Marilyn Neuhart 1930 - 2017

As I entered the Girard wing at the Museum of International Folk Art here in Santa Fe, I stopped abruptly and had to catch my breath, stunned at how much it "felt" and resembled the interior of the Neuhart house in Hermosa Beach, CA. It comes of no surprise of course, given that Alexander Girard and Marilyn Neuhart formed a creative partnership in 1961 when she created embroidered dolls for his Textiles & Objects shop in NYC.

Although I had visited the museum and Girard wing in the 80's with Ben, Marilyn's son, the shock of the shared kindred spirit of these two designers was much more palatable, perhaps because of her recent departure from this earthy realm.

Marilyn was born on March 3, 1930, in Long Beach, California. Her birth date 03-30-30 seems extremely auspicious with all those three's and zeros. Three is the number of Venus and the Empress, it is associated with imagination, creativity and the artist.

I always felt Marilyn knew she was an Empress, especially when I remember her sitting at the head of the Thanksgiving table with her feast spread out for everyone to not only savor but also take in the beauty of her orchestration.

She attended Long Beach public schools, Long Beach City College and UCLA. Marilyn began her long career as a freelance designer in the Los Angeles area since her graduation. She taught design, painting and color theory at UCLA, UCLA Extension and at East Los Angeles Junior College.

Marilyn and her husband John Neuhart, worked together professionally since their marriage, and collaborated on numerous design projects, including graphics, films and exhibitions. From 1980 to 1998 they were partners in the design firm Neuhart Donges Neuhart, whose clients included the IBM Corporation, Herman Miller, Inc., The Huntington Library and Art Gallery, the Doheny Library, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Government of Taiwan and local businesses and institutions.

John and Marilyn authored and designed of three books on the history of the Eames Office. The first was Eames Design (1989) followed by Eames House (1994) and the two book set The Story of Eames Furniture, a comprehensive history of furniture development in the Eames Office.

Together John and Marilyn were an inspirational team, working together to create beautiful invites to dinner parties at their home, labels and cards for the holidays or the magnificent doll house that took over six years to create for Eve. Below are a few details of the doll house, including a tiny basket with three of Marilyn's dolls as miniatures. The bright, colorful palette and since of whimsy that was part of their signature weaves throughout every part of their life.

The day Ben and I graduated from Otis College of Art and Design, back in the eighties, Marilyn made us glorious crowns for us to wear that were given to us in a special box made by John. Talk about feeling special! 

There is also a photo of her with Ray Eames and John sitting on the lawn of MacArther Park waiting the graduation ceremony to begin. I believe the photo was taken by her son Andrew Neuhart.

I'd love to share more pictures of their truly wonderful and very authentic style, but the CD's are in a box some where within the scary storage closet here in our temporary rental. I'm not sure if I can readily find it.  I'll take a look in a few weeks when my time should be a but more expansive. What's become quite obvious, as I sift through all the photos of John and Marilyn over the last thirty plus years, is that I'll be sharing more about them and their legacy as designers.

Here's a little quote from Marilyn...

"I started to quilt when I was a small child sitting with my mother and my aunts 

over a quilting frame. I continued to sew, albeit intermittently, as I went through 

high school and college. After I left teaching for a period and with two small children, 

I became a fulltime freelance graphic designer and once again took up my needle in earnest. 

After making small cloth dolls for my children and friends, I made a doll for designer 

Alexander Girard, who asked me to make a large number of them the new Textiles & Objects 

shop he was designing in New York City for the Herman Miller Furniture Company. 

Over the next few years  (in the early 1960's), I made nearly 2,000 dolls 

for the shop and for  Girard's exhibition projects." 

Read more about Marilyn by jumping to this little blog I created for her back in 2007 as Christmas gift, naively thinking she might want to contribute to it by sharing her wit, sense of design, inspiration, recipes and abundant stories. In hind site, it was most likely a projection on my part, I was so inspired, in awe actually, by her sense of style and her very Aires take charge and get things done attitude.

Once I asked her how she had managed to do so much as a mother of two children, wife, designer, cook and creator extraordinaire, etc., her response was..."Just keep going, without thinking about it." Hence her chosen name for the blog "Don't Be A Bump on a Blog." She had absolutely no patience for laziness. As I edit this post, adding more memories and photos, it occurs to me that perhaps I will add more on her blog, building it as a resource for those of you her are inspired by her as well as John.

Besides having a great sense of color, pattern, texture, design and flavor, she was also a bit of a sensualist. Marilyn liked to take baths and enjoyed beautiful scents. Her favorite fragrances were 4711 and roses, the photo below is a vintage bottle of the illustrious perfume that she had in the guest bathroom. I would gift her bottles of my Blossom cologne and bath salts for the holidays and her birthday.

Lucky for us, House Industries worked with Marilyn and John to recreate some of their wonderful designs such as a poster of the hand print, which I've always been a huge fan of.

Marilyn passed on September 1st, 2017 just as Greg and I were driving through the desert on our way to Santa Fe. In a way, one of the many reasons I am living in Santa Fe today is because of Marilyn. She and her fabulous style which will live on for years to come, especially if books about her creative life and dolls are published. Marilyn was an integral thread in the Mid Century modern design revolution whose craft-womanship is an inspiration, particularly to all the makers who are part of the current DIY culture.

See more of the Neuhart house and Marilyn's fantastic style in a few of these posts here at the journal.

Photos: Museum of International Folk Art,  John and Marilyn's home in Hermosa Beach, a variety of shots at the Neuhart house of Marilyn's embroidery, quilt, handprint, 4711 perfume bottle and Mexican statues display.

Edited April 13, 2018

California Christmas

Here we are, another year, another Christmas and thus another chapter to share in this ongoing story of a girl named Roxana and her meandering, fragrant path. If you prefer to skip this intro, which includes some ranting about corporate control, then proceed to the picture of the wreath and begin reading from that point forward.

I was feeling more distraught than usual by the control the corporations have over individuals this year. This icky feeling is shared by many, more so than ever and  attempting to cut those strings as much as possible is something so many are working on. It was back in 2010 when I wrote a post here with a list of corporations we should be attempting to avoid. Regrettably some of those corporations have become even bigger, like enormous, creepy monsters with many tentacles. I've chosen to avoid that company as much as possible, even though it is beloved by most because of such great deals. Well, those great deals are costing us and if we are going to free ourselves from the grip of greedy, despicable conglomerates then we need to stop supporting them, NOW!

This year we decided to go with simplicity. We made gifts, purchased local, supported makers and decorated with eucalyptus leaves from our front yard. I brought the cypress tree that was purchased a few years back in to be our iconic tree for the season and used simple red ribbon, twine and plant matter on the packages. Simplicity felt right and also looked beautifully fresh.

Meanwhile at Marilyn's home in Hermosa Beach, decked with the her yearly cheerful festive decor. Lots of color and whimsy, especially when compared to our simplicity and subdued, earth toned palette from our nest in the woods.

The set up and our ritual was just like other years. Our backdrop: golden birds, poinsettias, candy canes, vintage santas and colorful packages with a backdrop of folk art...mid-century modern heaven.

After the mysterious group photo that we never see, the gift exchange with an interesting story about a hotel with rooms that cost $17,000 per night. We each speculated what one might get when spending $17,000 on a hotel room!

As usual, the most popular gifts were books and camera related items. I received a little tripod for my phone which will come in handy for those instagram videos shot at the perfumery.

After the presents it was time to prepare for the mid day feast!

Fruit salad prepared by Eve and the yearly ritual of sliced oranges at the end of the meal.

And of course, the California Christmas yearly tale would be incomplete without a photo of the cat with multiple names Roberto/Bob/Bobo, this year with is favorite catnip mouse toy.

Afterward the festivities Eve and I headed over to Santa Monica to see the film Jackie, a fascinating peek into the emotional life of Jacqueline Kennedy after the assassination of her husband President John F. Kennedy.

California Christmas posts:

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

California Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas from Southern California, where the day was cool with brilliant sunshine. Here's a pictorial display of our day down in Hermosa with the Neuhart clan.

The morning usually starts off with hugs, kisses, a drink (tea in our case), the traditional family photo and opening of gifts. Santa is very abundant at the Neuhart house, he must like the beach.

Books is generally the most often given and received gift along with food. Eve and I found this beautiful rainbow pasta from Italy at Blue Table in Calabasas.

After the gift exchange we moved into the kitchen and family room to get ready for brunch. We bought some beautiful orange tulips on our way over that were the perfect accessory for the table. As you can see from the photos, the Neuhart house is big on really bright, bold color...especially orange. 

Although normally we are told to just bring ourselves, this year we contributed olive bread and homemade lemon poppyseed.

The "big gift" for Eve this year was a twin lens reflex Mamiya camera from 1970, which auspiciously is the same era of the bright green vintage dress she wore that day.

Photos: Roxana Villa / Home: Marilyn Neuhart