Echoes of the Olmsted Elm Assignment Two

Leisure activities, play, relaxation in public spaces have changed in many ways during the past century. Identify a period of time in America’s past, staring with the 1850s, and create an object that reflects a form of leisure, play, recreation, etc. that would have been popular and recognizable during the selected time period.

Longbow by John Adams

Recreational archery began in England as the upper and middle classes began to develop a reverence for the traditional longbow and its rich Anglo Saxon history. The first American archery association was the United Bowmen of Philadelphia, founded in 1828. In the 1870s many archery clubs sprang up, and in 1879 eight of them formed the National Archery Association of the United States. This association was focused on target based archery. Other hunting and distance based disciplines would develop later as archery rapidly grew in popularity during the 1930s. Although the longbow was commonly used, a new American development was the laminated flatbow. While laminations were used widely in the Middle East and Asia, the flatbow is strictly American, stemming from the English longbow and English attempts to laminate exotic woods from newly claimed colonies, which due to glue technologies was widely unsuccessful in bows outside of the U.S. The flatbow differs from the longbow in that its cross section is rectangular rather than rounded in the belly to form a “D” shape. This example uses three pieces of elm laminated with bow-makers epoxy and then tillered by hand. The tillering process involves stringing the bow, loosely at first, and pulling back the string and visually checking the bed in the limbs. Material is removed from stiff spots until both limbs bend gradually and equally. This process leads to a reliable and smooth drawing bow.

Alpine Skis by Jonah Willcox-Healey

During the early 1920s-30s, skiing began to develop in the United States on a larger scale with the first ski shop in the U.S. opening in Boston in 1926, to the first ski train in the U.S. running between Boston and Warner, New Hampshire in 1929. Skiing had been around for thousands of years dating back to rock drawings in Norway but during this time period it was finally being brought to the public in the United States, especially during the third winter Olympics being held at Lake Placid, New York in 1932.

The Olmsted firm was working around Boston right in the middle of the development of a “new” winter pastime. The Elm in Omsted’s backyard was witness to this entire goings on; its wood is older than the rise of skiing and most likely older than the wood used for skis even at the time. I found this to be an interesting connection for myself since I have grown up learning to ski on the East Coast and now have the opportunity to work with the fallen Olmsted Elm. I chose to make a pair of skis that were inspired by designs by the Nortland Ski Company, which was founded in 1911. I began by hand shaping two long blanks for the skis and the steam bending them into curved forms. Then sections of leather were attached to indicate where one would stand on the ski. If these were to become usable, a toe cleat and heal strap would then be attached to hold the foot.

Toy Boat by Samantha Anderson

Upon being prompted with the words “recreational object” my mind immediately moves to “toy.” The prospect of designing not only for a purpose but for a user is enticing and motivating. Pre-design research gave me an idea of what games and objects children had for play at the turn of the century- the time when Olmsted’s parks were fresh and occupied by a youth rather freely governed by the adult population. The research yielded results that were rather limited, relative to the contemporary catalogues of Toys ‘R Us or F.A.O. Schwartz.

The children of wealthier families in Olmsted’s time might have been gifted a Raggedy-Anne doll, Teddy Bear, or Lincoln Logs. Perhaps a Cup and Ball, Jacob’s Ladder or Stick and Wheel would have been passed down to them by the previous generation. But the kids of the tenements, those who occupied the work houses, factories, orphanages, or streets, were required to invent and build their own toys. Olmsted’s parks offered a space for both kinds of kids, and both kinds of toys. I found the shared preciousness and singularity of both kinds of toys very significant. There were no masses of plastic figures or cheap alternatives to the China Doll. A child’s nursery – if he had one at all – was not a 100 square foot room filled with innumerable objects like these, as in the McMansions that occupy the suburbs today.

The spirit of these toys was in accordance with their time- adventure, invention, building, entertainment, achievement. A story like Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang or Peter Pan illustrates the importance of ships to the dreams of those kids. A toy boat embodies this culture in many ways including symbolism and metaphor. My intention in my method of making was to end with a toy that might have been accessible to kids of a broad range of backgrounds in the 19th Century.

Sandbox Toys by Shao-yi Chiang

In 1886, the establishment of the Boston Sand Garden marked the important keystone for the American Playground Movement. It is the first playground in the country designed specifically for children. However, the movement did not happen in one night. Through advanced development in the understanding of education, leading reformers of the time tried to promote the idea of playing as a way to learn for children.

I want to focus on the vision of these reformers and how they saw the sand garden as a way to save the children from the effects of poverty and homelessness. Dr. Marie Zakrsewska had observed on her trip to Berlin in 1885, both rich and poor children playing in heaps of sand in public parks under the supervision of the police. I envision that the shovel and rake I made will be shared among the poor and rich children playing in the newly built sand garden during the time.

Decanter by Andrea Parikh

The idea of the decanter boils down to ritual and wasting away the afternoon. A decanter, a symbol of leisure, often reflects the style of the person drinking from it; in this instance, someone of the 1920s middle class who valued the popular Art Deco style of lavishness – a break from the austerity and coldness of WWI. Unlike a beer barrel or other vessel, the decanter represents properness and style. The consumption of alcohol was a big question of debate for many Americans during the late 19th century. Movements by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, Industrialists, and American Temperance Society pushed to combat the influence of alcohol on families and workers in the United States, and eventually won. With the end of WWI and all of its restrictions and pressures, men were coming home and it was a time of celebration. The Roaring 20s were in full swing, and many of those who previously had little or no money had more money and more time than they ever had. Now one of the main pastimes and foreign cultural influences had recently been outlawed through the country, though this didn’t stop people from participating in one of the most common activities of leisure.

Juggling Pins by August Lehrecke

In thinking about the opportunity that Olmsted gave people by providing them with a public space to do whatever they chose, I became interested in the two kinds of activities that would take place in parks. I would describe them as leisurely or active, where people would take part in either relaxing or exertive activities. I chose to make juggling pins as my object of recreation, not only because it embodies an exertive type of activity that went on in public spaces but also because of their performance aspect, which had the ability to transform a park into an arena for viewing something. The first of these kinds of public performances came in 1792 with a man named John Bill Ricketts, who performed a one man stunt show, where he would do various tricks on the back of a horse. These kinds of acts were performed in the streets, where everyone could see, in hopes of making money. Around the time that Olmsted was building Central Park these public shows were being organized into the first circuses (1840, Barnum and Bailey circus created), which moved away from the intimacy of a one-man show and more towards a larger venue. This shift directly paralleled the nation’s transformation from a small pastoral society to an urbanized industrial powerhouse, a topic that Olmsted was very much interested in, and which he tried to address in creating his public space. I believe that in creating his parks, Olmsted brought back the intimacy of a performance as well as some of the intimacy of nature, allowing people a space to display themselves freely.

MP3 Radio by Tina Xu

Listening to music can be an intimate and personal experience, but it can also generate community and unite the masses. However, music that does not suit one’s taste just ends up sounding like unwanted noise. The creation of parks created a public, outdoor venue for music to be amplified for all to hear, whether they liked it or not. The portable radio was equally an invention for people to bring their favorite tunes with them on their leisurely picnics, as it was a disturbance to everyone else in the park.

This object draws its form from the portable radios of the 1960’s, but updates the conversation by working as speakers for one’s iPhone. Musical genres and tastes are so much more diverse today that people are hesitant to share their music with the choosy public. Society has shut itself off and plugged into its iPhones and iPods, using headphones as a shield from human interaction. This iPod speaker takes the hostility and hesitation of today and breaks that silence with its vintage, 1960’s form inspired by the jukebox generation.