Upcoming Third Annual Southwest Kansas Antiques Appraisal Fair

You can still pre-register for the third annual Southwest Kansas Antiques Appraisal Fair which will take place on March 14 at the Finney County 4-H Building. The event is scheduled to take place from 9-4. It is arranged like a live and local version of the Antiques Road Show and is supported by the Finney County Convention and Visitors Bureau and 19 additional sponsors.

Item appraisals cost $15 but entry is free for those who just want to come and watch. As Steve Quakenbush, historical society executive director, said “We have a great time putting on the appraisal fair, but we also count on the proceeds to help us provide the community with education and research, as well as maintain the museum and preserve the heritage of Finney County and southwest Kansas.”

Priority will be given to the pre-registered items and then inspections will be done on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those who are interested can pre-register from 1-5 daily at the Finney County Museum, 403 S. Fourth St. in Finnup Park.

Last year during the event, the team appraised 135 items. The evaluators explain the history of each antique and unique aspects of the item, but there is no selling or buying during the fair.

The only items that the appraisers can’t evaluate is fine jewelry and firearms. All else is welcome. And come with an empty stomach as the Flat Broke Barbecue will be selling food and beverages throughout the show.

 

 

Interesting Doll Exhibit

If you find yourself in the San Deigo area in the near future, you may want to get to the Mingei International Museum where a very interesting collection will be on display. Deborah J. Neff, a toy collector in suburban Connecticut, has hundreds of antique cloth dolls. They all depict African-Americans and were hand made between 1850 and 1930. Little information has survived about their backgrounds and original owners. About 125 of these dolls and photos of people playing with them, are on display.

Frank Maresca, editor of the Mingei show’s catalog, said that Neff dolls “were made with dignity and love.” Ms. Neff explains that her collection came from about a hundred sources from flea markets and high-end antique shows to other places. One of the dolls has “an inked inscription on her torso from a St. Louis mother to her son dated Christmas 1879.” Ms. Neff wants to keep the dolls together “permanently in a public collection.”

But for the moment, she is not ready to give them up. She misses them already since they’ve been shipping temporarily to San Diego.

Sweet Savage Expands

stand-217579_640Flea markets have become all the rage – and often with good reason. People can find real gems in these locations, and many of them have started having upscale home decor. Sweet Salvage, for instance, in Phoenix, Arizona, has recently doubled its retail space. They now have a 5000 square foot warehouse, bringing their retail space to 10,000. It’s only open four times a month. Now, in addition, it’s going to be open on the third Thursday of the month for four-day themed sales.

Opening three years ago, Sweet Salvage gets about 3000 shoppers a month. In addition to their unit wares, they have hosted a number of national authors for book signings and DIY events. These include Joanne Palmisano and Mary Emmerling.

For the upcoming and recent sales, the January sale was be called “Room for Improvement” and celebrated the expansion. Customers looked through bins, lockers, cabinets, furniture and home decor. The sale took place on January 15th through 18th. Next up is the February show themed “Rustic Luxe.” It will showcase mixing distressed woods with more luxurious and softer materials.

Printing the Old Fashioned Way

Some of the best companies are ones that realize that not everything has to be fast-paced and modern. Smock is one of these companies, based in Syracuse, New York. They are actually using letterpress techniques with the same technology that was created by Johannes Gutenberg in 1436 for their specialty stationary.

As Smock President Harold Kyle explains, “We’re part of a resurgence of letterpress that values the ink pushing into the paper; that is all a physical process.”

Most of the machines that they use are 50 years old and they produce paper that is “soft and luxurious..with the impression in them.”

As Kyle explained,  “There’s a lot of craftsmanship involved in letterpress printing. You really need to have a good eye, good with your hands. We don’t do anything fast here. We’re always trying to print slowly and print very well.” Smock’s products have been featured in design blogs, Martha Stewart Living, Woman’s Day and more.

And they have actually become the largest letterpress supplier in the US.

See more in an interview they recently did with NewsChannel 9.

Black Friday Antique Offerings

Certainly, with Black Friday approaching and everyone getting ready for the holidays, it’s important to think about where you want to shop. If you’re like most of us reading this site, you don’t want something junky or temporary. You’re looking for a lovely antique or something that will decorate the house for years to come.

If you happen to be near Baraboo, Wisconsin, pop into the Backdoor Antiques store on 3rd Street. Rikki McNabb of Backdoor Antiques explains that her collection includes vintage tree ornaments, vintage Christmas glassware and figurines, among other items.

As Oak Street Antiques, Troy Lenerz explains that, “We’ve got a good selection of man cave stuff, such as beer neons, beer tap handles, and sports related stuff as well.”

If it’s books you’re after, The Village Booksmith’s collection is the place to be. They have books about local history and about the circus. Owner Annie Randall says that, in addition to the 50,000 plus old rare books she has available, she also has Advent calendars, leather journals and unique 2015 calendars.

The Morristown Armory Antiques Show

morristownAnyone who loves antiques should get to the Morristown Armory Antiques Show today and tomorrow. This yearly event includes more than 100 exhibitors. Items

One antique dealer, Mimi Gunn of Morristown said,

“I’ve been in antiques for 44 years. I learned early on. I started doing this when I was a child following my mother. This is the best area in the country for antiques. I think New Jersey has some of the best and most unusual items in the country. There are things everywhere.”

There are all sorts of clinics in addition to the items for sale. Artist Louis A. Pirrello, “Restorations by Louis,” had a porcelain restoration clinic and Paul M. Nulton hald a glass repair clinic.

The show takes place today and tomorrow at 430 Western Avenue in Morristown (exit 35 off I-287). Admission is $10 and there is even a $2 off coupon to be had at http://jmkshows.com/20141101_antique_armory.html.

New York Jazz Performances

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jazzJazz musicians living in New York have their fair share of entertainment pics this week. For individuals such as Beyler Eyubov, a passionate jazz musician from Azerbaijan, jazz pianist Bill Charlap and Latin jazz musician Arturo O’Farrill, the choices are almost too great!

For example, playing this week at Smoke, located on Broadway at 106th Street is “Eddie Harris at 80: The Seamus Blake Quartet,” giving sound to the saxophone-keyboard combo. Then there is Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca who will be playing at the Highline Ballroom. Over the weekend there was also pianist Kevin Hays playing the Kevin Hays New Day Trio New Day Trio at Jazz at Kitano. For vocalist and guitar fans this coming week sees Sara Serpa with André Matos play Primavera at Cornelia Street café. And on Friday and Saturday the Tamarindo Trio will be peforming there too.

Often referred to as “the jazz capital of the world,” bands including: Fletcher Henderson (with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Paul Whiteman) and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, were amongst the big ones established in and around “Old Broadway.”

Barrett Wissman: “A New Meaning for Performance Arts”

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Sting and Trudy perform "Twin Spirits"Art shouldn’t be about money, profits and making a business. At least, that’s what businessman and art patron Barrett Wissman believes. Described by Gulf Elite magazine as “the Medici of the 21st century,” Wissman “sees innovation in differentiation.” And with this, the Los Angeles, California, IMG Artists visionary has been making a name for himself in what has now become known as the annual Tuscan Sun Festival, among other such ventures.

Barrett Wissman has a mission. Right now there is so much money being linked to the art industry, at the expense of fine arts and refined music. Barrett Wissman thus wants to “have more and more people enjoy and love the arts.” And, to do this, he is “attempting to convey a new meaning for performance arts.” The Tuscan Sun Festival has played a big part in this. And following that, he played a pivotal role in what culminated in the Napa Valley Festival del sole.

But Wissman has not taken his business hat off either. Rather, he seems to have combined his entrepreneurial spirit with his love of the arts. This can be seen through his dedicative work with the IMG artists.

But even with his success in the industry, Wissman ensures he remains level-headed. He knows how important it is to respect eastern cultures in music. He said:

“It would be arrogant for us to come in with all-western music. The collaboration between western and eastern music and arts is one of our driving philosophies. To show that performance arts lives within all boundaries is our core value. We cannot claim the world is our stage unless we actually work towards that goal.”

If this Los Angeles, Californian businessman can make art more accessible for the masses – simultaneously mixing eastern and western cultures – from both a business and art point-of-view, he would have been successful.

Savannah Collections Opens Tomorrow

For anyone heading to Savannah, it is highly worthwhile to go to the Savannah Collects exhibit running from October 3, 2014 through January 18th, 2015 at the Jepson Center on 207 W. York Street.

As Telfair Museum’s director and CEO Lisa Grove explains, “One reason we’re doing this show is to really enable us to work on a strategic goal, which is to celebrate the importance of collecting art. Both as a museum working to build a permanent collection, as well as letting people in our community realize the value and joy they get from living with original works of art … We also thought it was another way for us to engage the local community. I think people who live in Savannah will be interested to learn the kinds of art that their neighbors collect.”

The exhibit has been made possible because of cultural philanthropists who are sharing their private collections. Items on display will include works by Ed Ruscha, Kara Walker, Ellsworth Kelly, Helen Levitt and others. There are also items from French printmaker Erik Desmazieres and Howard Finster.

Pop Departures Comes to Seattle

If you’ll be anywhere near Seattle this fall, it will be worth it to pop into the Seattle Art Museum. They will be showing the artwork of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and other pioneers in the pop art movement from October 9th 2014 to January 11th, 2015.

The show will also include Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jeff Koons and Barbara Kruger. The show, called “Pop Departures” looks at the influential pop art movement that started in the 1960s.

As the Seattle Art Museum website explains, “The pioneers of American Pop will be represented with key works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, John Chamberlain, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann, and Mel Ramos. The exhibition will further examine a new generation of artists in the 1980s—including Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger, and Raymond Pettibon—who began to rethink ideas of commodity culture in a new social and political climate. And finally, Pop Departures will consider contemporary artistic positions in relation to commodity culture and celebrity with recent work by Josephine Meckseper, Elad Lassry, Margarita Cabrera, Mickalene Thomas, and Ryan Trecartin.”