The collector: Professor Jack Cunningham, Head of the School of Jewellery, Birmingham Institute of Art & Design.

The collection:  I collect many things, but this particular collection is based on plastic and lead geese and chickens, which were manufactured by a Company called Britains.

The story behind the collection...

I am a contemporary narrative jeweller (in addition to being a full time Academic), and therefore collect small items which may in some way, convey a message, tell a story or trigger a memory.

I have produced a small series of brooches called Dear Green Place, which is the Glaswegian term of endearment for that city, Glasgow. The City’s Coat of Arms depicts a bird, tree, bell and fish and a rhyme, attributed to the writer Daniel Defoe following a visit to the city in the early 18^th century, reads;

Here’s the bird that never flew,

Here’s the tree that never grew,

Here’s the bell that never rang,

Here’s the fish that never swam.

The plastic chickens were the perfect vehicle for depicting the ‘bird that never flew’!

I believe Britains produced these chickens during the 1950’s and 60’s. Apart from their associations with Glasgow, the place of my own birth, they remind me of childhood. I also like chickens, they’re pretty funny to watch.

I have been acquiring and collecting various things most of my life. I don’t necessarily regard them as collections, but meaningful and significant objects that will have some future use or place in my narrative jewellery.

 I have in the region of 55 chickens.  They are kept in a series of drawers in the small filing cabinets in my studio. Alongside the collections of French rulers, plastic aquarium ‘grass’, gem stones, shells, found objects, crockery shards, twigs, etc, etc…

I am definitely an obsessive, but am now of an age whereby my own behaviour doesn’t worry me!

You can find out more about Jack's use of these objects at: www.jackcunningham.co.uk (PhD: Chapter 4).

Image credits: Portrait of Professor Jack Cunningham by Joe Aylin.  Brooches courtesy of Jack Cunningham.  All other images by Obsessionistas.