Collection Pix

Nativities

Collection Pix

Tiny Trinket Boxes

Collection Pix

These are miniature models of art pieces by Jan Yourist and Jake Bloom.

Elaine Collects Tops

... among other things. Michael's friend Elaine, who works at Chicago Children's Museum, shared this photograph of a new  part of her collection of Tops.

Collection Pix

Michael performed as a Mime Clown on the streets of Chicago having received a grant from the Chicago Council on Fine arts. He also was featured three times on the BOZO Circus show discussing "Collecting for Kids."

Collection Pix

The Brown Shelf

Collection Pix

Vintage Toys & Small Books

Collection Pix

Coffee Table Treasure Hunt

Collection Pix

Collection Pix

Empty Visitor Display Area: Visitors are invited to "curate" their own collection with items on loan to use while in Michael's Museum including: colored puff balls, colored spools, wooden animals, colored buttons, and more.

Collection Pix

Bowling Pin Collection

Collection Pix

DAY OF THE DEAD / DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS

By Michael Horvich

Day of the Dead in Mexico represents a mixture of Christian devotion and Pre-Hispanic traditions and beliefs. During the pre-Hispanic era, death did not exist. Death was seen, instead, as simply a transition, a voyage through time and space towards true life.

The celebrations take place on two days. The souls of the dead children arrive on October 31st. As they depart on November 1st, their place is taken by the souls of the adults.

On these days, the deceased are believed to receive divine permission to visit friends and relatives on earth and to share the pleasure of living once again.

While the deceased are represented in skeletal form, the celebrations are not macabre, but rather portrayed with love, humor, and affections by both artists and participants.

On both days, the living and the dead are reunited at grave sites and home alters that are adorned with flowers, candles, sugar skulls (Calaveras,) skeleton figures, and the favorite food and drink of the departed.

The altar includes four main elements of nature: 1) Earth is represented by food and it is believed that the souls are fed by the aroma of food. 2) Wind is represented by a moving object, usually tissue paper flags (Papel Picado.) 3) Water is represented by a glass of water for the souls to quench their thirst after the long journey to the alter. 4) Finally, fire is represented by wax candles, one for each soul remembered and an extra one for the forgotten soul.

The dead are never forgotten because once a year they take their places beside the living to enjoy their love and the fruits and flowers of the earth.

Edited from:

-Mary J. Andrade

-Jeffry Weiss, Arte Popular Miniaturas, Puerto Villarta, Mexico

Día de los Muertos - Day of the Dead

I will never stop collecting! These are some of the Day of the Dead - Dïa de los Muertos items I have at home. Tomorrow I will post some of the Day of the Dead collections at Michael's Museum.

Collection Pix

Larger People Collection

Collection Pix

Collection Pix

Marla's Monkey Cabinet

Collections Pix

Flags of the United States

Michael's Museum has recently put me in touch with students and fellow teachers from my past. Here, in part, is a note from a student who was in the Gifted Education Program I administrated and taught some thirty years ago.

Mr. Horvich,

My wife took my children to the Chicago Children’s Museum this week, and mentioned to me that there was an exhibit donated by you, and thought the name of Michael Horvich might be familiar to me.  

It certainly is, because I was a participant in the T*A*G program at Hoffman School (District 34) and took several classes with you in 1981-1984 (my 4^th through 6^th grade years).  I remember various projects, including writing and hand-making a children’s book (which I still have, and have read to my son), designing a marketing campaign for an everyday object (I chose a die), playing with Mobius strips, and reading books from the Narnia chronicles and drawing illustrations of Turkish Delight. 

You melded learning, creativity, fun, and personal challenge into a package that I not only cherish, but have measured all learning experience throughout my academic and professional careers to those standards.  I also gained a combination of self-esteem, and a respect for the intelligence and creativity of others, that has become a core part of who I am today.  

So as I write this I hope you get a sense that in the series of dominoes that are life’s events, you were instrumental in pushing the right ones forward.  I am fortunate enough to say you were not the only force in this direction, but you were an important and influential one, and I very much thank you for being in my life at the right time and being a key guidepost on my path to knowledge and fulfillment.

I am delighted to see how you have extended your career and have taken an interest in your blog.  I wish you happiness and success in your various endeavors.

(And I can’t believe it’s been 30-or-so years!)

Feel free to correspond if you would like to share or want to know more.

Sincerely,

NB

Collection Pix

Teddy Bears

High Rise Doll House