Penguin Repair Tool

Artist David McManaway and my father, the recipient of this art piece, shared a July 12 birthday. The Penguin Repair Tool was first exhibited at DW Gallery. At the opening I told David I would like to buy this piece if he would consider including an instruction manual. He agreed. (slide through to see the image of the instructions on how to use a Penguin Repair Tool. It is pure David McManaway and has the tone of notes, missives, and letters his friends received for years). D magazine later that month did a long feature on David McManaway including a photograph of the Penguin Repair Tool. SMU also borrowed the Penguin Repair Tool for the David McManaway Twenty Year Retrospective that it mounted two years later. Besides loving this piece, I thought it would be an appropriate birthday present for my father who was taking a two-month sabbatical from work as his health recovered. He was a naturally muscular man with a barrel chest, narrow hips, strong legs, long torso, which in a white shirt and blue jacket, if his children positioned his feet just so, could take on the look of a penguin. He disagreed but was a good sport. My father was also very adept at mechanical reasoning and appreciated the instructions that I would immediately toss aside with the Christmas paper, he would then retrieve the instructions and assemble the toy for which they accompanied. Thus, the instruction manual became an important part of this piece. Executed on foldover glossy manual and appropriately signed, only a faded photocopy now remains but the sentiment and directions are clear. The Penguin Repair Tool went on permanent display in the living room except when it was on loan for an art exhibition. It, of course, helped repair my father’s health, who lived a vibrant life for another 15 years. It is also a wonderful remembrance of my father’s generous spirit and that of David McManaway. *Penguin Repair Tool
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