Willard Suitcases / John R (again) / Quote
I have learned so much from people who stumble across the project and take the time to comment. Simon wrote in to say this about the photographs. “The psychology of keeping belongings is as complicated and as deep as the human spirit itself, the depth of which we will never see. Lets hope recording this project takes us closer.”
Thanks, Simon. Such a perceptive look at my work with the collection, and I really appreciate your insight.
I had photographed John R’s case over two different days, and yesterday when I edited and uploaded the photographs from the second shoot I was reminded how much fun it was to see what he brought with him to Willard.
He clearly had a thing for the Lone Ranger and Tonto, as well as for these discreetly covered women.
John was clearly learning to speak English, as there were lots of worksheets where he was practicing his vocabulary.
It is possible that John worked for a time at GE as he had these brochures about insurance and a pension plan.
The Mickey Rooney photo is pretty nice.
This is a good time to remind you all about the comments on this site. It is not obvious where to click to see them, but it usually worth the effort. At the very bottom of the post is a small “comments” button. Click it to see what folks are saying. The dress that I posted last week has been getting quite a few interesting responses, including an amazing one that just came in from my pal Dhyan. Check it out.
2017 Smith College Bulb Show
Cristine and I always look forward to the Smith College Bulb Show. Always in mid March, it is a lovely reminder that Spring is not far off.
There are always a ton of very exotic tulips.
It ends tomorrow, so if you live in the Valley and want to see it, get moving!
Willard Suitcases / John R / Talks
When I talk about the project I am often asked if I have a favorite suitcase. My answer is always the same; from the start, I have seen the collection as a whole and no case stands out to me. But I do have some favorite photographs from the project, and this is one of them.
The dark glasses are pretty cool.
This was the first time I had ever seen an actual Shinola tin.
We saw several of these Yardley Talc containers.
I have uploaded the rest of the photos from John’s case at the suitcases site. Check it out!
There are two upcoming events near to me where I will be talking about the suitcases. I’ll have copies of the second Kickstarter reward book for sale at the Hadley, MA Barnes & Noble this Saturday the 18th. I’ll be there from 2.00 – 5.00 PM. Come by and say hi. And on Monday I will be giving a talk at the Amherst Woman’s Club. I expect to start at 1.00 PM.
Thanks for following!
Willard Patient Dress / Part 2
This is the back of the dress that I posted the other day.
There is more of the beautiful orange thread on this side, as well as some very fanciful figures.
In the image below, I love how the two horizontal lines at the bottom of the dress seem to me to indicate water. And is that a spigot just above the lines?
Here is the reverse side of the above figure. I was thinking at the time we were shooting that people who do embroidery might like to see this view.
This figure is similar to one on the front of the dress.
The faces she does are so expressive.
Here is another detail of a hand, and I am not sure what is represented coming out of what appears to be a pocket.
The figure below in the box looks like either a kind of face or something from the depths of the ocean.
Is this another face?
Her use of lines is very cool.
I have been trying to figure out how the grid below fits in to the overall design. At first I thought it represented a building, but I am not so sure.
And here are just a few more shots of the reverse side of the dress.
Thanks for checking this out. I will continue my efforts to find the name of the Willard patient who created this. In the meantime you can continue to see the latest uploads of the cases at the Willard Suitcases site.
Willard Patient Dress / Part 1
There are quite a few items in the Willard collection at the New York State Museum that are not part of my suitcases documentation. These “institutional” pieces were too numerous to photograph, but this embroidered dress just had to be documented. The work was done by a patient who is not identified, but I am in touch with some folks who worked at Willard who might know who created this.
This will be a photo heavy post with less text than in my usual posts, but the details in the dress are amazing and I wanted to share as many as I could.
It wasn’t just the amazing designs; the precision of the embroidery knocked us out.
There were a good number of cats on the dress.
This one seems to be hovering over a plant.
Not sure what is going oh above, but the orange is such a beautiful color.
This looks to me like a cat but what is it doing? Any thoughts?
I love how this person’s hair is rendered.
The orange flower in her hair is lovely.
These little flowers are so delicate.
The watch and ring on this figure are such a nice touch.
Thanks so much to Peg Ross for helping me set the dress up in order to photograph it. I am terrible at stuff like this, and as usual, she really made it happen. And if I remember correctly, Connie Houde from the museum was also there to assist.
I hope to post the back of the dress (I want to keep calling it a shift; is that correct?) sometime soon. I leave Atlanta later today but will head out to the Botanical Garden before my flight. Thanks for following.
Atlanta
I’m in Atlanta for a few days.
Cristine is at the annual CIES conference and I am editing photos in the morning and exploring in the afternoons.
This was the entrance to a parking garage in Buckhead. I think it was connected to an AMC movie theatre complex that advertised that you could eat a meal and watch a movie at the same time. What is this world coming to? (I just checked and here’s a link.)
This is the Peachtree Center MARTA stop. I love that the walls are left to show the exposed bedrock.
For those of you who might be interested, I post mostly goofy stuff on instagram. Just go to the top of this page, and under the sites links on the top right, hit the “Jon’s Instagram” link.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
1 comment