ARTbeat

“When I discovered nuts—that is artistically, of course, for long were they edible delights—both enchantment and professional obligation possessed me.” And, so, Elizabeth Tashjian, founder of “the Nut Museum,” in Old Lyme, Conn., discovered her calling. On view at the Lyman Allyn Museum is the respectful preservation of a unique life and an unusual vision.

The artwork and collections of this miraculous woman now belong to Connecticut College’s immaculate museum. Thus, it is an exhibit about a museum. The show focuses not only on her artwork and collections but also on her philosophy and celebrity. Although somewhat bizarre, the show presents a preservation of a cultural and sociological moment.

Some would call this small Armenian woman ‘kooky,’ but with nuts as her muse, Tashjian was inspired to paint, sculpt and sing. Her life revolved around her work, and her focus became the promotion of nuts.

As her interests in the subject matter increased, so did her drive to share the value of nuts with others. On April 22, 1972, she opened the ground floor of her Victorian mansion to visitors, naming it “The Nut Museum.”

“As creator and curator of the Nut Museum, I became aware that some people have a load considering themselves to be a nut,” she said. “So, my motives changed. I set out to remove the demerit marks from the word ‘nut.’ My painting then used the power of art to make a social commentary.”

The Museum introduces its visitors to Tashijan in a gallery full of her press appearances: enlargements of newspaper articles, New Yorker cartoons and a video of her interviews on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. This insight into her celebrity served as a grounding point and, although quite funny, allowed me to take the woman somewhat seriously. It shows that her cause—whether fully believed—was acknowledged outside of Old Lyme, Conn. Charismatic and hysterical, she said things such as, “I’m challenging Darwin’s theory of evolution. I’m saying ‘out with apes, in with nuts.’”

After meeting the tiny, grey-haired woman, she is found standing in her habitat. A mannequin of Tashjian surrounded by her collections—almost like an elk in the Museum of Natural History—stands at a table in the next room. This view of her own Museum serves to replicate the experience of a visitor to this woman’s house. You can point out her large Coco-de-Mer nut or her mini-statues of acorns and walnuts—it’s all there, just as she left it.

The main gallery holds her artwork accompanied by her nut-ty theories. The first wall is a glorious homage. An enormous, fantastic photograph of Tashijan clad in orange and embracing a colossal Coco-de-Mer (one of her favorite nuts). She sits in front of a glowing organ, to her left is a life-size self portrait, and to her right is a black and white T.V. with a picture of her, Johnny Carson, and the Coco-de-Mer. Six nutcrackers at different heights accompany the photograph.

It is important to view her surrounded by nutcrackers, pecans, walnuts, for she viewed herself within the context of nuts.

“In these years I have responded to many titles: Nut Lady, Nut Visionary, Nut Evangelist, Nut Missionary. But my preferred and self-proclaimed name is Nut Culturist.”

Regardless of what you call her make sure it includes Nut.

Tashjian’s art has a childlike quality and, without her persona and charisma, would probably not have been considered as a brillant artist Her works range from simple still-lives containing—you guessed it—various types of nuts, people made out of nuts, nut-masks, aluminum and nut sculptures, and so on.

She painted her vinyl window shades with recipes for baked walnuts. She created humans out of aluminum and added chestnuts as testicles and coconuts as breasts. She even wrote and sang a song about her love of nuts.

If Tashjian’s cause has moved you, you might be interested in singing the NUTional anthem yourself: “oh nobody ever thinks about buts, nuts can be so beautiful if looked a-right, take some home and handle them properly, Artistically, and feel a new taste beginning.”

Believe it or not, she sang this song on Johnny Carson a capella and in a vibrato!

The Nut Museum closed in 2002, Tashjian currently lives in a retirement home in Connecticut. She asks visitors to the Lyman Allyn Museum to “crack smiles.”

Completely strange and lighthearted, the exhibit is about the full package. It has turned an artist into an artifact or artwork. I know what you are probably thinking (its unavoidable to use the pun)—was she nuts? I don’t think it matters; I think she was quite brilliant.