-Snow Crest- still bank c. 20th century

Curator: I find this piece particularly captivating; it's called "Snow Crest - still bank," dating from around the 20th century. It’s currently housed here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a whimsical creation by Snow Crest Beverages, Inc. of Salem, Massachusetts. It's mainly photography focusing on a glass container, quite enchanting in its simplicity. What are your immediate impressions? Editor: Utilitarian object elevated! It makes me think about accessibility to objects of beauty. Also the production – that molded glass form, and that tin litho lid. Seems so charmingly humble, almost nostalgic. Curator: It does have a unique charm. Considering the brand's attempt to link it back to itself for advertising purposes and, beyond that, the object itself—it does inspire reflection on mass-produced beauty, I would say, in a way that also speaks to memory and marketing tactics of times past, maybe? Editor: Exactly! The point-of-purchase display morphing into an item of lasting value, if only sentimental! It cleverly collapses commodity fetishism. It uses an ordinary product, recasts the empty container as the precious item. I bet that thing really sold some syrup! Curator: It's ingenious! The polar bear shape alone invites wonderment, perhaps even evoking some feeling of frosty coolness. What do you make of its material presence in a museum collection then, especially today, juxtaposed alongside more traditionally venerated items? Editor: Oh, it's fantastic! A reevaluation. That elevation of the commonplace—asking what labor and what processes enabled that bear into existence and asking how does something like glass come to hold value – not simply from art historical status, but also the processes used in making and branding? Curator: Interesting points. What is especially remarkable is the ability for this artifact to now evoke childhood and corporate innovation alike; all these combined narratives provide layers upon layers in our own interactions as viewers too! Editor: It’s about making it visible—all those stories tied up in what seems like something “simple”—who mined what from where, to arrive where. Curator: Thinking on this from its sheer charm—an object filled with so much more sentiment, in fact, maybe that kind of glass is really a sort of liquid diamond now, so valuable is it after all of this time. Editor: Absolutely. And a reminder that what we consume reflects who we are, and sometimes, how we aspire to be.