Pamela Landau Connolly: Wishmaker and The Landau Gallery

Pamela Landau Connolly: Wishmaker and The Landau Gallery by Aline SmithsonFebruary 27, 2024

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Tripod

After 4 years of pandemic considerations, I have noticed a shift in artist’s priorities into a space that is more collaborative and supportive. Many photographers have created collectives, organizations, and even galleries that have provided opportunities for others. Pamela Landau Connolly is one of those artists whose practice now includes not only her terrific work, but a space wholly connected to her subject matter, and is available to others.

Connolly’s long time focus on homescapes have recently centered around truly delightful tableaus of her tin dollhouses from the 1960’s. She has an uncanny ability to transform small scale architecture into new incarnations filled with color, shape, and form. Creating this work has led her to her newest project: Wishmaker. To present the work, her desire was to create a miniature art gallery to showcase scale-sized installations, bringing the concept full circle.

After successfully building her own miniature gallery, she has created the LANDAU GALLERY, to offer other artists the same opportunity. Connolly will mount 4 – 6 small scale exhibitions each year. There is more information on the gallery at the end of this post.

An interview with the artist follows.

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Lawn Chair, Rose Trellis

Wishmaker

I grew up in the 1960s– in a typical suburb in New Jersey. My parents owned a furniture store that was at the center of our family’s universe. I spent endless hours roaming the maze of rooms in this fantasy world, and much of my photographic work is in response to these childhood memories. Like that of so many others, my world become smaller during the Pandemic. As life slowed down and we found ourselves almost entirely inside, I began to collect and photograph tin dollhouses from the 1960s. I found them in a variety of places, both real and online, and continue to collect them.

I photograph tin dollhouses to explore themes of home, childhood, and aging. Over time, this project has unfolded to include shadows on white walls, diptychs of tin houses and suburban landscapes, and still lives with isolated parts of tin and plastic. Most recently, I decided to create a miniature art gallery where I could create a scale-sized installation of ‘Wishmaker,’ bringing the project full-circle, back to its dollhouse-sized beginnings. ‘Wishmaker’ delivers a version of the American Dream, and the domestic roles girls were groomed to fill. I wish to create an Alice in Wonderland, immersive experience for the viewer, blurring the lines between imagination and reality.

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Through the Looking Glass

Pamela Landau Connolly has been photographing the theme of home for more than 30 years. Her tin dollhouses, family portraits, and photographs of domestic spaces look closely at the American dream and the yearning between the imaginary and the real. Connolly’s photographs belong to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and Brown University collections. Her recent artist book, ‘Fly in Amber’ was acquired by the Hirsch Library, Houston, and the University of Michigan’s Art and Design Collection. Her previous book, ‘Cabriole’ belongs to the Beineke Library and the Harvard Museum of Fine Arts. She has exhibited her work nationally at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans, Foley Gallery in NYC, and Candela Gallery in Richmond, VA., and internationally at the National Portrait Gallery in London and Komenick Gallery in Berlin.

Connolly received an MFA in Photography from the Hartford Art School’s International Limited-Residency Program (2014).

Follow Connolly on Instagram: @pamconnollyphoto
Follow the Landau Gallery on Instagram: @landaugallery

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Staircase

Tell us about the landscape of your growing up and what drew you to photography.

I grew up in the 1960’s and 70’s in a typical post-war suburban neighborhood in Teaneck, New Jersey. The block we lived on, Columbus Drive, was built the year I was born, and consisted of white colonial style houses— all the same, one right next to the other. I went to a public school where the art education was abysmal. I was a creative kid with no outlet to express myself. When I was a senior in High School I bought myself a 35mm camera (Canon FTb) with my Bat Mitzvah money and I felt the world open up to me though the lens of the camera. I still do.

©Pamela Landau Connolly, In the Blue

Your new work, Wishmaker, is such a unique approach to revisiting childhood objects. How did it come about?

Growing up, my parents owned an Ethan Allen furniture store— W.L. Landau’s Carriage House. My father was the businessman, and my mother, the decorator-in-chief. The store consisted of 52 individual rooms, each a life-sized diorama, decorated with wallpaper, matching window treatments over faux windows, coordinating shag carpet, and a plethora of knick-knacks. The crazy thing was that even our family home was a replica of this fantasy, a duplicate of “the store.”

As a small child, I spent endless hours roaming the maze of rooms in this fantasia. Looking back, I can now see that the shapes and frenetic patternsof the decorating that surrounded me imprinted in my consciousness.

This project, ‘Wishmaker’ began a few years ago when I came across litho-printed tin dollhouses on Ebay. These brightly colored toys were designed and manufactured for baby-boomer girls, and sold at Woolworth’s for $4.95. The decorating that was stamped on the walls of these playthings looked so much like the rooms in “the store”—it was uncanny. I began collecting and photographing them.

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Looking In, Looking Out

What have you discovered working with space, light, and form?

As a response to growing up in rooms that were covered in busy patterns and curtains that blocked the light, my house and my photography are full of sun, white walls, and open spaces. ‘Wishmaker’ also includes portraits I have made of furniture shapes against a white backdrop, and the shadows they create. I am in love with shadow as form!

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Shadow House II

Your concept of The Landau Gallery is so fabulous…tell us how that came about?

During the Pandemic, many artists were re-imagining their practices—looking for new ways to connect and get their work out into the world. I came across a miniature art gallery online and a spark went off! The miniature realm seemed like the most perfect way to show my tin dollhouse photos. I sent off a proposal, and when I received no response, I thought, “Ok, I’ll make my own gallery.” Another motivation for creating Landau Gallery was the desire to see what a solo exhibition of ‘Wishmaker’ would look like. I have been happy to have one or two photos at a time included in a number of group shows, but I was tired of waiting for my “big break.” It was very empowering to make my own solo show happen.

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Neighbors

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Melted Chair

One aspect that I love is the fun and whimsy of seeing the world in miniature. How have the viewers responded to the project?

The response to Landau Gallery has been so positive and gratifying! There is something magical about the miniature world. The change in scale allows us to see things with fresh eyes and like Alice in Wonderland, to toggle back and forth between big and small, real and imagined worlds.It has been so affirming that others are sharing that experience.

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Dinner for Two

©Pamela Landau Connolly, House Remodeled 1

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Dresser Undone

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Blue Chair

©Pamela Landau Connolly, HouseShadow III

LANDAU GALLERY

Beyond my desire to see my ‘Wishmaker’ project come to life in a beautiful, light-filledspace, I created LANDAU GALLERY, to offer other artists the same opportunity— to envision a one-person exhibition of their work free from ‘real world’ constraints. In imagining my “ideal” gallery; I found inspiration in the 1960s furniture store owned by my parents, and later, a bespoke home-furnishing shop and gallery, where I had a show earlier in my career. Both structures lead with a prominent portico, a shape reminiscent of Early American architecture (think Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello). This triangular shape has lingered in my imagination as far back as I can remember.

I worked with Brooklyn-based architect and professor at Pratt, Gregory Merryweather, who brought my idea of a dollhouse-sized gallery to life. He designed and built the wood and foam-core model, adding details such as a radiator and skylight to further the illusion of reality.

Moving forward, LANDAU GALLERY will showcase 4-6 shows per year. We are interested in mid-career and emerging artist who work within the photographic medium. Opening March 14th, the LANDAU GALLERY will feature the work of Grace Weston.

©Pamela Landau Connolly, Gallery, empty

Can you also describe bringing the gallery to the Soho Photo Gallery? Do you have plans to show it in other galleries?

After I started posting photos of the ‘Wishmaker’ exhibit on Instagram it sparked so much delight and curiosity. People were a bit confused and disoriented— “Wait, what? Is this real? Where can I see this?” I loved this reaction, but also thought it would be cool to give my local NYC community an opportunity to see Landau Gallery, in-person.

I am looking for a gallery or museum space to have an expansive show of Wishmaker, including both large and small components. I envision an immersive, 3-dimensional installation which would include tin houses, life-size photographs on vinyl, photographs on different substrates such as silk banners, canvas, and furniture from the era, and of course Landau Gallery.

Can you tell us about upcoming exhibitions at The Landau Gallery?

Next up in the gallery on March 14th is Grace Weston’s project, ‘The Long Night.’ I met Grace through you Aline, a few years ago. She also works in the miniature realm, and her work is the perfect segue to ‘Wishmaker.’ It has been so wonderful to collaborate with Grace, who lives in Portland, Oregon. We’ve been having a blast playing miniature dollhouse over zoom!

After that, will be Roxanne Lasky, a textile artist who has done a project creating light-sensitive Chromatagrams.

What is inspiring you lately?

I am in love with James Casabere’s photographs of Luis Barragan’s architecture in miniature. After visiting these incredible spaces in Mexico City last year, I came across this project in Wallpaper Magazine.