Soothing the Savvy Beast : Gallery Offers Pricey ‘Playful Art’ for the Child Who Has Everything

You say the days are dwindling down to a precious few and you still haven’t found the right Christmas gift for your culture-wise kid?

Don’t panic--the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art may be able to soothe your savvy beast with “Artist-Made Toys,” a small but eclectic collection of “playful art” for kids young and old, created by center members and guest artists. The show, featuring eight pieces priced from $200 to $1,500, runs through Dec. 30 at the tiny artist-run gallery in Santa Ana.

The exhibit is the inspiration of Lee Willmore, guest curator and member of the art gallery’s board, who said he suggested the theme after watching his 5-year-old daughter, Kate, at play.

“It’s always been interesting to me to see what kind of things are available to her as toys,” Willmore said, “and since artists are generally kids at heart, I wanted to see what they could do with the idea.”

From a field of local craftsmen, Willmore selected eight works by guest artists Pattie Porter-Firestone of Venice and Susan Ryan of Long Beach, and OCCCA members Eric Strauss, Steve Osborne and Ray Jacobs. It’s an eclectic mix, part whimsical, part churlish--ranging from Ryan’s grinning “Rocking Crocodile” to Strauss’ forbidding “Doomsday Lamp.”

Only three items--Porter-Firestone’s elegant “Unicorn” and mischievous “Tyrannosaurus” rocking toys and Ryan’s “Rocking Crocodile”--could be classified as somewhat traditional playthings. The rest, Willmore said, focus “more on an adult conception of toys.”

“Many of the pieces activate more adult feelings than children’s feelings,” he said. “They’re very desirable, imaginative things that an adult would want to own . . . more along the lines of playful art.”

Ryan, an illustrator and painter whose children’s drawings have been featured in McDonald’s ads, said she began crafting her vivid papier-mache toys as a sort of creative respite from commercial work. Only one of the three shown at the art gallery--her grinning chartreuse crocodile--is functional. The others, she said, are “geared toward grown-up kids.” They are “Mr. Bear,” a congenial, nearly life-size fellow that stands at the entrance to the show, and “Pet(roglyphic) Rock,” a punny, faux boulder covered with petroglyphs and riding on a brilliant teal-and-orange wagon. The pieces are $600 each.

Porter-Firestone’s “Unicorn” is a graceful hand-carved, white-washed rocker with a flowing mane and tail. “Tyrannosaurus” is a pint-size wooden rocker with sea-foam green scales and a hidden compartment for dinosaur treats. (The pieces sold for about $1,500 each, but similar ones can be commissioned.)

Not quite so endearing is Strauss’ “Doomsday Lamp,” an ominous conglomeration of flashing red lights, spectral images and jarring sounds. “Everybody thinks of toys in different ways,” Strauss said. “For kids, it’s a fantasy world, but when you get to be an adult, toys take on a whole different tack. Often what we see as toys are actually quite dangerous.”

“The lamp is definitely an adult toy,” said Strauss, a graduate student in fine arts at Cal State Long Beach. “It’s fun to watch, but it has an insidious element of danger to it. It could be anything . . . maybe even a bomb.”

(A word of warning. Strauss added a surprise factor by wiring the piece to the art gallery’s restroom light switch. When unsuspecting patrons flip the switch, “Doomsday Lamp” swings into blaring, glaring action, because, as Strauss put it, “the end of the world always seems to come when you’re on the john.”)

The lamp costs $475.

Finishing out the show are Jacobs’ “Mr. Top Hat,” a faceless, black wooden doll festooned with purple ribbons and trim, and Osborne’s “Uncertainty Box,” a small shadowbox of wood and corrugated plastic with moving metal pieces inside that change position--and hence the look of the box--when shifted. Both works are priced at about $200.

Running concurrently with “Artist-Made Toys” is “Present Considerations,” a collection of multimedia works by 29 past and present members of the art gallery. All pieces are priced at less than $300. Also curated by Willmore, the show was organized to help generate money for the 8-year-old nonprofit group, which is seeking new (and preferably donated) gallery space.

“Artist-Made Toys” runs through Dec. 30 at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, 3621 W. MacArthur Blvd., Space 111, Santa Ana. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is by donation. Information: (714) 549-4989.