Toy Stories

“Toy Stories” – Paulina Bronislava Giedraitytė’s  MA thesis exhibition (Vilnius Academy of Arts Ceramics Department. ) at the open glass gallery “VDA Lauko ekspo”. A collection of ceramic toys decorated with colour, photographs, texts and other toy illustrations (supervised by Assoc. Prof. Rasa Justaitė-Gecevičienė).

“Children don’t have any prejudices. They look at life with open – surprised eyes. Children accept life as a gift and the memory of the relationship with the world strengthens it, comforts and makes the person human. Thinking about childhood makes one a real person.” These were the words of Vanda Juknaitė at the LRT Klasika programme “Time for Culture”. These words of the educator and writer became the basis for me to create “Toy Stories”. I remembered my own childhood, the toys and games I used to play with my parents, sisters, brother and backyard friends. That’s how I came up with the idea that a toy is probably immediately associated with childhood for most people, because a toy is a symbol of childhood. I created my ceramic toys based on interviews I took from people I knew – I asked them what games and toys they remembered having, what toys they dreamed of, and what were their favourites? From the toys listed in the interviews, I picked one toy that was important to each person. Afterwards I interpreted them in clay by decorating them with photographs shared with me by the storytellers, their thoughts and illustrations of other toys.