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What do people collect? Pretty much anything.
A Community Collections exhibition opened this month at Gallery 505 in Toledo as a means of connecting people through the interesting things they’ve gathered over the years.
The show gives local folks an opportunity to be part of an art gallery exhibition and is intended to further integrate the arts and community. Collection items will not be for sale, and the items will be integrated with the art that is also on display.
“There’s some interesting pieces coming in,” said Mike Morgan, of Toledo, who with his wife, Di, manages the Gallery 505 co-op, a group of 18 or so area artists. “You never know what your neighbor or friends may collect. When we started putting the word out for this show, the response was really positive.”
The show promises to be diverse. Just over 20 participating collectors range from Olympia to Longview, and places in between, such as Adna and Ryderwood. Some are bringing rather unusual items.
Bill and Pat Caldwell, who owned the former Toledo Pharmacy, have contributed several dozen vintage medicine bottles to be displayed. The pharmaceuticals were inherited when they purchased the pharmacy in 1987, with various bottles having held liniments or potions from over a century ago — many with unusual ingredients such as ox bile, the label of which claims benefits to gut health.
Having begun in 1881, the pharmacy was one of the oldest in the state, continuing operations in downtown Toledo until 2011 when pharmacist Bill Caldwell retired. A small hospital operated on the second floor above the pharmacy.
“A lot of people around here will remember Dick Morman who was the pharmacist before Bill, and before him, the rather colorful Leroy Cox who was the pharmacist through the 1950s and 60s,” Pat Caldwell said. “Leroy enjoyed fishing most days, and it was said when a prescription was needed, one often had to go down to the river to get him.”
Lisa Hull, of Centralia, manager of the Timberland Bank branch in Toledo, will display several pieces of Hull Pottery. Hull said she has more than 100 pieces in her collection and plans to do genealogical research to learn if her husband’s family is connected to the Ohio-based pottery company that thrived from 1905 through the last century.
Mary Garrison, a retired auctioneer from Winlock, is contributing half a dozen “mud men” for the show, which are Chinese clay effigies dating from the 1870s to the 1930s. A form of Chinese folk art, the origin of Chinese Mudmen figurines can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). Mud men have been collected worldwide and at the turn of the last century became a source of tourist income for Chinese rice farmers after their harvest season.
A few dozen Raggedy Ann dolls with a vintage book or two will be on loan from Peggy Ackerman, of Toledo, who said, “I obtained my first Raggedy Ann when I was three or so and loved her so much that I learned to read from the accompanying book.”
She will also contribute pieces to the show from her collection of mid-century Royal Copley ceramic birds
A quilted wall hanging for the show will depict images of several dogs that had been cared for by Kyle and Matt Wheeler, current owners of the Toledo Cheese Depot, from when they formerly operated a dog boarding and day care business near Toledo.
Not just photos of area dogs that were loved and cared for, “the wall hanging is also a collection of memories,” Kyle Wheeler said.
Donald Brenner, former president of the Toledo Historical Society, is showing extensive spoon and thimble collections as remembrance of those treasured by his wife, Elise, who passed away after they had been married for 59 years.
Bobbi and Ken Boone, of Toledo, are contributing several vintage Warner Bros. glasses for the exhibit from their collection which began in the late 1980s.
“Each piece of glassware features a character, reflecting the humor and charm of cartoons,” Bobbi Boone said.
Doulton porcelain pieces from England will be displayed by Kathryn Scott, of Toledo, including “Toby mugs” featuring characters from Charles Dickens novels and porcelain Beatrix Potter figurines representing Peter Rabbit and others from the author’s books.
Other collections show items will include rock slabs, humanoid robots built from Mecha kits, music buttons of Northwest indie pop bands, sewing paraphernalia, crosses, antique baskets, vintage comic books, hand-carved Central American saints, assorted Statues of Liberty, ceramic figurines, miniatures, chalkware roosters and more.
“We’re hoping with the success of this show to be able to do it again,” said Toledo artist Julee Durham, who planned to help hang the show. “It’s a great way to connect the area community to the gallery, and vice versa.”
An opening reception was held on March 4 at Gallery 505, which is located at 102 Kellogg Way and state Route 505. The Community Collections show will run March 4-28 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
Following the show, the items from the former Toledo Pharmacy will be donated to the Toledo Historical Society, which is planning upcoming fundraisers toward eventual development of a permanent museum within the community.
