TOYGANTIC: Raised from the depths. |
In September the Museum of the Modern American Dream, an organization dedicated to commemorating the search for the American Dream by ordinary Americans, opened up an extension here in Portland. We caught up with MoMAD’s interim director, Randall Regier, to discuss the new Pleasant Street Center for the Assessment and Fabrication of Artifacts, its aims, and its current show.
Can you tell me a bit about MOMAD?
Regier: Our mission at MoMAD is to retrieve and distill individual interpretations of the American Dream. Not to revel in the ubiquitous, polished tales of conquest and riches, but rather to salvage the wounded, stillborn dreams of the common person.
At MoMAD we want our efforts and our artifacts to speak for those dreams without voices. Through our new Pleasant Street Center for the Assessment and Fabrication of Artifacts (PSCAFA), we endeavor to illuminate and preserve what we can of the legion of rapidly fading personal narratives of the latter half of 20th century America. In the words of George Kubler, “But the moment just past is extinguished forever, save for the things made during it.”
We have a small exhibition kiosk set up at PSCAFA, just inside the entrance to the Bakery Studios building at 61 Pleasant Street (and down the short hallway to the right). We encourage all who are able to take a few moments and visit this exhibition, “GYPCO John Manshaft: The Good Year.” The kiosk contains artifacts and photographs documenting a partial history of the mid-20th century toy manufacturer, “Gypheto Toy Company,” or GYPCO, as it appears on their products. This exhibit is a rare and poignant glimpse into 1959, into a year in the life of a company that aspired to the success of Mattel and HasBro, though fate and fickle consumer taste conspired against it.
Our future goals are really those that any fledgling institution might have: financial sustainability, viability, and a permanent suitable location. Meanwhile, we will continue to show selected artifacts and exhibits at our PSCAFA kiosk, and at other venues and museums, as opportunities arise. A major part of MoMAD’s semi-permanent collection will be on loan to the Washburn Mulvane Museum of Art in Topeka, Kansas, opening in March 2007.
What are some of the highlights of this collection?
Well, we really have the world’s premier collection of the GYPCO company’s products and historical documentation, as is evidenced in our kiosk. We’re terribly proud of that, but we certainly believe there is more to find, and thus more to know.
We also have a remarkable recent find, “The ToyGantic,” apparently an early 1960s-era relic by a little known manufacturer out of Tampa, Florida, called “Kid King.” This is an eight-foot-long oceanliner toy that we raised from a pond near Rockport, Maine, after receiving a tip that a related small plastic figure was found in the belly of a dead fish in the same pond. We were familiar with this figure from our research, and sure enough, after an extensive search, we actually did find our ToyGantic in about 10 feet of water. It’s the only known example in any collection, to the best of our knowledge. It’s remarkably complete, and undergoing conservation now at the PSCAFA.
