new accession

Last month I documented the wondrous collection created by my father and bestowed on me for my birthday. I've officially named it The Arnold Collection of Rarities and Curiosities: A Traveling and Dynamic Assemblage.

I'm pleased to announce that I've just accessioned a new object:

SACRED PENGUIN TOTEM





The label reads:

Throughout human history there have been individuals who have strongly identified with or have revered certain animal imagery. Whether for personal, cultural, religious or other reasons, the human-animal connection has been expressed in visual form through a vast array of means. This fiber art Angel-Penguin figure points to the divine characteristics a certain North American sub-culture of penguin worshippers have ascribed to the bird in recent decades. Able to withstand the greatest adversities, penguins are associated with resilience, fortitude, and tenacity by their admirers. The golden angel wings applied to the penguin, a bird that cannot fly, symbolizes the deeply sacred, even transcendental, power held by the penguin image. This piece is a rare and valuable example of the penguin as a devotional figure in the modern era.

This mini museum on wheels, as it were, will be traveling soon to its new temporary curator who will be invited to expand the collection with a new rarity, curiosity, or oddity. I am terribly curious to see what new objects are added to this evolving assemblage.