SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Hearst Art Gallery at Saint Mary´s College of California opened the exhibit Playing Around: Toys Designed by Artists. The wildly inventive toys on display in "Playing Around: Toys Designed by Artists," hearken back to the days before plastic and mass production, when all toys were handmade and, whether simple or elaborate, engaged the imagination of both maker and user. Toys date back thousands of years and allow us to reflect on societal values through the lives and play activities of children.

In the early 1970s, the Arkansas Arts Center Museum initiated an annual exhibition of toys designed by artists. Inspired by Alexander Calder’s circus figures of the late 1920s and early 1930s, this annual exhibition was launched to stimulate the imagination of both children and adults and to engage them with toys of whimsy, delight, and good craftsmanship. Over the past 30 years, the museum has acquired works from the exhibition.

"Playing Around" features 50 of the best and most interesting pieces from the collection. The toys vary in theme, materials, and utility, and many are functional. Some wind up, while others work like the automatons popular in the first half of the 20th century. Some toys are made from found objects; others are meticulously crafted from clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood.