My Year of Living Cleaner: The Marushka Collection

The name Marushka (with an umlaut u) has always sounded to me a bit pretentious or too European to be the signature on stretched canvas prints from Michigan. I understand Marushka is a Polish form of the name Mary. Spelled with an added "c", it names a beautiful Japanese azalea. For whatever reason, it was chosen by a former art teacher from Grand Haven, Michigan, who quit his job in 1971 to start a silk screen company, with a factory store in Spring Lake and later, in three additional Michigan cities. The Marushkas became very popular as ready to hang, affordable art in the 70's, especially for dorms and condo living. They can still be found at yard sales, resale shops, Ebay and in basements such as my own!

The Marushka founder, Richard L. Sweet, died in 2007 at the age of 68. The last Marushka of the 1.68 million printed was produced in 1981, but the Michigan Rag Company continued to produce a limited number of prints, according to an article from 2007 referencing Sweet's passing.

Lots of images are available with a google search, including an abandoned blog:

www.marushkaprints.blogspot.com.

A good summary of the Marushka style can be found in an Apartment Therapy San Francisco post from 2008:

"The simple, stark and graphic prints depict the landscapes and wildlife that were common sights along the Lake Michigan shoreline, including sea grasses, sailboats and birds."

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Rose's third rule for saving/throwing will necessarily have to be: STOP COLLECTING! It's hard enough to part with an object you've lived with every day for most of your life and has become a constant and friendly companion--but if it's part of a collection...

When I first met my second son-in-law-to-be (the nameless one) he was still in college--bright, opinionated, and at the time--a committed vegan. I wasn't too sure about his politics or religion. But one thing that gave me hope for the potential of a good relationship is when I discovered we both liked Marushkas! What are the chances of that?

Now we both continue to be occasional collectors. If we see a Marushka in good shape and offered for the price of a cup of coffee, we buy. Most of mine are relegated to that cluttered basement world below, but I am not ready to part with more than a couple, at most, this year. That is the danger of collecting.

I also sort of collect t-shirts and sweatshirts and hats, but those are practical--I actually wear them. One collection that I have never yet had a way to display is my coffee mugs from around town and around the world. I am ready to stop collecting coffee mugs--my last one was from the Beijing Olympics--picked out by daughter Rebecca when she traveled there with her father in '08 shortly before the start of the Summer Olympics. But I am not yet ready to part with the mugs. I just might have a shelf someday where they can be displayed and collect dust! I have way too many to merely use for drinking coffee, but they will last me the rest of my life if I do.

Hand Painted Noritake

I have one or two more minor collections that I am somewhat embarrassed to reveal, but none of my collections has any real market worth beyond the resale value of the individual pieces, as far as I know. My 9-place-setting set of Noritake Tulane from 1972 has some value, I'm sure. We all hope for that million dollar attic discovery (I actually have a totally empty attic ever since we blew many yards of insulating material up there) but that ship has sailed and is never coming into my port. The only real antique set that has some unique value is 6 individually hand-painted Noritake tea cups and saucers. My mother picked them out as a wedding gift for a friend in the thirties and the set was routed back to me through my Aunt Nellie. One cup was broken in a professionally-packed box several moves ago. The set is probably the oldest interesting item I own, predating that cake plate I blogged about last year. One silver spoon and a few old photos are the only items I know are from "the Old Country" and date to before 1914. We have a few Bible commentaries from my parents that were published in the late19th century. That's about it. Generally, I don't like really old things. I can usually safely browse the antique shops!

Below is the remainder of Our Marushka Collection. To have and to hold until death do us part? Probably not, but I will keep them as long as we live in this house.

Besides the un-stretched bear--promised to the in-law collector and previously pictured--I have an unstretched duck which I have no particular attachment to: