My train trip to Obama's presidential inauguration, and a visit to the American Antiques Show!
Update: Here is a great shot of the inauguration taken for Vanity Fair by my good friend and photographer Todd Eberle
On Wednesday evening, a group of us from my company attended the Gala Benefit Preview of the American Antiques Show (TAAS), held at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 125 West 18th Street in New York City. A very popular show for the past eight years, TAAS features some of the finest dealers in seventeenth to twentieth century American folk art, furniture, Native American art, decorative arts, and fine arts. Net proceeds from this preview benefit the American Folk Art Museum, a most extraordinary collection of American Folk Art and Americana, dating from the eighteenth century to present day. The show runs through this Sunday and it was amazing to see. And I encourage anyone visiting New York City to pay a visit to the American Folk Art Museum – it’s fascinating.
Here is a list of some of the exibitors I visited:
20th-Century Decorative Arts, Especially the American Arts and Crafts Movement
Russ and Karen Goldberger/RJG Antiques
American Antiques, Folk Art, and Decoys in Original Paint
The Herrs
Pennsylvania German Decorative Arts and 18th- and 19th-Century American Textiles and Pewter
Just Folk
Unique American Folk and Outsider Art
Allan Katz Americana
Period American Folk Art and Americana
Judith & James Milne
American Folk Art, Country Furniture, and Garden Antiques
Stella Rubin
American Antique Quilts and Textiles; Silver and Gold Jewelry with a Specialty in Mexican Jewelry and Hollowware
Stephen Score Inc.
stephen.score@verizon.net
American Antiques, Paintings, and American Folk Art
Great to see Martha showing us fabulous Folk Art--especially quilts and textiles from the extraordinary dealer Stella Rubin. She always gets the goods!
Posted by: Nancy gibson | January 22nd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Martha I hope you are feeling better.
Enjoy your weekend
Pam from California
Posted by: Pam From California | January 22nd, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I too am a great fan of the American Folk Art Museum--a real treasure in NYC. Along with its interesting exhibits, it is a wonderfully designed space!
Thanks for sharing all the American folk art examples in your blog tonight.
Posted by: MMC in San Diego | January 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
The beautiful quilt shown in photo 24 is applique in the Baltimore Album style, not patchwork. The individual blocks are appliqued and then sewn together with sashing. The red triangles may or may be pieced, appliqued or prairie points. I can't tell from the photo.
Posted by: Diane | January 22nd, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Does Mr. Karch like to collect plaid? This is a blanket statement, I think he does
Posted by: hardboiledegg | January 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 am
Martha don't be Buffaloed by the photographer in the checked jacket.
also can you re-visit the way these dealers polish their antiques what is the safest best way to clean up one's silver.
Posted by: hardboiledegg | January 23rd, 2009 at 1:16 am
Hi, Martha,
Thanks for the post about the Gala Benefit of the American Antiques show at the Metropolitan Pavilion filled with such beautiful folk art, furniture, North American art, decorative arts, as well as fine arts. That quilt is stunning!
Thanks also for the list of exhibitors.
I hope you are feeling better.
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy | January 23rd, 2009 at 2:10 am
The quilt you loved so much would be great inspiration for a line of table linens and casual china. Those patterns mixed with some strong blocks of solid color would be so bright and cheerful!
Posted by: Wayne M | January 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 am
Martha,
You are so wonderful and so generous will all that you have sharing it all so gladly with all of us. I have been reading your posts regularly for a while now and really enjoying them.
I think you should run for public office. How about Ministry of the Interior ?
Your skills deserve to be recognized at the national and international level. I would definitely support you for nay public office you may want to run for. Just send an e-mail to Obama before he fills all his posts !!!
Good luck,
Lika.
Posted by: Lika L. Levi | January 23rd, 2009 at 2:17 am
Good Morning! Martha!
(Thanks...),the plastered eggs/beans?,are they used for forming designs in concrete (what's the word for it)? And pic #19, the button display?, gives me some more ideas...I've got many interesting antique buttons. And pic #13, the pencils?, must be a Virgo's collection.
My word! You are so right,so much to see!
P.S. A past 'Living' article got me wondering if my Dad is somewhere in one of the military formation photographs...he was WW1.
Posted by: tinay | January 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 am
Martha, we only have to watch your show or read your magazine to know you keep American folk art alive and well with all your talented crafters and creators. Knowing that thrills me to no end because we had such gifted ancestors.
Of course long winters, hot summers and no other ideal time outlets helped their creativity.
Posted by: Margie | January 23rd, 2009 at 4:51 am
Martha I am so happy that you take seniors to places they never would have visited. I love following you on all of your journeys. Your pictures let us see things that our eyes would never see if it were not for you. So thank you and please continue to take us on your journeys.
Ann Durocher
Posted by: Ann Durocher | January 23rd, 2009 at 5:09 am
Hi Martha,
Great blog! I like the iron lion too.
I would love to see some video clips of some of your wonderful adventures, and I would especially like to see clips of your dogs. Have you thought about getting a Flip camera and posting short videos?
Posted by: Jon Mondrik | January 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 am
Hi Martha:
I especially liked the needlecraft in the shadow box and the quilt in pictures 24 and 49. So beautiful but everything you captured was amazing or unusual, especially the blankets and the rugs. Kevin has great taste - $18,000 for that silver set, yow! Maybe he would settle for a mercury glass ice bucket. If so, I’ll send him one.
I would like to visit New York for two reasons; to see your show and to visit all of the museums. In the meantime, I am so glad you share your wonderful pictures with us. Thanks! Trish
P. S. Your hair looks nice parted on the left. I think it looks fuller than when you part it on the right. (Yes, we notice just about everything!)
Posted by: Trish | January 23rd, 2009 at 6:47 am
Hi Martha, Oh, what a wonderful blog about your visit to the TAAS antique show! I just spent an hour ohing and ahing over your fantastic photos and comments about this fabulous show. I love all of these things! If I ever get to New York, I would certainly choose this as a must visit. I especially enjoy any items made of wood, all quilts and pottery. My grandfather had a lathe and also did wood carvings and my grandmother made numerous quilts. I used to make pottery items in college. I even won a blue ribbon at the Kittitas County Fair many years ago! Did you, Robin or Kevin buy anything at that wonderful exhibit? Thanks so much for sharing and taking us along. Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | January 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 am
Ooo, you look so sleek. I love that coat.
The quilt is nice too
Posted by: Sylvie | January 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
Hi Jon,
I'm glad you're so interested in my dogs and I want to tell you about a very exciting development. Very soon, Francesca and Sharkey are going to have their very own blog! It will feature all sorts of story lines and information, including videos. So we will keep you posted.
Posted by: Martha Stewart | January 23rd, 2009 at 10:05 am
The American Antiques Show looked absolutely fabulous, Martha! I'm especially drawn to folk art - another beat of a drum to which I march! I had to chuckle how you were drawn back to the marble relief Noah's Ark (you really want that, don't you?!! - get it! - it's lovely and you'll find a place for it!) [giggle] I love old samplers and frakturs AND weathervanes, too! I would LOVE to someday own a woven coverlet, especially one woven in Pennsylvania, or Ohio...they have always called my name. I'm especially fond of crocks and crock jugs, redware, yellowware, and most of all (my most favorite), salt-glaze pottery. OMGoodness!...I've been in whole booths of nothing but salt-glaze vessels, and I swear my heart skips a beat! Was pottery displayed at this show too?
One caption to one of the furniture maker's wares referred to bureaus. It invoked some tucked-away memories to come to the surface - my grandmother used to refer to a bedroom dresser as the 'bureau', or a tall (cherry)chest of drawers as the 'highboy'. She also called the sofa/couch a 'davenport'...remember those days?! Those WERE the days, looking back...
Your favorite quilt from the Clements family is from Montgomery County, Maryland...just a few counties away from my native Washington County. It IS a beautiful, colorful quilt, with intricate handiwork and stitching- a real pick of the show, wouldn't you say?!...
Enjoy our 'heatwave' today, Martha...it goes back away after today. Woe is me.
=^..^=
"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden."--Ruth Stout
Posted by: Cindy Bricker | January 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
(...I'm baaaack...)
I, like Trish, noticed and liked your hair too, Martha, being parted on the opposite side but didn't want to mention it, for fear you'd (and everybody else'd) think I was goofy. (I AM, admittedly, mind you, buttttt...)
Now. If Sharkey and Francesca begin their own blog, I will now absolutely get NOTHING done all day long!
...see what I'm sayin'?!!
=^..^=
Posted by: Cindy Bricker | January 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 am
Well Martha I appoint myself defender of the Chow Chow breed and request a chow chow blog to go with Franny/Sharkey blog. I am for equal doggie fairness in your household. Then comes the cat and donkey,horse, bird, & chicken blogs, how about Martha's Companions and blog on all your babies!
Pam from California
Posted by: Pam From California | January 23rd, 2009 at 12:22 pm
My favorite museum in Washington DC is the Textile Museum.
Posted by: Sarah | January 23rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Martha,
Since you are a beautiful and 'regal' Leo I hope you bought that statue of the reagl lion.
You deserve it!!!
Michael Anthamatten
Muskogee, OK
Posted by: michael anthamatten | January 23rd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Hi to Cindy Bricker:
Go ahead, get goofy or should I say goofier! (I think I see a smile!) I’m just saying, I have never felt uncomfortable with giving Martha a compliment and you shouldn't either. I'm simply a point blank person, like say it now or forever hold it. I sometimes tell Martha when I don't like something so I think it's good to even things out with positive remarks too. I really did like her hair!
Carry on....your posts are fun to read and btw, I remember davenports and bureaus. Sshh! Trish
Posted by: Trish | January 24th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Wow.. This was truly a historical occasion. Visiting the Inaugration must have been a heart pumping experience.
http://SaveFewBucks.Blogspot.com
Posted by: JO | January 24th, 2009 at 10:19 am
lovely colors in the photo and you, quilt, photogs...astonishing browns and greys. a charming symphony.
Posted by: victoria thorne | January 24th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Martha, that photo by Todd Eberle will be an icon for this era. How wonderful that we got to see it first! Good work with this blog. It must take some time from your very busy day! It is appreciated! Thanks.
Posted by: Barbara | January 24th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I enjoyed your comments on your tv show about the Antique Show in town and wrote my daughter who is in grad school at Parson's. I don't think she will have time since she is looking for a different place to live. Re: getting to sleep -Have you tried chamomile tea by Bigelow? It knocks me out. Also if I don't want to get out of bed I breathe so I can hear it and focus on my breathing and soon I am asleep. Good luck!
Also tried the scones- tasty thanks!
Posted by: Kandy Maharas | January 24th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I thought the show was fantastic! Being an admirer of samplers and needlework, myself, I noticed you have several images from M. Finkel & Daughter's booth (sampler, silk embroidery, geometric hooked rug, shadowbox of flowers), and recommend taking a look at their website: http://www.samplings.com.
Posted by: Susan | January 26th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Martha, I love your show and all you do. I record every show so I don't miss anything. I do have two suggestions. Please get the hair out of your eyes. Its very distracting. And when your showing steps to the audience sometimes you move before the camera gets the shot. Please forgive me, I don't mean this to be critical.
Sincerely,
Carol George
Posted by: carol George | January 26th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
hello Martha we love your show in Halifax Nova Scotia I myself watch you daily. I have tried many of your delicious meals . Rose
Posted by: rose stanhope | January 26th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Dear Martha:
We greatly appreciated your inclusion of our painting "Rockbound Coast" by Edward Potthast (circa 1925, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches) on your website pertaining to the American Antiques Show (Photo 27 of 56).
Thank you for your interest and support of TAAS. Keny Galleries and all the exhibitors appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Tim Keny
Posted by: Tim Keny | January 29th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Dear Ms Stewart,
I was consumed by the "redware bug" at the age of 18 (hard to believe it has been thirty years!) and have since had the pleasure of collecting, researching and making (and cooking in) redware pottery. Pipkins, posset pots, beanpots, turkheads and pudding pans are just a few of the unique and unfamiliar pieces that I make and use on the table and in the kitchen. The fantastic range of colors and decoration are never ending! One of my favorite pieces is a Pennsylvania sgraffito plate onto which the potter wrote; "My daughter is a bad girl, I fear that she will never marry". I recently made a Shaker (recipe from the 1880's) steamed ginger sponge in the bundt-like turkshead and served it with homemade mango icecream. My curmudgeon of a friend, a self-described desert hater, ate three helpings of it. I saw this morning that the Food Network filmed at Old Sturbridge Village a fireplace cooking program, using redware pottery.
As-an-aside, as you know, a cobbler is a quickly made pie where perhaps the maker forgot the bottom crust or didn't have enough pastry. In the pottery trade, the cobbler is the last pot made at days end that was quickly thrown to meet the quota and made good enough to get paid.
Well, I could go on...
Good luck with your pottery collection.
Sincerely,
Rick Hamelin
The Pied Potter Hamelin
Posted by: Rick Hamelin | January 29th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Thanks Martha for a tour of the show - would have loved to have seen a million more pictures. Having moved back to Oklahoma - I truly miss all the antique shows!!! Used to bump into you at the Wilton shows!! Would love to see more antique show coverage in the future!! You should also feature the Wilton Craftsmanship show as well!!! Great artisans there to feature!! I miss that show too!!
Maryann
Posted by: Maryann | February 4th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Hello Martha, I so enjoyed all the pictures of the wonderful quilts and antiques. I don't know if you noticed this, but in the needlework picture with the willow tree in it, there seems to be a "face" in the clouds. The picture is number 15 in your album. Anyone you know? Thanks for all you do. Sharon
Posted by: Sharon Giese | February 12th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Martha,
I really enjoyed these wonderful pictures. Oh my goodness I LOVE LOVE LOVE that quilt. I've only made one that took me a year to finish, however that quilt made me rethink that, but making one like that would take me five years now due to a bad back now:(
Martha I can't believe you let something you love get away from you. I know you can afford to buy whatever you like. Life is short so I say if you love something GET IT!
I love you and all you do.
Sherry
Posted by: Sherry Mayes | February 20th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Thanks for sharing your images at the TAAS gala preview, Martha. I too visited TAAS and was very impressed with the selection of antiques and supportive environment. I believe that slide #1 is an African-American quilt made of pieced wools,c. 1920s and displayed at Stephen Score's booth. There were many fine examples of African-American quilts at TAAS and I hope more will be included in the future.
Posted by: Donna in Westfield | February 28th, 2009 at 5:31 am
i was delighted to see your pictures...especially the clock ones...imagine my surpise when i saw the same clock i own, next to the tall case clock!...my clock an E TABER ROXBURY MASS was aquired from a prominent collector in PA...what a hoot it was to see the clock in the show! debbie
Posted by: debbie tarlecky | April 14th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Antiques are absolutely the way forward - such a GREEN way to shop and there's a chance they will be worth something when you no longer need them. We should really support these fairs as the more local events and antique shops too. Stylish recycling like this and vintage clothes rock and are huge business in London now.
Posted by: Natasha Cubitt | April 15th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Martha
are right about those plaster forms! They ARE for making chocolates, or at least the CENTERS of chocolates.
You, as always
They were pushed into trays of dried starch and then buttercream, fondant or alcohol(!) was piped into the depressions left in the starch. When the centers had formed a shell, they were sifted out and the dipped in chocolate.
Posted by: Adriana | July 23rd, 2009 at 2:32 pm