIFT GIVING

Hot off the presses: Small Equals Keepsake box with image from a chromolithographed trade card from former  Burlington manufacturer Wells, Richardson & Co. Here are children painting their eggs with Diamond Dyes.

Small Equals Keepsake Box, paint your eggs with Diamond Dyes

For a tiny eco footprint...and less money than it would cost to send a dozen roses, why not send a box filled with seedbombs? Invest in the future with one small gift.

Available at Small Equals Online Shop HERE 

HOW TO RUIN A BEAUTIFUL SPACE

Pine Street Art Works was gorgeous space. The first time I saw the showroom at 404 Pine Street in Burlington I recognized the great bones. Although it was not living up to it's potential then, it was easy to see what the former fiber factory could become. High ceilings, brickwork, skylights and wooden beams made this a former city dweller's fantasy space.

Pine Street Art Works. Photo by Carolyn Bates.

I divided up the 4,000 sq. ft space into three rooms and a hallway with walls that didn't go all the way up, interior vintage divided light windows and doors to add more light and charm to the rooms. And I painted the walls. It took three of us to paint, using many layers of custom blended paint, hand ragged and wiped...but what an effect. If I could have sold the ambiance I'd be a millionaire by now. People would walk in and just go, "Wow. Love your space." It didn't hurt that I also added halogen lights to show off the art, and lots of ambient lights for added coziness and atmosphere. Throw in a series of leopard print rugs, vintage furniture and, of course, the ever changing art on the walls, and you pretty much have my dream space. 

 

When I closed the gallery another organization moved in. First thing they did was prime the walls white. They took away all the color. They either left on the primer or didn't chose their whites carefully.  Now, I know that there are wonderful whites and a space can, I suppose, look grand if it's done in the right tones of white. Kauffman color specializes in finding just the right whites for gallery spaces and seem to do a great job. I've read their books and learned a lot from them about how to color a wall. But the walls here are dingy and cold looking. 

Then they took away all the ambient light. Not a good idea. Next, they covered up the show window - a main source of warm south light - with a backdrop wall. I understand the impulse...it makes one more show wall inside and in some ways makes it easier to do a show window...but in my opinion the trade off is a disaster.

The floors...well I liked the look and history of the well-worn concrete, but I placed area rugs all over for pizazz and to soften the standing surface. They added visual appeal and much needed cushion for the legs and texture for sound absorption. Concrete is hell on the legs and all that brick and concrete makes sounds bounce all over.  

404 Pine Street...under new management.

Why would anyone re-do a place so that it looks worse? I can't say. And I won't say who is running the place now...but I will say it's an arts organization and in my opinion they should know better. At first I was embarrassed because I was afraid people would walk in and, not knowing I'd closed Pine Street Art Works, would think I'd lost my mind. Or my taste. Now it just makes me sad and a bit mad. 

I try to avert my eyes when I walk by.

Mother/Daughter photography

I am so pleased that my daughter Willa loves to take photographs. And she's good.

W taking a photo of a utility sink at the Belgo Building in Montral. Photo © Liza Cowan.

SPELL CHECK

Liza Cowan/CowanDesign

If activists mic check, do witches spell check?