2008 Calendar

   

February 5th, 2008
Dean Lahikainen

Samuel McIntire: Carving an American Style

Mr. Lahikainen will explore McIntire’s work as stunningly displayed in the exhibition of the same title on view at the Peabody Essex through February 24.  While McIntire’s architectural designs transformed Salem’s streetscapes and public spaces, it was his ornamental wood carvings on buildings, ships and furniture that gave the town an unrivaled elegance and charm.  This talk will present new research gleaned from a two year study to authenticate his carved work and to understand its influence in shaping American design.

April 8th, 2008
John Vander Sande

Early (1650-1725) Northshore Furniture: Connoisseurhip & Collecting

John Vander Sande, collector, scholar, and compelling teacher will explore Early (1650-1725) North Shore Furniture:  Connoisseurship and Collecting.  John and Marie Vander Sande have been collecting furniture and related objects appropriate to a first period Essex County, Massachusetts home for 30 years.  John will share their experiences in collecting these objects and the connoisseurship that paralleled these acquisitions.  Highlighted will be the work of the seventeenth-century joiner and chair maker, the woods commonly used, the objects to be found in the home and the Mannerist decorative motifs used to beautify the pieces. Mr. Vander Sande will discuss the role of condition, price, restoration (and detection of such restoration) in determining desirability.  Some examples of furniture will be available for up-close exploration.


May 13th, 2008
Jamie LaFleur

Island Light: Painters of the Isles of Shoals

Jamie Lafleur, owner of The Banks Gallery, ushers in Spring with his May 13th visual “dialogue” across generations, Island Light: Painters of the Isles of Shoals.  A painter and textile pattern designer himself, Mr. LaFleur’s fascination with and appreciation of the New England landscape, as seen through the eyes of both historic and contemporary artists, has led to such significant exhibitions and publications as Visions in Granite, New Hampshire Summer Colonies: Dublin and Cornish, The Boston School, Island Light Monhegan Island, and Island Light Isles of Shoals.

June 10th, 2008
Abby Burch

‘By His Account Rendered:’ The Business of Cabinetmaking in York County, Maine

Abby Burch is the first recipient of the Piscataqua Decorative Arts Research Stipend, a monetary award to enable and promote in-depth study of the arts in the historic Piscataqua Region. Ms. Burch will be presented with the $1,000 gift at the time of her talk.

September 9th, 2008
Julie Lindberg

Folk Art on High: a Close Look at Early Weathervanes from Massachusetts

Americana collector and dealer Julie Lindberg will set her eye on weathervanes in her September 9th talk and workshop, Folk Art on High. The talk will focus on manufacturers of quality vanes, primarily in Massachusetts. Examining form, surface, scarcity and provenance, she will explore why some vanes are commanding such high prices. And because of the prevalence of fakes and the difficulty in detecting them, both authentic and fraudulent weathervanes will be on display for study. Julie Lindberg has been studying the folk art market for over 25 years, while exhibiting at national antique shows.  She and her husband, Carl, began collecting weathervanes in the mid-1990s.

October 7, 2008
Bill Veillette

Preservation and Perseverance: the Rehabilitation of the Colonel Means Mansion.

The season will conclude with Bill Veillette’s October 7th talk, Preservation and Perseverance: the Rehabilitation of the Colonel Means Mansion.  This high-style Georgian house was built in Amherst, New Hampshire, in 1785 by Robert Means, a Scots-Irish merchant who eventually became the wealthiest man in Hillsborough County.  Here, in the parlor, his granddaughter, Jane Means Appleton, married Franklin Pierce in 1834.  The house paneling is attributed to Major John Dunlap.  Bill Veillette will share this six-year rehabilitation project and his continuing efforts to restore missing decorative features and research the home’s occupants and associations.  Executive Director of the New Hampshire Historical Society, Mr. Veillette is a true friend of New Hampshire and preservation in many different manifestations.

Lectures Are Free For Society Members And $10.00 Each For The General Public

All Lectures Take Place At Strawbery Banke Museum’s Tyco Visitor Center, Just Off Of Hancock Street in Portsmouth, NH.

Lectures Start At 5:30 PM With Wine & Cheese Served Before Each Lecture
 
   
 
For further information contact info@pdasociety.org