What’s your collection?

Pez dispenser collection at the Boston Museum of Science, also collected from the public; photo by Emily G

From artblog:

Leah Douglas, Director of Exhibitions at Philadelphia International Airport, is looking for people in the region who collect everyday ordinary things as a hobby or private obsession for a new show of collections at the airport.  If you have a collection of small to mid-size objects you’d like to see displayed at the airport — you know, coffee mugs, teaspoons, bumper stickers, campaign buttons, postcards, etc., get in touch with Leah pronto.  She’s trying to organize a show for July.  The collections should be of small to mid-size objects, and around 20-50 objects per collection will be shown, she says.

Leah had a previous collections show at the airport of vintage sand pails, thimbles, christmas-themed objects, fiestaware, pez dispensers, glass tumblers and salt and pepper shaker sets so probably she doesn’t need more of those. To be considered, contact Leah by email: Leah.Douglas@phl.org and she will follow up.

It’s got to be rough to be Director of Exhibitions at an airport. Not only do you have to put together region-related exhibitions on a very small budget, but you also have to know that if anyone sees them, it’s pretty much an afterthought. So here’s trying to help get the word out!

To start things off, I would like to nominate local crafter UnaOdd’s whisker collection, which made its way through my google reader quite a long time ago but was so neat it just stuck in my brain. It’s every whisker she’s found from every cat she’s had as an adult:

My very favorite airport art, if it can be called as such, is (hopefully still) located at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, which was the closest one to both my undergrad and my extended family. Cleveland Hopkins didn’t have a ton to offer, but it did have an amazing curated collection of the most interesting stuff that had been confiscated from passengers… and it was displayed in cases all along the line to the security check:

Photo by L.A. Frog

I loved it. It seemed like a very good example of art with a purpose: i.e., neat to look at while you’re trapped in sock feet with all your belongings in a plastic tub, but also a reminder to remove the nunchucks from your carry-on before it’s too late, buddy, or it’s they’re going in the permanent collection.