Tradition, history, power, and beauty of Kifwebe Mask
The word Kifwebe means “mask” for the people of the Congo River basin, the Luba and Songye tribes. High-ranking, ruling elite men in a tribal secret brotherhood called Bwadi Bwa …
Basket in the Wounaan Tradition
HH owns a lovely ten inch tall Panamanian basket made by indigenous Darien Rainforest artists in the Wounaan tradition. You see a lifelike bat design woven into the fibers. I …
Decanter With a Special Shape
JE owns an elegant Art Deco green glass decanter trimmed with gold leaf with an eleven inch clear glass stopper. It likely originated in Italy or Czechoslovakia in the 1930s …
Our Family’s Boston Sharpener
Few illustrious tourist attractions in Ohio rank higher than the Reverend Paul Johnson’s Pencil Sharpener Museum located in the middle of the State. The reverend’s wife donated it after he …
Pair of Standing Nodding Magots
A plump grotesque porcelain figure in the Asian style, the head nods, hands bob up and down, tongue lolls in the smiling mouth. We call this a nodding magot, a …
Grandparents Spanish Lady Painting
EF, who receives my monthly “Stuff-Whisperer” newsletter, read that I visiting my brother in Malaga, Southern Spain the first two weeks of September. Because I experienced Andalusian culture recently she …
The Nightmare Before Christmas Light Trail
The world of realistic visual arts recently gained a new interactive, immersive seasonal experience. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Light Trail takes place until November 30 at New York’s …
Rococo Mirror with Elaborate Shapes and Etched Glass
You know what you look like every morning because you look in a bathroom mirror. But until the 15th century no European owned a glass mirror. If you wanted to …
Early American Quilt Making
Let me tell you a story about facing survival with patches of fabric. A member of the Coastal Quilters Guild of Santa Barbara and Goleta brought a quilt back to …
Spanish Colonial Revival Floor Lamp Tells Story
JE owns a beautiful wrought iron Spanish Colonial Revival Torchiere floor lamp hand wrought from the 1920s-30s. This lamp came on the market when electricity for lighting the home was …