These dog collectibles are hot stuff


By Julia Szabo

Comments(2) As any dog-fancying collectibles hound knows, vintage items that depicts dogs are a must-have. Now, thanks to one antiques hound's dogged persistence, exquisite examples of a dying art form are alive and well - and available to those of us who are fools for vintage dog paraphernalia.  

On her first visit to Kathmandu in Nepal more than 20 years ago, Californian Michelle Page first noticed colorful, one-foot-square metal signboards, hand-painted with images of dogs and the phrase "Beware of Dog." Years later, she noticed the signs started to become an endangered species: they were disappearing in favor of boring, mass-produced plastic signs.

So Page appointed herself the conservator and curator of this folk art form, which she calls "Danger Dogs," scouring shops for fine examples and snapping them up. Today, her business singlehandedly ensures the survival of this art form by commissioning 55 different Nepali artists studios to make the signs, which are then sold at such prestigious places as Los Angeles' Craft and Folk Art Museum shop and the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

"These are original works of art, signed by the artist," says Page, whose slogan is American Dogs, Nepali Jobs. "This really is about the artists."  

One fan of Danger Dogs is John Walsh, Director Emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Museum, who bought six. "Michelle has found a whole subculture of self-taught artists living in dodgy circumstances in Kathmandu and brought their delightful work to the West," Walsh says. "All of the signs have fluent Nepalese warnings and delicious, almost-correct English subtitles. There is a lot of sophistication here."
 
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Comments
I feel I am back in the Holocaust. One of our elected representatives, Mr. Yates, just introduced Bill 568 to have all of Ohio's pit bulls rounded up, taken from their owners, and executed. Mr. Yates introduced this bill during wars, loss of jobs, foreclosures of homes, devastations in all parts of the world, hunger, and distress. I have escaped from a communist country, oppression and injustice of unheard of magnitude, and became an Ohio resident 43 years ago. Even the totalitarian government I escaped from did not resort to cruelties such as those being proposed in Ohio. I would have to be killed before anyone would take my dog. I am in a state of shock. This is a nightmare. I hope and pray that I wake up and that everything is all right. Csilla Korossy
Posted By Csilla
on May 23, 2008
It is unconsionable that a heinous bill such as 568 was introduced. Don’t we have enough killing, violence, wars, natural disasters, hunger, despair in this world? Ohio's image has just been reduced to a state of barbarians. We elect our state officials to represent us and feel content that at least there are those who look after our interests. During wars, loss of jobs, foreclosures of homes, devastations in all parts of the world, hunger, and distress, one of our representatives, whom we elected and whom we support with our tax dollars introduces a bill that makes life even harder for us, aimed at driving us out from our home state, proposing to take and kill our companion animals from us if we choose to stay in Ohio. Please help! I want to wake up from this nightmare! Thank you very much. Happy Memorial Day!
Posted By Csilla
on May 23, 2008
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