Just as children love to make up rules in games of their own devising, so do collectors. It makes it more interesting if you make it more of a challenge. He began collecting figurines later, at 20, when his father brought him a glass hippo from Africa. Monica Abend's collection of novelty glasses also dates to childhood, when her mother started acquiring McDonald's promotional glasses. Her mother gave them to Abend, who has added to the collection.
Some people are just more organized about it.
And, he said, the selecting and ordering that goes into putting together a collection is a creative act. Adrienne Stalek, an artist whose collection of first-aid boxes is at the Art Alliance, said her acquisitions grew directly out of a body of work dealing with women and medical treatment. Photographer Sandy Sorlein, sister of Eric, explains her marble collection, also in the show, as an aesthetic obsession. I just love spherical things. And they have endless variety.