The Art of Collecting

From toys to paint-by-numbers, vintage radios to pop art prints one button collections to cherished dresses, the Lamont Gallery invites all Exonians to visit its newest exhibit, Open House: A Portrait of Collecting. The new exhibit is centered around collections featuring excerpts of unique collections belonging to Exonians Melissa and Erick Mischke, Jeff Ward, Cary Einhaus, Jim Mills, Ingrid Bryan, John Sideli and Democracy of Sound as well as pieces from the American Independence Museum, the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College and Jeff Phillips’ Lost & Found: The Search for Harry Edna. The exhibit’s first day was this past Monday and will remain open until February 28. The opening reception will be on Friday, January 23 from 5-7 p.m., and all are welcome.

Lauren O’Neal, the director and curator of the Lamont Gallery, explained that her discovery of the Lamont Gallery’s very own collection, which had been hidden away in a back storage room, inspired this exhibit. O’Neal realized that it was clear why certain pieces were conserved by the gallery, but other pieces’ values were not as obvious. This made O’Neal curious about why people have a tendency to collect.

“We save, sort and remember our lives through objects. What types of objects do other people collect? Are people motivated by economic factors, or is it something else that makes us so attached to our first baseball glove, Troll Doll or record? It was this curiosity about collecting more broadly that was the catalyst for the exhibition,” O’Neal said.

The Academy has a lengthy and rich history, owning vast collections such as those in the Academy Library. Many faculty, staff and students are collectors, which inspired O’Neal to pursue this exhibit. O’Neal wanted to find out “what would happen if [they] opened up those collections and shared them as a method of building community and generating dialogue.”

Cary Einhaus, the associate director of college counseling and participant in the exhibit, shared O’Neal’s hopes. “I believe this show can help demonstrate both the range of what individuals find appealing and the idea that all of us can collect what we believe to be useful or beautiful or both,” he said.

Melissa Mischke, dean of students, and her husband, Erick Mischke, have been collecting for over 13 years, all beginning with a single bottle pourer given by Melissa Mischke’s mother to Erick Mischke. After visiting a few antique stores on the way to Maine, the couple found their antiquing trips becoming a weekly tradition and a passion they share together.

On display are excerpts from three of their collections: push puppets, ANRI and antique blue paper, used in the 1800s and 1900s for writing letters and bills.

“One of the most important parts of collecting, to me, is how things feel. I love paper and pen: it’s tactile. Or it’s about looking at something; I have 900 pieces of ANRI, and I look at my display, and I think ‘Oh wow, that’s really beautiful,’” said Melissa Mischke.

The exhibit has already effected and benefited the Exeter community in numerous ways. Students and faculty alike agree that the exhibit provides a privileged view into a part of the collectors’ lives and how multifaceted they really are, thus “popping the Exeter bubble,” said academy piano teacher Jon Sakata who is also participating in the exhibit.

The Lamont Art Gallery is especially excited to feature several interactive pieces created by Sakata and fellow academy piano teacher Jung Mi Lee as well as one by the Democracy of Sound (DoS), a student-run club. Both explore the senses and sounds as types of collections, reminding us that collecting is an oratory, engaged way of making meaning in the world.

In Lee’s and Sakata’s side room, sheets of mylar hang from the ceiling, behind which their special installation on cross-modal sense perception is exhibited.

“We thought it would be interesting to explore the notion of collecting that each of us do through our senses, and this installation is engaging with the 21 senses,” Sakata explained. “In our exhibit, there are all kinds of senses that are being either isolated or entangled as a whole network.”

Lee commented, “It’s not about what, but creating your own ‘whys.’ Why this particular combination of things?”

DoS’s contribution is a disassembled keyboard, strung together again in a unique and artistic way. According to Scott Hermenau, a senior co-head of DoS, the Academy music department was about to throw away a functional keyboard. This sparked an idea for DoS, which resulted in a unique keyboard art piece that remains functional; visitors can play around with the keys and produce a myriad of effects.

“The piece attempts to touch on a lot, and one of its key components is the idea of honesty in identity and skin being dishonest,” Hermenau said. “An electronic keyboard is several PCB’s strung together and then shoved into a plastic casing which is designed to imitate the physicality of what it also attempts to sonically imitate. Exposure is involved.”

The open house also features objects that connect with specific curricular projects. Michael Golay, a history instructor, has planned a symposium on the Great Depression. O’Neal decided to display several vintage radios from the 1930s and 1940s along with iconic photographs of the time by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans.

Unlike most museums in which collections are displayed according to a taxonomic system, the Open House: Portrait of Collecting is organized into groups as well as juxtapositions. According to O’Neal, when seeing related objects, the narrative one constructs about a specific historical time period may take one form the present. But when one combines unlikely or unaffiliated objects—a formal portrait of George Washington with 20th century records by Michael Jackson and James Taylor, for example—one creates the potential for new stories and interpretations. Through this method of arrangement, O’Neal hopes to provide more exposure to the arts for Exonians.

“The arts give us a way to know the world differently, to communicate, to inspire, to soothe and to learn about our past, our present and our future. In the open house, students and other visitors will see that artistry resides in all different types of objects from a traditional painting or sculpture to the design of a dress or a book cover,” O’Neal said.

Intern Claire Jensen reiterated O’Neal’s sentiments and said the open house aims to focus on “the idea that people can find significance in anything.” Jensen said, “Objects have the ability to keep history alive in the present and the value and personal feeling that people put into them, which is what I think drives the exhibit.”

When walking into the gallery, it’s easy to spot the diversity of artifacts and objects. This exhibit is particularly special to the Academy as anyone in the Exeter community is allowed to participate. O’Neal strongly encourages students to submit their collections to the exhibit, “Objects evoke a lot of emotion in us. In the “Significant Objects” portion of the exhibition, we are encouraging PEA community members to bring in singular, meaningful objects along with stories about why they are important.”

For queries on participating in the exhibit, email gallery@exeter.edu for more information.