WATCHING her father carry a new piece of artwork into the family home was a regular sight for Danielle Frolich.
The art wasn't his own. Aside from the fact that his mother was a painter, he had no artistic background.
He simply loved collecting art.
"I was so enthralled with it," Frolich says.
"He was always bringing art home ... it was like another member of our family."
Her father, Rick Frolich, is still an avid collector. And now, so is she.
Frolich is lending some of her beloved pieces to the Samstag Gallery as part of its Revealed exhibition, a tribute to the private art collectors of South Australia.
Frolich, who studied art history and theory in university and has been collecting art "officially" for five years, says collecting is like an addiction.
"(But) it's a meaningful purchase," she says.
"A picture is a part of history and it will live on past you."
Her husband Marc has also found joy in collecting and the couple enjoy wandering galleries both here and interstate to stumble upon their next obsession.
Their three-year-old son, Louis, sees the fun in his parents' hobby.
"One of his favourite outings is to go to art galleries and he's already started showing an opinion, he will point at something and say, `I like this one mummy'," Frolich, 38, says.
"I know he's really in love with Lisa Roet's work, she does all these sculptures that are very tactile."
Some of Roet's sculptures can be found at the Frolich household, as well as paintings by Richard Lewer and photography by Trent Parke. The couple have made the conscious decision to support contemporary artists in their age bracket and have more than 35 pieces on display.
Many think their hobby is an expensive one, Frolich says.
"A lot of my friends will mistake it's a lot more expensive than what it has to be, but you enter at a level that's accessible to you.
"We only really buy for the love of the work - we know if it's going to be on our wall we'll appreciate it and we'll get the money's worth of it."
People like the Frolichs contribute to the visual arts scene in a special way.
As Samstag director Erica Green says, they "help provide the bread and butter to artists".
A lot of the time, collectors are the ones who supported artists before their careers catapulted.
And collectors come from all walks of life - from the very rich to people on budgets.
"We hear of the rich famous movie star collectors that buy really important works but you can also buy work on a budget and often work will accrue in value," she says.
"That's all part of the excitement of it."
Revealed will exhibit the work of 37 contemporary artists, as drawn from 30 private collections across South Australia. It opens tomorrow night at 6pm.
Revealed - Inside the private collections of South Australia: Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Hawke Building, City West Campus, University of South Australia, 55 North Tce, Adelaide, Tuesday to Friday, 11am-5pm and weekends 2pm-5pm. Until July 22. Details: 8302 0870
Source: east-torrens-messenger.whereilive.com.au
Outdoor patio furniture that can't take the outdoors - CBC
Source: www.cbc.ca
A rare stop for Great Race - Buffalo News
[getrss.in: unable to retrieve full-text content]
The Great Race -- the annual antique automobile competition -- is coming to Buffalo for the first time in 25 years, with a stop at the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce-Arrow Museum. As they motor thousands of miles in nine days around the Great ...Source: www.buffalonews.com
Westport woman looks to host antique, vintage markets on Sundays in July - Norwalk Hour
Westport woman looks to host antique, vintage markets on Sundays in July
Hour Photo/ Alex von Kleydorff. A retriever with a bird is the handle of a shoehorn that is part of the antiques collection of Debra Press
Westport woman looks to host antique, vintage markets on Sundays in July
Hour Photo/ Alex von Kleydorff. Reflectors for candles are part of the antiques collection of Debra Press
Posted: Monday, June 18, 2012 7:30 pm | Updated: 9:06 pm, Mon Jun 18, 2012.
WESTPORT -- Deborah Press has a knack for finding antique and vintage treasures.
With a 25-year career of both restoring and collecting the items, the Westport-based antiques dealer has approached town officials to host an open-air market on Sundays at the Saugatuck Metro-north train station. The market, Press said, would allow others to build their own prized collection of unique items.
"I thought, there aren't any outdoor antique markets in Fairfield County and the closest one is in New Milford at the hugely popular Elephant's Trunk (flea market)," Press said. "I've always wanted to do this and figured it would be great for Westport and Saugatuck."
Press said she plans to have between 80 and 100 vendors at the market, which will run through the fall, offering everything from small collectibles to antique jewelry and pricey pieces. She hasn't been able to line anyone up yet, however, because town officials have not given her proposal the green light.
On June 14, Press presented her plan to the Westport Board of Selectmen, but was told it needed further review by the Westport police before it could be approved. Press said she remains optimistic about the idea of an antique market and plans to speak to the police this week.
If all goes well, Press plans to host her first market on July 22 and employ those living in units operated by Homes with Hope to assist the vendors. Calling it a "perfect match", Press said they would help sellers set up their displays and a series of other tasks to make for a smooth day for both vendors and shoppers.
"I looked around for a beneficiary and thought Homes with Hope would be a great fit," Press said. "I plan on charging a $2 admission fee to the market and those funds would go straight to Homes with Hope."
Homes with Hope President Jeff Wieser said he supports the idea because a lot of his clients would directly benefit from it.
"Many have a tough time getting jobs, so this seemed like a great opportunity for about a dozen or so to be employed," Wieser said. "We will also benefit from some of the financial aspects of the market for sure."
Press, who previously ran a business called Carlyle Restoration in New York, said she plans to call the market "WAVE", which stands for Westport Antique and Vintage Markets.
While everything remains up in the air at the moment, Press said she hopes to have local Westport businesses sell refreshments and possibly ice cream to recharge shoppers.
"I think this will be exciting for the area and will give people something to do on a Sunday," Press said. "They can stop by the market and go out to eat after at one of the many restaurants in the area."
Posted in Westport on Monday, June 18, 2012 7:30 pm. Updated: 9:06 pm.
Source: www.thehour.com
Antique engines create modern wonder - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
For a while Saturday, 6-year-old Trevor Lyons was fascinated by a wonder of technology that was as fresh to him as the latest video game — only it was 100 years old.
Trevor watched as soda cans he dropped into a little slot were crushed by a piece of wood pushed along with the power of a gasoline engine built in 1912. His sister, Tammy Lyons, could see a bucket catching the crushed cans was close to overflowing.
"OK Trevor, give it a break for a minute, look at your bucket," she said.
Tammy, though, hoped her brother's interest in small engines would linger. "He'll probably grow up with the microchip," she said.
The engine, built by International Harvester, was one of perhaps 200 antique gasoline, kerosene and steam engines and farm tractors on display Friday and Saturday at the New Old Town Picnic in St. Peters' Old Town Park. Formerly known as the Olde Tyme Picnic, the event also featured rides, food, a beer garden, music, a horse show and a tractor pull.
Many of the antique engines sputtered and hummed along, some with large spinning flywheels that rhythmically moved pistons back and forth. Their owners and restorers, members of the Illinois and Missouri Tractor and Engine Club, were demonstrating cutting-edge technology from the early 1900s to World War II, particularly in rural areas.
"I just like to watch them," said Tom Nowak of New Boston, Mo., about 25 miles southwest of Kirksville. His 1910 'six-mule team" engine, built by Associated Manufacturers of Waterloo, Iowa, was pumping water. "I could sit there watch that all day."
Before electrical lines were available throughout the country, engines were used to supply power to pump water, wash clothes, grind corn, cut wood, move conveyer belts, thresh wheat and perform a host of other tasks.
"They were used wherever you needed power at," said club President John Zalabak, 64, of Foristell. "It was pretty hard to pump water or run a saw with horses."
Small fueled engines became less common around World War II, when many were turned into scrap metal, and available electricity brought with it new efficient electrical engines. Amish and Mennonite farmers still use fuel engines, which also remain in common use in India and Africa.
Near the club's display in a shaded area, traffic moved by on Interstate 70. Zalabak said the small engines helped lead the way toward modern automobiles.
"Basically what we've got are four-cycle engines that were doing the same things that our car engines are doing today," he said. "It's a whole lot simpler here."
Small one- to two-horsepower gasoline or kerosene engines were part of a technological evolution that began in the 19th century, he said.
"Just about anybody that could meld metal was experimenting with these engines," Zalabak said.
"There were 500 companies once upon a time," Nowak said. In 1910, Nowak's engine cost $150. Zalabak said smaller engines may have cost $40 to $75, a lot of money for the times.
Many club members are old enough to remember when they were used. Zalabak, a tool and dye maker for more than 40 years, became interested in mechanics when he was a kid hanging around an old blacksmith shop.
"I grew up on a farm. Of course I couldn't hardly stay in the farm business back then," said Tom Forster, 72, of Warrenton. Forster had rigged up the can crusher. He had four old International Harvester engines running, the others dating back to the 1920s.
"Like like most farm kids in my generation, I went to the city to get a job that paid every Friday instead of once or twice a year," said Forster, a retired UPS manager. "I always said when I was a kid that someday I would own some tractors and engines." He now has 50 small engines and 30 tractors.
George Ehll, 78, used to go with his father to thresh grain using huge steam tractors that functioned as movable sawmills and harvest machines. His father, who in the early 1900s started St. Peters Garage in what now is the city's Old Town section, had several of the machines.
Ehll had his 10-ton engine, built in 1910 by A.D. Baker Co. of Swarton, Ohio, set up as a portable sawmill on the park grounds. It's more similar to an old steam railroad locomotive than a modern tractor and wasn't designed to pull a plow. "Years ago, they traveled from here to there, all the way out to the country, going about 3 to 4 miles an hour," Ehll said.
"I've been bitten by the bug a long, long time ago," said Dave Endres, 57, of Kirkwood, who admitted he was wandering the engine club area to "pick the brains" of club members.
Endres and Nowak said the engines are available from collectors and at auctions. Occasionally a "barn find" — a piece of equipment or tractor literally stored away in a barn — shows up.
Barn finds are becoming less common, along with interest from younger collectors or enthusiasts. "They're interested in electronics," Forster said. "Something mechanical like that, they don't want to get their hands dirty."
Zalabak and others fear that mechanical knowledge as well as a bit of history may be lost.
"My grandkids — one that's a little bit mechanical is fine — but a couple of them could care less," Zalabak said. "They're not interested. When their car breaks down they haven't got a clue as to what's wrong with it or what's going on with it."
Still, working with old engines isn't easy — steam can scald, fuels are flammable, and moving flywheels and pistons and parts can literally exact a pound of flesh. An ambulance arrived at the club's display Saturday afternoon to attend to an engine owner who got too close. Zalabak said the person lost part of his thumb.
Endres, who teaches some high school shop classes, said some states have outlawed them. "I tell my kids that if one kid gets hurt, this class is gone forever," he said.
Source: www.stltoday.com
No comments:
Post a Comment