Chilkat Valley native wrapped up in weaving blankets

Decorated with stylized clan symbols and animal forms, Chilkat blankets were prestigeous items for the elite. This mid-19th century example sold for $19,000 at an auction in March. Image courtesy Rago Arts and Auction Center and Live Auctioneers Archive.

Decorated with stylized clan symbols and animal forms, Chilkat blankets were prestigeous items for the elite. This mid-19th century example sold for $19,000 at an auction in March. Image courtesy Rago Arts and Auction Center and LiveAuctioneers Archive.
Decorated with stylized clan symbols and animal forms, Chilkat blankets were prestigeous items for the elite. This mid-19th century example sold for $19,000 at an auction in March. Image courtesy Rago Arts and Auction Center and LiveAuctioneers Archive.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – For Anna Brown Ehlers, the Chilkat blanket isn’t just art – it’s a lifelong passion. She recalled seeing her uncle, Roy Brown, wear one in a Fourth of July parade when she was 4 years old.

“The movement of the totemic designs and fringe of the blanket intrigued me at first sight,” she said. “I knew then that I wanted to spend my life making Chilkat blankets.”

The large five-sided blanket with its dominant yellow, white and black colors is one of the most identifiable traditional art forms in Alaska. It’s also among the most complex and labor-intensive items.

Similar weavings were made throughout the Pacific Northwest. But the blankets made by Tlingit Indians from the Chilkat Valley were particularly esteemed for their workmanship and spectacular designs, coveted as high-end trade goods by other tribes and, after contact, avidly collected by museums and wealthy art lovers.

Yet in the 20th century, the ranks of weavers grew thin. The late Jenny Thlunaut is often listed among the last women who remembered the skill.

Fortunately for Ehlers, Thlunaut was a close friend with her grandmother. As a girl Ehlers often watched Thlunaut weaving while her grandmother made beaded moccasins.

Later she studied under Thlunaut as well as with Dorica Jackson, wife of her uncle, famed Tlingit carver Nathan Jackson, who has supplied her with some of the designs she uses.

“From the moment I started in the Chilkat technique, it was as if I had always done it,” Ehlers said. “I’m not sure if I am that good a weaver, but I love the art form.”

She may not be sure, but others are. Her work can be seen at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau and other institutions.

In 2006 she was among the first American artists to receive a $50,000 United States Artists award. She also received a Governor’s Arts Award that year. This year she received a major grant from the Rasmuson Foundation.

Awards notwithstanding, making a living as a Chilkat weaver is a “daunting task,” she noted, enormously time-consuming.

With her family she collects yellow cedar bark in the spring and separates out the inner layer, which is soaked until supple, then split into paper-thin layers that are split again into “spaghetti-shaped strips.”

The bark is then hand spun with wool. In the old days that would have been mountain goat wool.

Nowadays, Ehlers said, “I’m a modern girl. I use commercial 100 percent wool for the colored design relief.”

The resulting yarn, or “warp,” is hung on a simple cross-beam loom and woven together using a basic twining technique.

“It may take four to five months to spin enough warp for a large Chilkat blanket,” she said, “depending on how much help I have.”

A lot of the help comes from her three children, Marie, Billy and Alexis.

“All work the raw materials with me,” she said. “Granted it is not their favorite thing to do, but the family’s help … is the reason that I have
accomplished making 18 large Chilkat blankets in the last 30 years.”

She also makes tunics, aprons, headdresses and other Chilkat “regalia” plus beadwork “to refresh my mind.”

The blankets, however, have a special place in her resume, not only making them – which is rare enough – but uniquely expanding the art form by experimenting with different ideas and materials.

Like silk.

She was visiting a bridal kimono shop in Tokyo where she was entranced by a basket made of pure spun silk. The merchant refused to sell it to her, but Joe David, a totem carver from Washington state, who was with her, prevailed upon the store owner. David explained the kind of work she did and promised, “She will do only good things with this silk.”

Another nontraditional material is gold. Ehlers said the idea came after her daughter told her about a dream in which her mother wove a Chilkat-style face from gold.

“I could hardly wait for the Permanent Fund dividend to come out that year,” Ehlers said. She spent her whole check on 24-karat gold wire which was worked into a blanket. Since then incorporating gold into her pieces has become one of her hallmarks.

Her blankets are intertwined with family stories. An enormous potlatch blanket, 7 1/2 feet wide by 6 feel high – “the largest one in the world

ever made,” she said – was presented at a ceremony in Klukwan honoring her late father in 2007 where it was cut into pieces and distributed to guests. Daily News columnist Heather Lende, was in attendance and wrote:”There was a long silence as the blanket was taken down and Ehlers) carefully sliced it into small pieces that she gave to special people. “The beautiful, rare blanket, worth thousands of dollars, was apparently destroyed to repair a tear in the fabric of the tribe that happened so long ago most of the folks didn’t know the details. Anna’s father had, though, and it was his dying wish that she do this to make whatever was wrong right again.”

Another special blanket was for her mother, whose grandmother had a fine blanket that she sold to relatives from another village. The boat sank on the return trip and the blanket was never recovered.

“This story was related to us children at night after dinner,” Ehlers said, “as we had no television.” Stirred by that tale, she resolved to make her mom a blanket to replace the one that had left the family.

“It took me 40 years, but I eventually did make my mother a Chilkat blanket,” Ehlers said. In the blanket she depicts herself and her late twin, Anita. The two sisters often worked together in their younger years.

Ehlers is mindful of her parents’ roots in Klukwan, a village renowned for superb Tlingit artisanship, in the heart of the Chilkat Valley. “I’m a
Chilkat through and through,” she said. “When my husband started dating me, I informed him that if he wanted to be in my life, he would have to tolerate my love of Chilkat above all else.”

It all worked out. Bill Ehlers’ income has made it possible for her to concentrate on her work, she said.

“We have been married over 30 years,” she noted, “and my art still comes first.”

___

Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WS-07-22-09 1738EDT

 

EBay 2Q profit falls as marketplace’s revenue drops

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The recession continued to hurt eBay Inc. in the second quarter, as earnings and revenue fell amid a drop in sales in the main online marketplace, overshadowing growth in the PayPal online payments and Skype communications units.

The pioneer of online auctions, which is now trying to revitalize its Web site, managed to come in ahead of Wall Street’s expectations, though, and predicted third-quarter earnings and revenue largely in line with analysts’ views.

Shares of San Jose-based eBay rose 60 cents, or 3.1 percent, in extended trading after the results were released Wednesday. It finished regular trading up 52 cents, or nearly 3 percent, at $19.45.

EBay said it earned $327.3 million, or 25 cents per share, in the April-June period, a 29 percent decrease from $460.3 million, or 35 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

EBay earned 37 cents per share when excluding items, beating by a penny the predictions made by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue fell 5 percent to $2.1 billion, though it beat analysts’ estimate for $1.99 billion in sales.

Revenue from eBay’s marketplaces unit, which includes eBay, Shopping.com and other e-commerce Web sites, sank 14 percent to $1.26 billion – a decline the company attributed to the weak economy and strength in the dollar. When the dollar is stronger, transactions in other currencies translate into fewer dollars.

The company’s payments unit, which houses online payment service PayPal and short-term credit service Bill Me Later, saw revenue climb 11 percent to $669.3 million. Revenue from online telecommunications service Skype jumped 25 percent to $170 million.

EBay said that its U.S. gross merchandise volume – which measures the value of all transactions on eBay, excluding vehicles – fell 10 percent to $11.13 billion for the quarter. The number of active users, which helps show how the company is doing at attracting new buyers and sellers, inched up just 2 percent to 88.4 million.

For the current quarter, eBay forecast a profit of 22 cents to 24 cents per share, or 34 cents to 36 cents on an adjusted basis, on $2.05 billion to $2.15 billion in revenue. Analysts were looking for a profit of 35 cents per share on $2 billion in sales.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-CS-07-22-09 1709EDT

Baghdad’s antique shops struggle to stay in business

BAGHDAD (AP) – Antique dealer Riyadh al-Khafaf has so few customers he hasn’t bothered to dust his collection of fine metalware from the early 20th century. Other dealers say they can go for days without seeing even a browser.

But while their business may be sparse, the two dozen or so antique shops in the Iraqi capital boast treasures of museum quality. Like Baghdad, a city of mosques with turquoise tiled domes and streets divided by barbed war and blast walls, the shops’ contents speak of both Iraq’s recent dark days and its more gloried past.

“The story of Iraq is here if you care to look closely,” Abdul-Kareem Yahya, a 51-year-old father of five, said from behind a desk at his downtown antique shop. Behind him sat Ottoman-era swords, engraved silver trays and a tea set bearing the image of Iraq’s last king.

The antique dealers themselves – some retired security officers, military veterans or ex-government employees – are also proof of the resilience of Baghdad’s people in surviving decades of hardship from war, U.N. sanctions and occupation by a U.S.-led international force.

Yahya said the lack of business for antique shops reflects Iraq’s isolation from the rest of the world and the still tenuous security situation. While he and other dealers say the pullout of U.S. soldiers from Baghdad under an agreement with Iraq’s government removes one magnet for insurgent attacks, they concede they’re not soon likely to see a rush of tourists to buy their wares.

Recent history provides rich sources for Baghdad’s antique market. After Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, goods from the neighboring country’s wealthy homes and its national museum – famed for Islamic art and Quranic manuscripts – were hauled back here. More treasures came with the looting of Iraq’s own national museum and Saddam Hussein’s palaces in the lawless days after the American-led invasion of 2003.

Antique dealers said some looted items had been sold in Baghdad, but they all denied handling any suspect goods themselves. They said Iraq itself – with a population once among the wealthiest and best educated in the Middle East – provides many early 20th century antiques from families who fell on hard times during 13 years of U.N. sanctions slapped on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990.

Some of the best evidence of better days can be found by climbing the shaky stairs to al-Khafaf’s shop on a street along the River Tigris in Baghdad’s old quarter.

Sitting under a coat of dust on the shop’s floor are silver-plated brass boxes in which wealthy women kept their toiletries and engraved water pitchers that the rich used to wash guests’ hands after feasts.

Also on offer are floral-shaped silver candlesticks fashioned by Baghdad’s renowned Jewish craftsmen, members of a religious community that went back more than two millennia and numbered upwards of 100,000 in the 1930s. Now it has been reduced to just a few people by the discrimination of ultra-nationalist governments and the lure of living in Israel.

“The Jewish craftsmen of Baghdad were at their best with silver and gold,” said al-Khafaf, explaining a one-time informal division of specialization among artisans of different religious communities. “Muslims, on the other hand, were best with brass,” said the 48-year-old, who has a day job as a veterinarian.

In the downtown antique shops, there also are fine china tea sets bearing images of Faisal II, the last of Iraq’s kings who was murdered along with close family members in a 1958 military coup that heralded the start of years of political instability, genocide and human rights abuses. Complete sets can sell for $1,000.

Among other goods that were in wealthy Iraqi families for generations but went on the market during the years of crippling U.N. sanctions are fine carpets, U.S.-made 19th century clocks, dinner sets and old paintings.

“The antiques sold by families during sanctions were mostly bought by Iraqis who had not been affected by the sanctions,” said Issam Hassan, a dealer in Baghdad’s old quarter.

“Some are coming to buy back what they sold, but they don’t find them and they look for similar items,” said Hassan, who said he had survived by selling canned goods on the sidewalk outside his home while his store was closed for two of the past six years because of security fears.

Hassan, al-Khafaf and Yahya say Baghdad’s “antique reserves” could still grow as the country slowly opens up to its traditional visitors from Iran, the Indian subcontinent and Azerbaijan, an oil-rich Central Asian nation whose majority Shiites once came in large numbers as pilgrims to Iraq’s religious sites.

Many rich items still in the homes of old Baghdad families could eventually reach the market, they said. But the dealers acknowledge it will be many years before Baghdad can rival the vibrancy of more established Middle Eastern antique markets such as the Syrian capital Damascus and Isfahan in Iran. And, they complained, it is largely because potential visitors are scared off by Iraq’s persistent violence.

“We used to be open for business until midnight before the war,” said Tawfeeq al-Shikhli, a 63-year-old antique dealer. “Now, we close by early afternoon because of security.”

Al-Shikhli, clad in a beige Arab robe, sat outside his vast shop which looked deceptively small from the outside. On the second floor, hundreds of unsold carpets from Iran, India and Afghanistan were piled on shelves nearly ceiling high.

“I can sell all this if tourists were coming to Iraq,” al-Shikhli’s 29-year-old son Waleed said as he gestured toward the rugs. “The prices are very reasonable, but people don’t have money to spare.”

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-07-14-09 1059EDT

Antique mall owner charged as accessory in Florida couple’s deaths

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – One man planned a Florida home invasion and fatally shot a couple who had 13 adopted special needs children, one of eight suspects in the internationally publicized case told investigators. According to court documents released Tuesday, Fredrick Thornton, 19, said martial arts instructor Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., 35, organized the July 9 attack and killed Byrd Billings, 66, and Melanie Billings, 43. Gonzalez proclaimed his innocence in a statement he read at a court hearing after his arrest.

Thornton is one of seven people charged with murder. An antique mall owner from the Pensacola suburb of Gulf Breeze, Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, is charged with being an accessory after the fact.

Thornton made his comments during a recorded interrogation in jail. The statement was included in an affidavit supporting a warrant to search Wiggins’ minivan.

Authorities say the Billings’ home was invaded by masked men dressed as ninjas. Their images were captured on a home security system.

The couple was killed in the bedroom of their sprawling home, while nine of their children were in other parts of the home. Another child went to a neighbor’s home for help and the neighbor called authorities. All the children have various special needs and need nursing and other care. The Billings had 17 children total.

Thornton also said that after the home break-in, the seven men gathered at an antique mall in Gulf Breeze, Fla., and met up with a woman, allegedly Pamela Long Wiggins. Thornton said they placed a safe from the Billings home in Wiggins’ maroon minivan.

Wiggins, owner of Magnolia Antique Mall, was charged with being an accessory after the fact after investigators dug up the safe from the backyard of her home in suburban Gulf Breeze. Wiggins was released on $10,000 bond.

Another suspect, Wayne Coldiron, 41, told investigators he met a woman named Pam who drove a maroon minivan at a home in Gulf Breeze before the home invasion.

The affidavit said the home was owned by Wiggins and that “a subsequent search warrant of this residence revealed a number of firearms as well as ammunition as well as a 9 mm handgun which is the same caliber of weapon used in the homicide.”

Wiggins told investigators she was not involved in the home invasion but that Gonzalez was a friend and “had a key to the residence and permission to come and go as he pleased,” the affidavit stated.

Attorneys for Thornton, Gonzalez and Coldiron did not immediately return phone messages Tuesday from The Associated Press. Wiggins has not returned messages seeking comment.

Also Tuesday, investigators said they did not anticipate more arrests in the case and that they were not investigating the Billings’ deaths as a contract hit.

Monday night, Sheriff David Morgan had told CNN that investigators wanted to talk to up to nine more people and planned to make at least one more arrest. Morgan also said his department was looking at a hit as a motive.

But sheriff’s spokesman Ted Roy said Tuesday that investigators only considered a contract hit as a possibility for “a fleeting second during the initial phase of the investigation.”

“Could it still be a motive? I guess it could, but someone else other than the investigators assigned to the Billings case will have to investigate it because investigators working the Billings case sure don’t believe so,” he said.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-07-21-09 1812EDT

Baterbys Art Auction Gallery presents 20th-century masters on Aug. 1

An original Pablo Picasso color lithograph on Arches paper is titled ‘Le Columbe Volant.' It is from a signed and numbered edition consisting of 200 original color lithographs. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.

An original Pablo Picasso color lithograph on Arches paper is titled ‘Le Columbe Volant.' It is from a signed and numbered edition consisting of 200 original color lithographs. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.
An original Pablo Picasso color lithograph on Arches paper is titled ‘Le Columbe Volant.’ It is from a signed and numbered edition consisting of 200 original color lithographs. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Baterbys Art Auction Gallery will present a great mix of artworks by 20th-century masters likes of Picasso, Degas, Dali, Chagall and Miro on Aug. 1. The auction, to begin at 5 p.m. Eastern, consists of 429 lots of modern and contemporary artwork. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

“Our auctions are entertaining and educational. Our auctioneer Richard Hart is very good at discussing the artwork and the artists’ lives,” said John Magpantay, Baterbys’ online marketing coordinator.

One highlight that will get much attention is a Pablo Picasso color lithograph titled Le Columbe Volant (The Flying Dove), done in 1952. The lithograph on Arches paper is 25 1/2 by 20 1/4 inches. It is signed in pencil at the lower right and has an additional signature in the stone with the date: “10-10-52.” In excellent condition, the lithograph has a $26,850-$32,000 estimate.

Other big-ticket items include a 1968 Picasso etching with aquatint titled Circus With the Giant and Self Portrait of Baby and Old Man, 19 1/4 by 13 inches, estimated at $28,500-$43,000 and a 1961Marc Chagall color lithograph titled Le Repas Chez Dryas (The Meal at Dryas’ House), 16 3/4 by 25 1/4 inches, estimated at $16,650-$19,000. The latter image is based on the Greek fable Daphnis and Chloe. The artist produced 42 color lithographs to illustrate the work of Longus, the famous Greek author from the third century.

Known as the Masters Suite, eight painted portraits of famous artists by Peter Max are available at the August auction. Each 18- by 22-inch acrylic painting on wove paper is estimated at $12,000-$15,000.

The auction will benefit B.A.S.E. Camp, a non-profit organization that provides a year round series of programs for children and families facing the challenge of living with cancer and other life threatening hematology-related illnesses.

Baterbys Art Auction Gallery is at Pointe Orlando, Unit 1008, 9101 International Drive, adjacent to the Orlando Convention Center. For details call the gallery at 407-601-5798.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

 

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

 

 

Click here to view Baterby’s Art Auction Gallery’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Andrew Wyeth's ‘The Berry Picker' a 9- by 12 1/2-inch lithograph published by Art in America. It has a $800-$1,200. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.
Andrew Wyeth’s ‘The Berry Picker’ a 9- by 12 1/2-inch lithograph published by Art in America. It has a $800-$1,200. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.
Eight paintings by Peter Max from his Masters Suite will be sold by Baterby's on Aug. 1. Each is estimated at $12,000-$15,000. This mixed media and acrylic painting of Leonardo Da Vinci is 18 by 22 inches. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.
Marc Chagall's 1961 color lithograph ‘Le Repas Chez Dryas' is based on the Greek fable ‘Daphnis and Chloe.' It has a $16,650-$19,000 estimate. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery
Marc Chagall’s 1961 color lithograph ‘Le Repas Chez Dryas’ is based on the Greek fable ‘Daphnis and Chloe.’ It has a $16,650-$19,000 estimate. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery

Salvador Dali depicted Lot's wife being turned into a statue of salt. The color lithograph on heavy rag paper is 19 by 13 3/4 inches and has a $1,450-$2,300 estimate. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.
Salvador Dali depicted Lot’s wife being turned into a statue of salt. The color lithograph on heavy rag paper is 19 by 13 3/4 inches and has a $1,450-$2,300 estimate. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.

Alfred Morang (1901-1958) moved to Santa Fe, N.M., from his native Maine in 1937. His oil on canvas painting titled ‘Red House on the Hill,' 14 by 18 inches, has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.
Alfred Morang (1901-1958) moved to Santa Fe, N.M., from his native Maine in 1937. His oil on canvas painting titled ‘Red House on the Hill,’ 14 by 18 inches, has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy Baterbys Art Auction Gallery.

Estate treasures to change hands at Leighton Galleries on July 30

Sculptor Michael Coffey carved this mirror console for his Perceptions II series. The hanging mirror, 56 inches high, has a slide-open console shelf. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.

Sculptor Michael Coffey carved this mirror console for his Perceptions II series. The hanging mirror, 56 inches high, has a slide-open console shelf. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.
Sculptor Michael Coffey carved this mirror console for his Perceptions II series. The hanging mirror, 56 inches high, has a slide-open console shelf. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.
RIDGEWOOD, N.J. – Leighton Galleries Inc. will offer 335 lots of fresh to the market treasures at a July 30 auction. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

Included are paintings by listed artists, American antiques, Asian arts, fine silver and crystal, estate jewelry, high-end collectibles, porcelains, art glass, decorative arts and fine furniture including formal mahogany and Victorian.

Representative of the artwork is a landscape by Carl Millner (German, 1825-1895) dated 1868 and titled A Prayer in a Mountain Lake. The 29- by 40-inch oil on canvas has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.

“It’s an awesome painting, a great size, that’s generated considerable interest,” said John Merowski of Leighton Galleries.

The seller of the Millner painting has also consigned a collection of lamps to be sold by Leighton Galleries. One is a double-signed Handel Etruscan table lamp that has a 12-inch glass shade festooned with fine beadwork.

“It’s very nicely done. In researching Handel’s lamps we certainly haven’t seen one with beads,” said Merowski, noting the possibly one-of-a-kind lamp is sparking additional interest.

“It came from longtime friends of the auction. We’ve known them for about 20 years. After her husband passed away the lady chose us to sell many of their antiques,” said Merowski, adding that the Millner painting came from the same home.

Another possibly unique item will be sold at the auction: a laminated and carved mirror console from Michael Coffey’s Perceptions II series. The hanging mirror with slide-open shelf is 56 inches high by 26 inches wide and bears Coffey’s incised signature. It is estimated at $4,000-$5,000.

“We’ve seen a number of his console mirrors, but did not find another with the slide door on the shelf,” said Merowski, adding that the consignor knows the Massachusetts artist personally. “He actually had (Coffey) hang the mirror after he bought it.”

Antique furniture includes a cherry lowboy with fan carving and blocked apron with acorn drops, on cabriole legs and pad feet. Measuring 36 inches high, 41 inches wide and 22 inches deep, the lowboy has a $2,500-$3,500 estimate.

Several large pieces of Nippon will be offered including a 10 1/2-inch cobalt vase decorated with a hand-painted scene and enamel embellished gilding and beading. An 18-inch Nippon four-handle floral vase, pictured in the Collector’s Encyclopedia of Nippon Porcelain, Seventh Series, also has a $300-$500 estimate.

Leighton Galleries Inc. is located at 320 S. Broad St. in Ridgewood, N.J. For details call 201-444-3424. The auction will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

 

 

Click here to view Leighton Galleries, Inc.’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Carl Millner (German, 1825-1895) painted this landscape in 1868 in Munich, The oil on canvas, 29 by 40 inches has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.
Carl Millner (German, 1825-1895) painted this landscape in 1868 in Munich, The oil on canvas, 29 by 40 inches has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.

Alexander Calder's color serigraph is a pencil signed artist's proof. The 15 by 11 work is estimated at $150-$250. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.
Alexander Calder’s color serigraph is a pencil signed artist’s proof. The 15 by 11 work is estimated at $150-$250. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.

Both the shade and lamp base are signed Handel. The 20-inch-tall Etruscan table lamp has a $800-$1,200 estimate. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.
Both the shade and lamp base are signed Handel. The 20-inch-tall Etruscan table lamp has a $800-$1,200 estimate. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.

Many serving pieces are included in this 144-piece set of Mayflower sterling silver flatware by S. Kirk, which is estimated at $2,400-$2,800. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.
Many serving pieces are included in this 144-piece set of Mayflower sterling silver flatware by S. Kirk, which is estimated at $2,400-$2,800. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.

Embellished with gilding and beading, this 10 1/2-inch Nippon scenic vase is estimated at $300-$500. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.
Embellished with gilding and beading, this 10 1/2-inch Nippon scenic vase is estimated at $300-$500. Image courtesy Leighton Galleries.

Retro swimwear finds a place at Miami Beach

Image courtesy Wolfsonian-FIU.
Image courtesy Wolfsonian-FIU.
Image courtesy Wolfsonian-FIU.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Old swimwear styles can still make a splash.

To prove it, Jantzen swimwear company – which celebrated its 100th anniversary on the sidelines of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim – has reinvented five bathing suits from the last century to create its Heritage Collection.

Designers created new suits and cover-ups based on classic styles, a project that coincided with the old-school, glamorous trends seen on the catwalk in South Beach. One thing is clear: retro is definitely back.

Jantzen reinterpreted the woolen suits of the 1920s as a boucle fabric maillot in a red-currant color and Swarovski crystals on the front. It now gets a matching cape.

The ’40s mark the introduction of what’s recognized as the modern bikini and it’s represented in the collection by a skirted two-piece with ruffles. The iconic strapless one-piece from the ’50s that emphasized the hourglass figure was also reinvented, as was a stretch velvet, deep lunging monokini from the 1970s.

From the ’80s, it was the brand’s Mod Squad suit, which had a hood that could be worn draped around the shoulders.

“I wanted to pick what I feel was the best of every decade and make it relevant for today,” said Jantzen designer Lisa Dixon.

Dixon wasn’t the only designer mining the past for inspiration during the swimwear shows. Miami Beach-based designer Red Carter, for example, who sent a model out in a long, black cover-up with short sleeves, said he was influenced by a 1940s glamour girl silhouette.

“I think being at a vintage store is like being in a library,” Carter said. He also said the old Jantzen colors and themes, including the nautical feeling, were inspiring to him.

Meanwhile, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University museum launched a retrospective look at the last 100 years of swimsuits, which includes pieces from the Jantzen archives. The show, called “Beauty on the Beach: A Centennial Celebration of Swimwear” runs until Oct. 11 and examines how styles reflect popular culture and ideas about fitness and beauty.

The earliest swimsuit on display dates to 1910; it is made of wool and was probably a homemade suit. It basically looks like a dress with bloomers under it.

A decade or so later the styles changed dramatically along with the political landscape. As women gained more rights – with the 19th amendment to the Constitution being ratified in 1920 – swimsuits became sleeveless, had a simple V-neck and were made from woven wool, making them more comfortable.

“The idea that women can now expose their bodies … Women were also demanding the right to swim, to go onto the beaches,” said Marianne Lamonaca, the museum’s associate director for curatorial affairs and education.

To complement the exhibit, Lamonaca also asked New York-based photographer Miles Ladin to interpret Miami Beach’s swim culture through his lens for an installation called “Sun Stroke Stimulus.” So, over a week in April, Ladin shot black-and-white photos of unposed sun gods and goddesses.

“I was definitely interested in the whole idea when you are out in these fabulous locations wearing swimwear, you are presenting yourself to the world … It can be a form of aspiration,” he said. “I see it a little bit as a cultural signifier.”

Ladin said he thinks about how as a society we don’t spend enough time looking inwards, how aging gracefully is not part of the national consciousness and how middle-aged actresses, who aren’t even elderly, are having disfiguring surgeries to remain young and fit.

“As a society we need to step back and appreciate other sources of pleasures besides the superficial ones,” he said.
___

On the Net:

The Wolfsonian-FIU: http://www.wolfsonian.org/

Jantzen: http://www.jantzen.com/

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-07-20-09 1605EDT

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Germany. "Lagune&quot bathing suit, 1950s. Size 42. Colored, strap detachable. Marked: Lagune. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Quittenbaum Kunstauktionen GmbH.
Germany. "Lagune&quot bathing suit, 1950s. Size 42. Colored, strap detachable. Marked: Lagune. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Quittenbaum Kunstauktionen GmbH.
Triumph. Bathing suit, 1950s. Size 40. Black and white. Helanca-fibre. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Quittenbaum Kunstauktionen GmbH.
Triumph. Bathing suit, 1950s. Size 40. Black and white. Helanca-fibre. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Quittenbaum Kunstauktionen GmbH.

Court rules O’Keeffe Museum has no right to Fisk University’s art

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum may represent the painter’s estate but has no right to an art collection she donated to Fisk University, Tennessee’s Court of Appeals has ruled.

In the ruling filed last week, the court said any right O’Keeffe had to most of the 101 works of art ended with her death.

The financially struggling university had asked a lower court for permission to sell two of the works: O’Keeffe’s 1927 oil painting Radiator Building – Night, New York, and Marsden Hartley’s Painting No. 3.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum objected to the plan, arguing that Fisk was violating the terms of the bequest, which required the works be displayed together, and asking for the artwork to be turned over to the estate.

The Davidson County Chancery Court blocked the sale as well as a proposed $30 million arrangement to share the collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. Nashville Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ordered last year that the university had to take the collection out of storage and put it back on display or forfeit it to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

But the state appeals court overturned that decision, ruling the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has no right to the work and no standing in court.

Representatives of the museum could not immediately be reached for comment. They will have 60 days to appeal the decision.

Ninety-seven of the works were part of a collection that belonged to O’Keeffe’s late husband, the photographer and art promoter Alfred Stieglitz. O’Keeffe donated those works to the university in 1949 while executing Stieglitz’s will.

The four other works in the Alfred Stieglitz Collection, including O’Keeffe’s Radiator Building painting, were given to the museum later.

The ruling leaves open the possibility for an arrangement such as the one proposed with the Crystal Bridges Museum. It writes that the general intent of the gift was to make the artwork available to the public “in Nashville and the South for the benefit of those who did not have access to comparable collections.” Fisk is a historically black university, and the gifts were made at a time when the South was still segregated.

Fisk was on the verge of running out of operating money when it filed a motion for relief from O’Keeffe’s conditions in 2007.

Fisk attorney John Branham said earlier this year the latest appraisal of the collection indicated a value of about $75 million, which represents about half of Fisk’s total assets.

If the chancery court rules that Fisk does have a right to relief it will also have to decide how Fisk can honor the conditions of the gift as nearly as possible.

Fisk attorneys have argued the proposed deal with the Crystal Bridges Museum does that by keeping the collection together and allowing it to be displayed part of the year in Arkansas and part the year in Nashville.

Art historians say the collection has an appealing unity because many of the American artists were part of O’Keeffe and Stieglitz’s circle of friends. In addition to paintings by O’Keeffe and Hartley, the collection includes works by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne and Diego Rivera.

In a statement, Fisk President Hazel O’Leary said she was pleased by the ruling but expects the case will take time to conclude.

“The expense the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has forced Fisk to incur in its effort to gain ownership of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Modern Art could have been committed to scholarships for our students,” she said.

AP-CS-07-15-09 1913EDT

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

16th Annual Folk Fest on Aug. 14-16 features world-class folk, self-taught art

Mary Proctor – Faith. Mary is one of hundreds of colorful and eccentric artists who attend Folk Fest to meet and greet the public. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction.
Mary Proctor – Faith. Mary is one of hundreds of colorful and eccentric artists who attend Folk Fest to meet and greet the public. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction.
Mary Proctor – Faith. Mary is one of hundreds of colorful and eccentric artists who attend Folk Fest to meet and greet the public. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction.

ATLANTA – Over the past 16 years, Folk Fest has grown to become one of the largest and most important folk art events in the world, attracting an attendance of up to 12,000 people per show.

The 2009 edition of Folk Fest will take place Aug. 14-16 at the 80,000 sq. ft. North Atlanta Trade Center. Around 100 prestigious galleries and dealers will be on hand to exhibit their specialties, including self-taught art, outsider art, Southern folk pottery, antique folk art and anonymous works.

“Visitors pour in from all over the country to see what’s hot in the world of folk art,” said co-producer Steve Slotin. “Folk Fest is the place where museums, prominent galleries, important publications and serious collectors make their new discoveries.”

A wide range of price points is seen at Folk Fest, with artworks available for every budget. “You can find a starter piece for $5 or a museum-quality masterpiece for $50,000,” said Slotin.

America and the art community as a whole have embraced self-taught art. Previously of interest to only museums, curators and art connoisseurs, folk art can now be found throughout mainstream culture. Self-taught art is now the subject of movies, television and commercials, and is prominently featured in magazines, books and newspapers. “It has finally taken its well-deserved place as a true American art form,” Slotin said.

A visit to Folk Fest is an entertaining, educational (and well air-conditioned) experience for the whole family and teams up nicely with a trip to the High Museum of Folk Art and Photography, Slotin said.

The Friday evening opening event will take place from 5-10 p.m. – admission $15, with free re-admission throughout the weekend. As a special bonus, a complimentary T-shirt will be given with each paid admission on opening night.  The show will continue from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday – admission $7 each day.

Folk Fest is held at the North Atlanta Trade Center, Indian Trail Road, exit 101 off I-85. To see a schedule of events at Folk Fest 2009, visit www.slotinfolkart.com. For additional information call 770-532-1115 or 440-403-4244. E-mail folkfest@slotinfolkart.com.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Lanier Meaders – Snake through the Nose face jug. Folk Fest has the largest and most impressive examples of Southern Folk Pottery found anywhere in the world. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction.
Lanier Meaders – Snake through the Nose face jug. Folk Fest has the largest and most impressive examples of Southern Folk Pottery found anywhere in the world. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction.
Artist Lorenzo Scott talks with some of his youngest fans at Folk Fest. Children love to visit Folk Fest with a notepad to collect signatures and small sketches from the hundreds of artists.
Artist Lorenzo Scott talks with some of his youngest fans at Folk Fest. Children love to visit Folk Fest with a notepad to collect signatures and small sketches from the hundreds of artists.
Jimmy Lee Sudduth – Self-Portrait in Overalls. Sudduth created his paintings using mud and pigments. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction. The work of Jimmy Lee Sudduth and many other African-American self-taught artists can be found at Folk Fest.
Jimmy Lee Sudduth – Self-Portrait in Overalls. Sudduth created his paintings using mud and pigments. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction. The work of Jimmy Lee Sudduth and many other African-American self-taught artists can be found at Folk Fest.
Vestie Davis – Art Fair. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction.
Vestie Davis – Art Fair. Image courtesy Folk Fest/Slotin Auction.

Blenko Festival of Glass slated for Aug. 7-8 in West Virginia

Millenium Edition opaline yellow and cobalt #2034 Kuroi Kabin Designer Series vase by Matt Carter for Blenko, 6 1/2 inches tall. Limited edition of 2000. Image courtesy British-American Media Ltd.
Millenium Edition opaline yellow and cobalt #2034 Kuroi Kabin Designer Series vase by Matt Carter for Blenko, 6 1/2 inches tall. Limited edition of 2000. Image courtesy British-American Media Ltd.
Millenium Edition opaline yellow and cobalt #2034 Kuroi Kabin Designer Series vase by Matt Carter for Blenko, 6 1/2 inches tall. Limited edition of 2000. Image courtesy British-American Media Ltd.

MILTON, W.Va. – Blenko Glass Company will host its 2nd annual Festival of Glass on Aug. 7 and 8 at its corporate headquarters and studio in Milton, W.Va.

Glass-blowing demonstrations and workshops will begin at 8:00 a.m. on the 7th. Interested parties are urged to sign up as soon as possible, as space is limited.

Blenko is one of the few remaining handcrafted glass companies in the United States, and has been in its current location since 1921. Skilled craftsmen have produced handcrafted Blenko glass for four generations.

Blenko Glass Company located at 9 Bill Blenko Dr., off exit 28 of Interstate 64 in Milton. Other attractions nearby include antique shops and a large flea market. To read more about the festival and to view a schedule of demonstrations, log on to www.blenkoglass.com.