tiny tiki hut
fairies sing whirl dance all night
gone by morning’s rise
—
“you wait here, I’m going to the tiki hut.”
– Special FBI Agent Seeley Booth, Bones
yes it was yesterday, i think they may have over-celebrated and lost count.
the fairy dance
the soft stars are shining,
the moon is alight;
the folk of the forest
are dancing tonight:
o swift and gay
is the song that they sing:
they float and sway
as they dance in a ring.
o seek not to find them,
the wee folk so fair;
they’re shy as the swallow
and swift as the air:
if you come, they are gone
like a snowflake in may:
like a breath, like a sigh,
they vanish away.
-katherine davis (1892-1980)
—
image source: peter gray’s vintage art and postcards
now is this isn’t a sure sign of spring, i don’t know what is…
—
“spring makes its own statement,
so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of his instruments,
not the composer.”
-geoffrey charlesworth
—
Art credit: Margaret Tarrant – The Fairy Troupe / Spring’s Flowery Cloak. Circa 1920s painting. A female sprite with a blue cloak shepherds tiny fairies and elves, each carrying a spring flower, through the undergrowth. Published by the Medici Society.
the holy grail for me, as a great admirer of fairy houses, i finally had the chance to see
colleen moore’s dream come true and breathtaking fairy castle
at the museum of science and industry in chicago
—
Silent film star Colleen Moore was always fascinated by dolls and doll houses. She owned several elaborate doll houses as a child, but later in life her father, Charles Morrison, suggested that she should pursue her passion for miniatures and doll houses by creating the “doll house” of her dreams. Her position as a popular actress in Hollywood gave her the resources to produce a miniature home of fantastic proportions. Beginning in 1928, Moore enlisted the help of many talented professionals to help her realize her vision.
Creating the Fairy Castle
Horace Jackson, an architect and set designer who worked for First National Studios, created the floor plan and layout of the castle with the basic idea that “the architecture must have no sense of reality. We must invent a structure that is everybody’s conception of an enchanted castle.
Moore also enlisted the help of art director and interior designer Harold Grieve. Grieve had designed the interiors for Moore’s actual mansion, so he was a natural to create the interiors of her fantasy castle.
By 1935, approximately 100 people worked on the Fairy Castle. The price tag for this 8’7″ x 8’2″ x 7’7″ foot palace, containing more than 1,500 miniatures, was nearly $500,000.
On Tour
In 1935 Colleen Moore’s child-like fascination with her Fairy Castle was transformed by the Great Depression into a passion for helping children. She organized a national tour of the Fairy Castle to raise money for children’s charities. The tour stopped in most major cities of the United States and was often exhibited in the toy departments of prominent department stores. A brochure from The Fair in Chicago promotes it: “A museum in itself—it awaits you—starting November 15th in our Eighth Floor Toyland. You will want to see it again and again.” The tour was a huge success and raised more than $650,000 between 1935 and 1939.
Coming “Home” to the Museum
In 1949 Major Lenox Lohr, director of the Museum of Science and Industry, convinced Colleen Moore to have the Fairy Castle make one final journey. She described their encounter as follows: “When I was seated next to Major Lohr at a dinner recently in the directors’ coach at the Chicago Railroad fair, he mentioned the doll house while we were having soup, and by the time dessert was served, he had the doll house!”
Millions of guests have enjoyed their visit to the castle since it first arrived at the Museum, and it remains a timeless reminder of the imagination, ingenuity and craftsmanship of cultures and artisans all over the world.
—
“a dream Is a wish your heart makes”
– song written and composed by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston
for the Walt Disney film Cinderella (1950).
the kinder created a new house for the fairies
after their old house broke apart
and they had nowhere to live.
after learning about detroit artist, tyree guyton,
they created the house in his artistic style
and placed it in the garden
where beautiful flowers were just beginning to bloom.
“life itself is an art form”
-tyree guyton (creator of the heidelberg project)
a new garden begins
in the first spring
spent at my home
first things first
a door is decorated
tiny flowers are planted
shells and stones and treasures and glittery things
are scattered
leaving room for more to come
the fairies are welcome
to visit and stay at their leisure
i’ll listen very quietly.
-minnie aumonier
I spent some time this morning
creating the beginnings of a fairy village
in the front garden
of a friend’s little girl
who liked to come and visit my garden
when she got home
she discovered the surprise
saw the fairies had moved in
right in her very own front yard
and gave it her full endorsement
—
“the whole point of life was you couldn’t ever be sure what would happen next.
sometimes what happened was good, sometimes not,
but there were always surprises.”
― veronica henry, author