Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show

Antiquing with Della - Stranded in South Texas

2011-12-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

Save the dates Friday March 9 & Saturday March 10, 2012 for the 49th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique & Art Show in Fort Worth, Texas. We are busy signing up 75 fabulous dealers from coast to coast, with a few surprises in tow. Our 2012 blog starts soon after Christmas.
Just for fun, see below for the true tale of an antiquing family, as told from the perspective of the youngest member. Enjoy the story and share it with a friend.

Stranded in South Texas

An Occasional Column
by Della Orr-Harter (then age 2)
as Told to her Mother

So, we decided to take a vacation, whatever that is. Driving from the top of Texas to the very bottom at Padre Island, we had a few stops. Mom says that might be an understatement, whatever that is.

First we filled the Big Red van with our empty banana boxes and drove them to Austin so that my brother Jack could pack up his dorm room. Antiques dealers never throw away boxes. Daddy says our boxes have names. He calls one of them Methuselah. We drop off the empty boxes for Jack and promise to come back.

While we’re in Austin, we deliver a folk art basket woven from plastic Wonder Bread bags to Jane, who was Mother’s customer in New York and now lives in Texas. Jane loves the basket because it is an “over-the-edge antique,” which is the only kind she buys. Then we spend the night on the couch at Uncle Jim and Aunt Karen’s house. They have a fish on the wall where you push the button and it sings “Don’t worry, be happy.” Uncle Jim lets me push it over and over. It’s wonderful.

Early the next day, we go to San Antonio to the art studio of Mother’s customer Bettie and her assistant Loretta who is an interior designer. Mom has brought Loretta a bed, a standing Ranch Oak lamp, a cactus lamp, a big painting and other items to try out in a dude ranch that Loretta is decorating. We unload everything and then look at Bettie’s big colorful canvases. They are beautiful. And all around the studio and living area are the antique pillows that Bettie buys from my mom. They are full of color too. We promise to come back on our way home to pick up whatever pieces Loretta doesn’t want. Now, on to the ocean, whatever that is.

Before we get to the ocean, we have to visit all the antique stores in Corpus Christi that Mom and Dad went to years ago. Mom remembers buying her first Bauer dishes in Corpus. Once at a thrift shop there, they found a folk art landscape done during the 1920s. On the back it said, “Painted in exchange for lunch and overalls.” When we go back today most of those old stores are full of reproductions and new merchandise. Mom doesn’t like new stuff. (But she likes me.) We shopped all day long and bought a $3 painting and an old picture book for me, Honey Bunch Rides West. (I am a cowgirl.)

We get directions to one more store out in the country that is sort of on our way to pick up Daddy that night at the Harlingen airport and then on to the ocean.

But we don’t make it to Harlingen. Out near the edge of the King Ranch, which is near the edge of nowhere, the Big Red van goes plunck, plunck, plunck and we are stuck by the side of the road. Mom says “Oh, x!#x!” and I say “Don’t worry, be happy.”

A family stops. They are on the way to the high school baseball game and can drop us off at the Dairy Queen in the nearest town, which is Robstown, Texas. At the Dairy Queen Mom calls the auto club. The closest tow service in the club can get there in 4 hours. Mom says no dice and calls a local tow truck. A man named Raymond is just finishing his dinner and comes right away with the truck and takes us back to the van. I like sitting in his big truck.

While Raymond hauls our broken van onto the tow truck bed, Mom calls Dad to say, “Don’t fly to Harlingen. We’re stuck and going back to the Ford place in Corpus Christi.” Dad had just sat down on the airplane. They let him off so he can fly to us on another plane. See, don’t worry.

Raymond takes us first to the car rental place where Mom locates the smallest car on the planet. Out of the broken van Raymond and Mom pull my car seat, my diapers, my stroller, my food, my toys, beach towels, lotion, bug spray, books, clothes for 3 people, an ice chest and a few other things. Raymond just laughs as we stuff it all in the tiny car and follow him to the Ford place.

It is now dark and the Ford place is closed. We decide to leave Big Red outside the gate and call them in the morning. But Big Red won’t come off the tow truck. Raymond pushes and pulls, but the tires are locked. While I’m in the rent car watching, Mom gets out the gallon of water she always carries just in case. Raymond pours it on the tires and with a WOOSH, Big Red flies off the back of the trailer, rolling backwards down the street. This is not good. Mom’s on one side and Raymond’s on the other, running after it, digging their feet into the road to finally make Big Red stop. Don’t worry. Be Happy.

We thank Raymond, who says it has been a heck of a ride, and we drive in the rent car to the Corpus airport. We could have gone to find a motel, but Mom is still shaking a little and thinks we better just sit and wait for Daddy. There he is! We manage to fit us all in the car and Daddy takes us to a motel. We could have driven on to Padre Island, but we decide to take it easy. It is almost midnight. Will I ever see the ocean? The next morning, we go by the Ford place. They will call us soon, they say. And a couple of hours later, we are at the ocean.

In South Padre Island there are no antiques stores. It’s great. We are really on vacation. We go to the beach, we eat shrimp every day, we wash off the sand with bubble baths and Daddy talks to the Ford place. Several times a day Daddy talks to the Ford place. Finally, they say they can fix it in a week. Don’t worry. On our last night of vacation, we eat at a restaurant on the water and I wear my new sunglasses during the whole meal.

The next day, we take Daddy to the airport and head back toward Corpus to wait for the van. We’ll just have to shop for antiques all week. Our first stop is Kingsville. Remember the King Ranch? At the Opera House Antiques, in an old opera hall, we buy a Ranch Oak lamp with a hand-painted shade. Feeling lucky, Mom plunks down $67 for her own Mother’s Day present (Dad and I had forgot). It’s a big yellow Bauer mixing bowl with no cracks, a treat. At the Kingsville Goodwill I tried on a straw sombrero hat and got 3 dresses for 99 cents each. This is the life!

On the way out of town, Mom hits the brakes of the tiny car and circles back for a junkyard. We like junkyards. This one has a little house in the middle. Anybody home? Out comes Tony Taco, a gentleman who had lived here with his wife for 40 years. Her nickname had been Enchilada and the whole junkyard had started by selling a $4 basket of corn. From there it had grown to include old restaurant tables and benches, old playground stuff, old computers, car parts, big plastic formerly neon letters from stores out of business and plaster figures that look ancient because of the ocean air.

Mom looks through everything and sets aside a plaster Jesus. She digs through the piles of old store sign letters, piling up an S and an R and a P. “Do we have a potential snake problem here?” she asked. “Well, sort of,” said Tony Taco and Mom started being more careful. She sees a big board in the garage and tugs and tugs and pulls out an 8-foot long sign that says “Chalupas” painted in big blue letters. She is happy. Hot Tamale Antiques (that’s us) buys a chalupa sign from Tony Taco whose wife was Enchilada. While Tony and mom laugh about this, I knock over the plaster Jesus and off comes his head. “At least it’s a clean break,” says Tony, “You can fix it. Don’t worry.” Isn’t that what I always say? We pay Tony and agree to come back and pick up the letters, the sign and the headless Jesus as soon as we get our van back.

Over the next few days, we try to hit every antique store in south Texas. In Corpus at Patsy’s Forget Me Not Shop, a cast iron bathtub sits on a 25-foot pole above the store. Inside are jukeboxes, fancy enamel letters, and an elephant ride from an old grocery store. Next door we visited If Wishes Were Dishes, room after room of neatly organized second-hand dishes. We never found a person, just rooms stacked with dishes. Across the street at Betty’s Trash and Treasures we liked a 6 foot yellow ruler which had been a prop in a photography studio and an old blue painted pool cue wall rack from a Mexican bar for $40. We should have bought that, but the tiny rent car said, no way. We almost bought a Bauer olive green #10 massive bowl for $135 with a note taped to it that said, “This is what you shop in these kind of stores for.”

Next door at the Wild Goose Chase, a name that made mother laugh for some reason, I got a big tin spinning top just like Mom used to have. She found a small antique Saltillo weaving in a dust pile under a broom. Jerry, the owner, said, “I was going to give that to the first person who showed an interest and you’re it.” This has been our lucky trip. We even went to a junk auction one night where we sat next to another dealer who might actually be Santa Claus, beard and all. At the auction we bought a folk art terrarium, maybe the only one out there. We did not buy the 1940’s dress patterns, the chippy painted folding stools, the broken Roseville or the old green paint wooden ice cream bucket, which we should have bought.

Now all this time that we are shopping in the world’s smallest car, we are also staying at the world’s cheapest motel. Mom found a real winner this time. On the last day of the week we drive down to the New England-style seaport village of Rockport. If you are ever stuck in South Texas, shop here first. At B & P Resale we found a Beacon blanket and a vintage red vest for me with horses on it. At the Piddlers and Peddlers Resale shop we found a 1953 Airstream trailer decorated with real longhorns for $6,000. We really should have bought that, but you won’t believe what came next. At Red Man Trading Co., they have a whole wall of fish that sing “Don’t worry, be happy.” It’s incredible!

But, even with the fish, Mom’s favorite store was Mary Anne’s Antiques, full of Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts furniture. For $185 we could buy the best 6 foot tall Mission Oak hat stand in South Texas from the c. 1910 Bishop Elliot Lodge, an old Camp Fire Girl retreat along the coast. We measured and unloaded and re-loaded and managed to squeeze part of the hat rack in the tiny car, part hanging out of the window, tied in. It just fit, so we bought it. Mother is an old Camp Fire Girl herself.

Our last stop was Carolyn’s Antiques where Carolyn was sitting on the floor covering a bird-bath with shards of beautiful Fiesta pottery. It turns out that there’s a 1910-1950 old garbage dump where Carolyn goes to dig for pieces of old dishes to make into new things. It also turns out that Carolyn, sitting here on the floor in front of us, is the reigning oyster eating champion of Rockport, Texas. This year she ate 132, but her record is 159. She’s starting to slow down, she says. I like Carolyn.

Now it’s time to call the Ford place and tell them we’re on the way. Well, they say, we’re not finished---maybe Monday. Monday!!! Mom calls Dad. “I’ve been in a flea bag motel with a baby for a week. I can’t make it to Monday!” She is so disgusted that we go into the Big Fisherman restaurant at 3 pm where she orders all-you-can-eat fried oysters for herself and a steak dinner for me. Meanwhile, Daddy calls our Ford place at home. That Ford place calls the Ford place in Corpus. And the Ford place in Corpus calls Mom and says, “It’ll be ready when you get here.”

And it was. And for some reason, the Ford people just stand there and stare at us while Mom pulls from the rent car and loads into the Big Red van my car-seat, my stroller, my diapers, my food, my toys, clothes for 3 people, an ice chest, books, bug spray, beach towels, about 10 bags of our purchases, a few other things and a 6 foot tall Mission Oak hat rack.

Tony Taco & Big Red

Glad to be in our own Big Red van, we drive straight to Tony Taco’s to pick up the pile of plastic letters, the 8 foot chalupa sign and the headless Jesus. All in all, a terrific vacation. And did I mention the ocean?

For some reason, Mom is still laughing. Maybe she just remembered that we still have to go back to Loretta and the dude ranch in San Antonio and then to pick up Jack’s banana boxes in Austin! But you know what? That’s a whole other story. So until then, happy trails--- and keep looking for the big one. Your friend, Della

Copyright Jan Orr-Harter, 2002
See you at the show this March 9-10, 2012. Don't worry, be happy--and happy holidays to all.

Happy Birthday, Dolly Johnson!

2011-12-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

Save the dates March 9-10, 2012 for the show!
This week marks Dolly Johnson's birthday.
Who the heck was Dolly Johnson?

The late Dolly Johnson, the founder of our show, was a mid-twentieth century character in Fort Worth, Texas. Though tiny and with a soft voice, she had a big Texas personality. Instead of big hair, she had a big heart. Together with her husband Rip Johnson, Dolly and Rip brought energy, excitement and passion to everything they touched. They loved Fort Worth and Fort Worth loved them.

Rip was the General Manager of Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum for many years. He brought fresh new entertainment to Fort Worth—the Harlem Globetrotters, the Ice Capades, major musical acts and more. Perhaps you have driven on Rip Johnson Way, the road named for him at Will Rogers Memorial Center today. Rip brought ice hockey to Fort Worth, including my Yankee hockey player, Tom Harter.

I call Dolly “a character” because people of all ages, from many places have told me that they knew Dolly Johnson and that they have never known anyone else like her. Their very first words about her tend to recount a late night event or phone call. Apparently Dolly had a light-hearted view of time. The middle of the night was fair game for friendship, visits and phone calls. She was a character and she had character. I wish that I had known her.

Just this week, I heard two new Dolly Johnson stories. When illustrator Louis Daniel retired after 25 years with Fort Worth's Witherspoon advertising agency, he started taking on printing projects on his own. One of his clients was Dolly Johnson, for whom he printed antique show programs for many years. "Dolly was so enthusiastic about antiques herself," says Louis, "that it just rubbed off on everybody else."

Louis told me about Dolly's station wagon, "Uncle Sam," in which she would excitedly set off on buying trips near and far. "She would come back with things tied to the top of Uncle Sam that you would not believe. She went to Pennsylvania and came back with a row of three folding seats from a Red Goose Shoe Store tied up top." Most of you will not remember the Red Goose Shoe Stores, but I do, including the rows of seats. What a cool thing for a Fort Worth character to drive across the US to buy!

Louis goes on: "Dolly kept the row of seats for a while and then Rip made her have a yard sale to get rid of some things. She sold me the row of seats. As an advertising man, I kept them for many years and then eventually sold them to an advertising friend. Every Christmas we go to her house and visit Dolly Johnson's Red Goose seats."

The other story involved another trip "back east" to the mother-load of American antiques in New England. At this week's rug-hooking group, one of "the hookers," Sue Vanderford, told me about Dolly organizing her friends to attend the estate auction of top-notch antiques dealer Roger Bacon in 1982. (Stay tuned for more stories about the Hookers...) The Dolly Johnson Antique Show in Fort Worth was by then nearly twenty years old and well-known "back East." Sue says that "when we got to the auction in New Hampshire, the auctioneer had saved all the front row seats for us." Maybe he had heard about Dolly's interest in buying seats!

In the show archives I found a yellowed newspaper, the very first volume of Antique News & Views. It had eight pages and two of them told the story of Dolly Johnson taking a group of Texas friends to the very first Heart of Country Antiques Show in Nashville in 1982. The article begins: “Dolly Johnson is a petite, fun-loving 19 year veteran Antique Show manager from Ft. Worth, Texas.”

Nineteen years? A photo with the article shows Dolly with antiques author Mary Emmerling who is described by the reporter as “shockingly youthful.” When Mary Emmerling was just starting out and when Heart of Country was born, Dolly Johnson had already been producing her show in Fort Worth for 19 years. Emma Lee Turney came to do one of Dolly’s shows in order to learn how to start her own show in Round Top, Texas in 1968.

Dolly Johnson never met an estate sale where she couldn’t find some treasure. The collections mounted and filled her new Tanglewood home in Fort Worth. There were quilts and coverlets, found locally and on trips back east. There was plain, primitive, bench-made furniture, very unlike the furniture that most people wanted in post-war America. There was a collection of tiny graniteware child and doll pots and pans and dishes. On and on, the list of well-loved antiques grew each year of Dolly’s life.

In the early 60s, Rip, ever the promoter, dared Dolly to start an antique show. She took him up on it and produced her first show in the spring of 1963. Her focus was American antiques. This was before women’s lib and years before the 1976 Bi-Centennial would light the Americana market aflame.

Influenced by the Dolly Johnson Antique Show, an active group of collectors began to emerge in Fort Worth and to spread across Texas. It was a time when people named shows after themselves, so naturally Dolly named the new show after herself. It was actually known as “Dolly Johnson’s Antique Show.” Today we don’t name shows after an individual’s full name---it’s just that Dolly’s show is one that has survived and evolved and is still going strong. For many, it is simply called “The Dolly Show.”

You can imagine the excitement that must have surrounded Dolly Johnson’s Antique Show when the American Bi-Centennial finally arrived.

I digress here…Does anyone out there remember the celebration of the Bi-Centennial in Fort Worth? Many events were planned, including a huge gathering to hear the symphony at the old Leonard’s M & O Subway parking lot. Well, on the 4th of July, 1976 it poured rain in Fort Worth. Not sprinkles, it rained and rained and rained. And we all went downtown anyway. In the pouring rain, the citizens sat on soaked bales of hay that had been set up like mountains to get us out of the water. I remember eating thoroughly drowned fried chicken.

And with that Bi-Centennial came the new-found craze for antiques. Dolly Johnson had helped to usher it in. Suddenly, abandoned small towns sprouted antique shops and collectors clubs began to form and flourish. Helen Pringle, one of the group that went with Dolly to that first Nashville antique show, writes on our show website about “the long line of shoppers” who began to eagerly await the opening of the Dolly Johnson Show each year. See www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com under “Show History.”

At a recent Marburger Farm Antique Show in Round Top, I sold an enormous Minnesota stepback cupboard to a woman about my age from Houston. I told her about the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show in Fort Worth in March. She looked at me and said, “I knew Dolly Johnson.” Well, it turned out that they were in fact old family friends.

The next day, when Dolly’s friend came back with a truck big enough to carry her cupboard, she handed me a bag. It was a gift. Inside was a marvelous geometric American hooked rug, with all the signs of being well-used. “When I was a young girl, Dolly and I went to an antique show together,” she said. “Dolly picked this rug out for me to have in my future home. I want you to have it now.” The spirit of Dolly endures

So, Happy Birthday, Dolly! Your show must go on!

Blog Photos by Krista Luter

With a Whole Heart - Meet Cissy Thompson

2011-03-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes in the world of antiques your very best find will be a thing. Sometimes it’s a friend. Meet my friend Cissy Thompson, Associate Director of the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show. Cissy and I met over a decade ago when she was helping to run McKinney Avenue Antiques Market in Dallas. In fact, I found a mother-lode of friends in my years as a dealer at McKinney Avenue Antiques. Today Cissy is the face of the Dolly Johnson Show, out and about almost every day to meet and encourage North Texans to check out the show.

Cissy lives in Fort Worth, where her heart belongs to TCU. Her heart also belongs to her husband James and her family. And, luckily for me, her heart has embraced the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show. Cissy, with the help of another McKinney Ave friend Barbara Felty, has delivered thousands of our beautiful show postcards to antique shops in and surrounding the DFW area. She led up the mailing party for the show, organized all the folks who will run the show ticket desks for us and has personally invited most of north Texas. “What’s next?” she asks.

Cissy clipped and sent me a snippet from Parade Magazine with this statement by comedian Aisha Taylor: “I really believe that engaging in everything that you feel excited about keeps you creative, keeps your life interesting.”

Really engaging describes the quality of commitment and energy that Cissy brings to the show and to everything that she selectively determines to do. She has a positive, creative approach to life and, consequently, her life is interesting. Boredom is not part of Cissy Thompson's world.

She teaches me that, if something is worth doing, do it with your whole heart. See Cissy here with more than a few pieces of the brown and white transferware that she collects. Blue and white? Not this cowgirl. Cissy collects deep, not broad.

She did confide, though, that she made an exception and bought the small Texas landscape behind the dishes at last year's Dolly Johnson Show.

Boy, is she going to fall over when she sees the "Texian Campaigne" transferware plates and platters coming to the show with dealer Jerry Wood of LA. These dishes were made about 1842 to celebrate the independence of Texas. Miss Ima Hogg's collection of these dishes is at the Bayou Bend Museum in Houston and the official Texas collection belongs to the Governor's Mansion.

On March 11-12, meet Cissy Thompson and the whole team that will help to create the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here!

Find a discount coupon and show special events at
www.dollyjohnsonAntiqueandArtShow.com

Twelve Days Till Dolly! Come with a Friend

2011-02-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

Twelve days from today, we'll swing open the doors at Will Rogers Memorial Center and the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show will kick up its heels.

Today’s message: Come with a friend.

In selling at antique shows for 22 years, I have done a lot of people watching. I see pairs of people who attend antiques shows together. It may be a couple. It may be sisters. It may be old friends. It may be a date. It may be an interior designer with a special client. It may be best friends. It may be an “antiquing friend.”

Sometimes I see mother-daughter teams shopping together and frequently I see mother and daughter-in-laws. One Thanksgiving weekend, far from my Fort Worth family, I went to an antique show in a Maryland farmer’s field with my mother-in-law Ginny. She bought a necklace with a pendant made out of a vintage silver fork. She loved oddball things like that. Today I cherish that memory of being with her on that beautiful day in that farmer’s field and one of her granddaughters cherishes that funny necklace.

More and more, I see multiple generations at shows---a grandmother and granddaughter, an aunt and a niece. I have realized that those who come to a show in pairs have a different show experience—and it meets different needs---than for those who come with a larger group or who crave to come alone. More on those two shopping styles later.

Two is small enough to stay together, small enough to come in one vehicle and even small enough to have less competition for the same antique that both may covet. It’s a second opinion. It’s also a relationship-nurturing scale. Two can experience their time together as valuable to them. They not only invest in antiques. They invest in time together.

Judy's Antiques- Two winners from Wisconsin

I think of Beverly and Sarah, a mother-daughter team who simply would not go to a show without each other. This is part of what they do together. They each have their own households and their own styles, but they spend time together at antique shows. Sometimes they spur each other on toward a purchase and sometimes they hold each back. They value one another’s opinion. They value one another.

I think of co-workers Kenneth and Caroline. On their days off, they love to shop together. They each listen to what the other would like to have. While one is not looking, they each will whisper, “Hold that, I’ll get it for their Christmas present.” Many presents later, this is a strong friendship. They enjoy the company of beautiful things together. They would have it no other way.

Table for Two-Adele Kerr Antiques

I think of Aimee and Dudley, a young couple with children. They leave the children with a sitter and meander through antique shows to experience an environment together that inspires them to go home and nurture their nest. They shop for antiques and vintage items for their children. The children are in their minds, but this is their time together to gain perspective on their lives. They are not at work, not at the computer, not watching TV. They are moving through an extraordinarily beautiful space together, gaining inspiration for enhancing their own home. I envy them. My husband would rather nap in the car!

I think of mother-daughter Marty and Laura. They live in different cities. They meet at antique shows. The mother buys jewelry—she already has a full house. With the mother’s encouragement, the daughter carefully selects something wonderful that she plans to carry from home to home throughout her life. Someday, when she needs it most, she will look at an antique in her home and it will bring her mother’s presence to her.

Two is a strong number. Two is fun. Two goes a long way.

Who would you like to spend a delightful day with? Call them. Forward this blog to them. Meet them at the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here!

Find a Show Discount Coupon at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Parking Fee Rebate at March 11-12 Dolly Johnson Antique & Art Show

2011-02-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

Antiquers love bargains. Here's a bargain at the March 11-12 Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth: Parking Fee Rebate

For those, like my mother, who can't abide $3-$5 for parking, come anyway! Our dealers will sweeten your deal with a Parking Fee Rebate with your purchase of $50 or more. Mother will still probably park for free at the UNT Medical School on Camp Bowie and walk (and get the rebate). But it will make her happy.

The goal of an antique and art show is to make you happy. To inspire you, give you visual beauty and a form of inner re-creation and rest. This is why we like antiques to begin with. They make us happy. Come to the show, park for $3 or $5. Buy a treat, get your rebate and go home happy.

Park your Wheels at the Show--or find them! Wooden Industrial Molds, Georgia Morel Antiques

PS the $3 lot is on Harley St, just south of the Cowgirl Museum and Cattle Barns. Say hi to my mother.

Real American Pickers

2011-02-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Had a text from Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show dealers Becky Chapman and Mary Jane Schooley that they are shopping for the show in a freezing Pennsylvania. See here the lamb's tongue rug they found today, in such a modern black and white.

Cheeky Mare Antiques

TrueLuck Design -Andrew Church

Others roaming the world include Tammy Strop of The Cheeky Mare Antiques, who just packed up a container in England of 17th, 18th and 19th century finds. The Dolly Johnson Show will get the first pick.

Mary Brady of English Rose Linens is also due home from shopping in England for textiles, lighting and whatever else she can get to Texas. Erik Yang just returned from buying a collection of mid-century modern and retro jewelry in New York. Janet Waldrop of Skip 2 My Lou is somewhere in Paris, likely on her knees, digging through boxes at flea markets while Andrew Church is packing a tight load of all the art and industrial antiques that have come from a season of searching in California.

These folks are out there, living a bit on the edge, in pursuit of antiques and art.

I’m pleased by how many Americans have seen and enjoyed the History Channel’s show, “American Pickers” about two men who travel America, buying and selling antiques from their Sprinter van (they copied me).

A few months ago in Kansas City, I bought a huge industrial metal shelf that needed the bottom straightened out. After it resisted my efforts, I drove this monster over to our local high school and found the Ag-Shop where kids learn to use tools and work on repairs like the one the piece needed. “Sure,” said the teacher, “leave it here and I’ll let the kids hammer it straight.”

So about six young guys climb into my Sprinter and heave the thing out. Off it goes to school. As I’m closing up the van, a couple of them come back and look at me and at the Sprinter----“Are you a picker? Like those guys on TV?”

Well, yes, many of us in the antiques business work as pickers, finding things that are available in one place and taking them to another place where they are harder to find and highly desired. My husband calls it a trucking business.

Now that they had a real live picker, the boys wanted to know more. “What are those?” one boy asked about a pair of polyester vintage pants with the Eiffel Tower printed on them that were hanging on the wall inside the van. I had bought them in, of all places, Oklahoma City. “You like those?” I asked. “If you fix my shelf, I’ll give you the pants.” OK, you got a deal! they all shouted.

Two of the quieter boys hung around and one me asked me, “Do you ever run in to alternators?” Well, as a matter of fact I had seen a fine alternator at a yard sale the weekend before, priced at $30. I didn’t tell them that it was my father’s well-cared-for alternator, but they gave me their phone number and I promised to call if I could acquire the alternator for $25. “Why do you need an alternator?” I asked. They stood up very straight and said, “We’re going to build a windmill.”

When I returned the next week with the $25 alternator, they paid for it all in quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. The group shoved the much-improved industrial shelf back into the Sprinter and I presented them with the Eiffel Tower pants. In what other line of work could this possibly happen?

So, 75 dealer-pickers are out there somewhere right now searching for the best that they can bring to you at the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here. They may even find some Cowboys and Indians. Take a peek and tell a friend.

Fit for a Cowboy!

American dresser and folk art from Paul Ashby

Estate Jewelry with David & Sheila Stallings

Indian figure from Tenny & Al Roche

Now that's an Indian! from J.Compton Gallery

Empty Bowls, Full Hearts

2011-02-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I joined 2,000 other supporters of the Tarrant Area Food Bank in their annual "Empty Bowls" fundraiser in the West Texas Room at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.

In just three weeks the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show will host a Benefit Booth for the TAFB in the very next room. Got stuff? You can help by donating antiques, art, jewelry and vintage collectibles. To donate, contact us through the website at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

See here the 2,000 people lined up in the lobby to pick out their hand-made empty bowls, each donated by a local artist. Instead of a fancy fundraising luncheon, the empty bowls are beautiful creations, plus you get to taste samples of food from the booths of many eateries.

People selected their bowls with care, Here is mine, hand painted by a member of the Fort Worth Porcelain Art Club. Whoever you are, thank you!

Sponsored by Tom Thumb, the event involved many local businesses who gave food samples and silent auction donations.

For the silent auction, the Dolly Johnson Show donated a large folk art wooden bowl from Pennsylvania that had been completely surfaced with tile circles in the 1950s. Leave it to me to go to the mother-lode of Americana and come back with something from the 1950s. (Of course when shopping the flea markets of France, I brought home bakelite and plastic Cowboys and Indians.)

But back to "Empty Bowls"--- last year this event raised over $200,000 to help the Tarrant Area Food Bank provide food to 300 community food banks in 13 Texas counties. Day in, day out, their mission is filling empty bowls. They do it by engaging the local community as supporters and as volunteers.

The Dolly Johnson Show selected the TAFB for our 2011 Benefit Booth because of the involvement of James Thompson who volunteers there regularly to load food onto trucks. James is the husband of Dolly Johnson Show Associate Director, Cissy Thompson. Thank you, James.

By the way, James was the one-man music committee for the upcoming March 11-12 Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, until Cissy and daughter Claudia took it away from him to lower the decibel level. Still, most of his selection survived and you can expect some great tunes between the live sets of Clear Fork Jazz and Paul Cox/Texas Acoustic.

So contact us if you have items to donate for the Tarrant Area Food Bank Benefit Booth at the March 11 -12 Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here.

Get involved or learn more about the Tarrant Area Food Bank at http://www.tafb.org/

Hello, Dolly! Three Weeks Till Showtime March 11-12

2011-02-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hello, Dolly! Coming to Fort Worth March 11-12
Save the Date and Tell a Friend

Hello from the world headquarters of the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show. Three weeks from today, we’ll blast up the volume on Louis Armstrong’s “Hello, Dolly” and fling wide the doors of the Will Rogers Memorial Center. Inside you’ll find 75 of the hardest-working, most creative and visionary antiques and art dealers that we could jam into one exhibit hall. If you are sick of winter, you will love this.

Yesterday I ran into dealer Cathy Harmon who was visiting Fort Worth early. I found her buying a chandelier from our friends at Butler’s Antiques on Eighth Avenue.

See the photo here of Cathy’s booth last year, as well as antiques that she will be bringing.

Like the other 74 dealers in the show, Cathy has “a good eye”---or as Larry McMurtry’s Cadillac Jack put it, she has the ability to see beauty in the dimmest of lights.

So put it on your calendar now:

Friday March 11, 9 am - 7pm with a Happy Hour Party from 4-7 pm and again on Saturday March 12, 9 am - 5pm.

Come for the beauty, come for the stuff. Come for spring, which will soon be here.

Dolly Johnson XLVIII Congratulates Super Bowl XLV- And Now for Something Entirely Different!

2011-02-07T23:47:00.000-08:00

Forget about the football and the big chill, what about those Black Eyed Peas? Wasn’t the Super Bowl half-time wonderful? And now that it’s all come and gone, what’s next for the Arlington-Fort Worth-Dallas Metro-Plex?

Save Fri. March 11 & Sat. March 12 for the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth’s Cultural District. We couldn’t get the Black Eyed Peas, but we have signed 75 top exhibitors from California to the Carolinas. We even have a dealer coming from Wisconsin, where they are rightfully jumping up and down on their cheeseheads.

And the Dolly Johnson Antique And Art Show will have live music, including Clear Fork Jazz and Paul Cox/Texas Acoustic. They may not be the Black Eyed Peas, but Paul has played pool with Willie Nelson. That’s got to count for something.

So farewell, Super Bowl.Just in case you didn't get a seat at Cowboy Stadium, take a look at some of the seats at the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here.

Take a Seat!

Best Seats in the House!

See the show's new photo gallery at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show..."Antiquing with Della -- Shop Ohio!"

2011-01-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

The Show Goes On!

Welcome to the blog for the 2011 Dolly Johnson Antique & Art Show in Fort Worth March 11-12, 2011. You can read about last year's show further down on this blog, but new for this year:

--Updates on antiques & art dealers --and their merchandise-- coming to the 2011 Dolly Johnson Show

--Reflections on the central question: Why do so many people love antiques? And what's in it for you?

--Back by popular demand, "Antiquing with Della," a series of stories about our family's adventures in the antiques world, told from the perspective of youngest child Della. See below for "Della Does Ohio" and look for future stories from MN, NM, Brimfield, Maine, Marburger Farm and more.

Hope to see you at the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, March 11-12, 2011. Stay tuned!

Antiquing With Della---Me-O-My-O, Shop Ohio!

by Della Orr-Harter (then age 2) as Told to Her Mother

So we went to Ohio--- America’s heartland, home of my Harter family roots and the antique buyer’s land of milk and honey. I was a Buck-Eye baby in search of the big one. And from Ohio we were going on to sell at Brimfield, Massachusetts, the really big one.

Well, it took three days to load the Big Red van. There was a car seat, a stroller, a portable baby bed, a play pen, a baby swing, one month of clothes for mom and me, a cooler and our food, my toys, a folding rocker, an extra stroller, bedding, camping gear, a 10 foot show tent, fifteen cases of vintage jewelry to sell at Brimfield and one case of diapers. And carefully wrapped next to me was yet another box of jewelry that said “Ginny Mom’s jewelry.” Ginny Mom, my Daddy’s mother, was the real reason we were going to Columbus, Ohio.

We pulled out at 6 pm and met Daddy at the bar-be-cue place up by Texas Motor Speedway. After our last taste of Texas, we kissed goodbye and Hot Tamale Antiques, that’s us, headed north. Daddy headed home for something called “peace and quiet.” We made it to Oklahoma. Then Hot Tamale---that’s me and Momma--- drove all day the next day, arriving at 1:30 am in Springfield, Ohio where Art at the Super 8 had saved our reservation.

We slept until 5:30 that morning and then headed over to the Clark County Fairgrounds for the Springfield Antiques Extravaganza. I wore my pajamas all day. The sign said “2500 Dealers, The Midwest’s Largest Antique Show.” Mom says 2500 is a lot, as big as all the Round Top and Warrenton shows in Texas put together. Well, it wasn’t really all that big, but it was a nice spread, a flea market where you have to look hard to find something great. We did.

Mom wanted antiques that didn’t need a lot of work. We already have plenty of the other kind. Well she bought the best thing we saw at the show and it needed work---a folk art inlaid wood table, parlor size from New York state c. 1880. (We had to re-pack the whole van) Then we found 2 Beacon blankets, a big cake pan shaped like a horse-shoe and a match-stick cross that needed only a little glue. The best, though, was a little framed embroidery sampler, “The Law of the Camp Fire Girls---Worship God...Be Trustworthy...Be Happy.” Momma said this is “a keeper.” She was a Camp Fire Girl. Sometimes she says that I’m “a keeper” too.

By 2:30 we had seen everything, so we headed over to the three big Antique Malls along I-70. They were staying open late. We got lucky and found a folk art quilt in a Japanese Flag pattern that didn’t need any work, a big green and yellow painted basket and western textiles. One mall said “The Biggest Antique Mall in America.” We shopped it in one hour and didn’t buy anything. It’s hard to impress a couple of Texans with bigness. Or maybe we were just shopped out.

Since all we had to eat that day was Vienna sausage, we went for a peaceful, sit down dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken. It wasn’t so peaceful. I threw my food and hit a lady at the next table with my spoon. They had to bring out a mop because of the ice and water I poured on the floor, so we left. We went back to the motel, took a bath and went to bed---two tired Tamales.

The next day we drove East to Columbus, Ohio where my father’s parents and even his grandparents had met one another in grade school. . We were there for Ginny Mom, to put her ashes in the Union Cemetery. I never met her, but she knew I was on the way. Daddy says she was gentle and tolerant and wise, kind of like him. And we were going to celebrate her.

All of the other cousins and relatives were coming, but Mom and I were there a day early, so we checked into what she calls a “sleaze-bag motel.” We stay at those a lot, but what is a sleaze bag? Anyway we headed over to the Ohio State Fairground for the Scott’s Antique Market. Mom told me that the Ohio State Fairground was Ginny Mom’s favorite place to go as a kid and I would surely have a great time there. Hmm, sounds like more antiques to me.

For many years Don Scott has been running shows in Ohio and in Atlanta. He and Mom talked a while and then we set off, me in my stroller with my portable cassette player humming away. Everywhere I go, I make music. It’s helps me sleep, but we only have one baby music tape, so it gets a little old. Anyway, we see amazing things---a dealer with a parrot on a leash, a hooked rug dated 1939 in the Blue Willow china pattern for $375 and two huge 1920's “101 Ranch Wild West Show” banners found on a building wall in Zanesville, Ohio when the church next door was torn down. But the most amazing thing is what Don Scott shows Mom in the office. At the show he had bought an early New England fire screen with a painted stick and ball frame and a naive oil painting in the center for $300. Mom just stared. Oh, she wanted to be the one who had bought that fire screen. We call this a Lukewarm Tamale moment.

The next day everybody gets there, including Daddy and my brother Jack. There are 30 of us, most under the age of 12. We stay at a fancy hotel with an elevator and a swimming pool---no sleaze bag for Ginny Mom. We eat hamburgers, we watch old family movies, we play games. And then the next morning, while everyone is asleep in this great hotel, mom gets me up at 5 am to go to the Kingman Drive In Theater where someone told her we’d find the world best “dirt market.” Boy were they wrong. I think dirt market has something to do with sleaze bag. We lost our flash light and then later saw someone selling it to somebody else. All we found was a train set for my Texas cousin Daniel and a magazine rack shaped like a dog. We did see someone in a Mercedes buy something in a big envelope for lots of money and then leave before sun up. Somebody got lucky. But it wasn’t us.

The next day we got up at 4 am and headed to another drive in theater in south Columbus. It wasn’t much better. We did see some high end 20th century designer furniture really cheap, but the Big Red van said no way. Going back, we stopped at a yard sale that looked like Martha Stewart’s house---pottery, quilts, painted furniture, everything perfect. (Our house is a little different from that---Mom says Daddy is an imperfectionist.) Anyway we bought a hand-made western hat rack that came apart and fit in the van.

On the way back to breakfast, we saw a man mowing down a field of chicory, that roadside weed with the tiny blue flowers. Mom hit the brakes and filled what was left of Big Red with the chicory weeds. At the hotel we made a soaring arrangement of chicory in our trash can and then went to see what was happening.

Ginny Mom's jewelry was what was happening. We joined all the daughters and granddaughters---15 of us females-- around a huge pile of jewelry, each old birthday or Mothers' Day gift carefully tucked in a tiny plastic bag. We took turns and everybody picked until it was all given out. I got a pin made from a button and put it on right away. Mom got Ginny Mom's bakelite bracelet . We picked out engagement rings for all the boy cousins to give their future mates-- and the boys all blushed. My Florida cousin Ellie and Mom will share the silver Hopi bracelet that the Harters bought on a vacation out west. Each Christmas Mom and Ellie will send it back and forth through the mail. Momma says that someday I can share it with Ellie. Momma likes to think ahead.

That night we had a private dinner at the hotel and all the cousins had our pictures taken in our best clothes---and all Ginny Mom’s jewelry----earrings, brooches, bangles, pins, glittering necklaces. We looked great. It was almost like Ginny Mom was there. The next morning we all processed to the cemetery down the block, carrying the box of ashes and a trash can of blue Ohio chicory. Including Ginny’s sister Judy and Great Aunt Anne, four generations stood together around the little hole in the ground, which was surrounded by even more generations. We sang, we told stories, my Daddy cried with his sisters and brother. Standing there, all dripping in Ginny Mom’s jewels, we all cried. Somebody said that we were her jewels. Finally, we turned on the lullaby music in my stroller cassette player, said goodbye to Ginny Mom and turned to go.

My Daddy and brother and everybody else headed off to the airport. But Mom and I climbed northeast in the Big Red van to spend the night in Akron, Ohio with antique dealer Charles Auerbach, his wife Mary and their sons. They live in an Arts and Crafts era bungalow with trees so high you can’t see the tops. Chuck was Mommy’s friend in New York, where he would drive from Ohio to do the shows that she managed. Chuck is a good friend. He got his first break in the business in the legendary Russell Carrell shows in Salisbury, CT, carrying quilts, carved whimsies and other great American folk art. “I take a quirky view of life,”he says. “I like to see the maker in the objects that I buy and sell.” Chuck shows us his own collection of roadside religious signs like the big sign in the dining room that said “Repent Now. Jesus is Coming Immediately.” He says that it’s folk art and Mom has been looking for a sign for him ever since.

We stay in Chuck’s basement office where he stores the artwork of an Akron man named Alfred McMoore. McMoore is what is called an “outsider” or self-taught artist. He works in pencil and crayon on long scrolls of paper which Chuck has everywhere--stacked behind our bed, tacked on the wall, standing in boxes. We take a shower and settle down to sleep, surrounded by the fantastical, sad, weird, funny and wonderful visions of one man’s heart.

The next morning I play with Mary on the front porch with a folk art carved wooden rattle. Chuck fixes Mom blueberry pancakes and they talk about changes in the antiques business.

“Yes, I sell on the Internet,” says Chuck, “but small, more traditional antiques. Buyers on-line want something with a clearly identifiable value---Lionel trains, advertising, items easy to ship. The more adventurous, one-of-a-kind items I save for shows.”

What’s your advice to buyers now? “The same as always,” smiled Chuck. “Buy what moves you and buy the best you can from the best dealer you can find.” We thank Chuck and Mary and tell them “We’ll see you at Brimfield next week.” And then we head east toward Massachusetts.

But that’s a whole other story. Until then, happy trails and keep looking for the big one.

Your friend, Della

Copyright 2002 Jan Orr-Harter

Where to Buy Ohio Style in Texas?

The 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique Show

Friday March 11- Saturday March 12, 2011

Will Rogers Memorial Center - Ft. Worth, TX

http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Antiques & Happiness - Mallard Bay Antiques

2010-12-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

Meet Sally Holmes, one of the 75 exceptional dealers coming to the March 11-12 Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show in Fort Worth. It's a few days before Christmas and Sally tells me that she and her husband Terry have had three weekends off in 2010 and that they are looking forward to taking Christmas weekend off.

Sally and Terry of Mallard Bay Antiques have exhibited at 48 antiques shows per year since 1980. Buying and selling vintage western boots, tooled purses and Navajo jewelry is how they make their living---oh yes, don't forget to add in antique sporting goods and trophies, game boards, early chocolate molds and the occasional "what in the heck is that?"

I expect Sally to tell me how tired she is. Instead, she opens a vintage shoe box and pulls out a pair of bright yellow boots, and, smiling proudly, holds them up as if they were the first pair she had ever found. I know that cannot be true because at a recent Marburger Farm Antique Show, Sally and Terry sold 89 pairs of vintage boots.

The joy in her face as she holds the yellow boots is the secret to being an antiques dealer--to working 48 weekends a year for 30 years. The secret is that, even though she is in fact tired, Sally is happy because of the yellow boots. She was happy to find them, she is happy to show them to me. And she will be happy for the person who buys them ----and who, likely, will be made happy by the yellow boots for many years to come.

There are lots of people for whom happiness is a struggle--and some who never ever feel truly happy. Those of us in the antiques world may work uncountable hours until our knees can no longer support us as we dig through a box in someone's dirty basement, possibly for no pay. But, most of the time, we are happy in the digging. To be a person who can be made happy by a pair of yellow boots--or a color, or a texture or a sign of age-- this is a lucky thing, because the world is full of color and texture and signs of age.

I ask Sally what she was planning for the upcoming Dolly Johnson Show. "Last year at the show," she answered, "I noticed that more younger people were buying things. And Baby Boomers always love the boots because they remember having pairs just like them. My goal for the Dolly Johnson Show is to have all fun boots in fancy colors."

Then she dug into a box and pulled out a many-stranded Navajo necklace. "Look what I just found!" she says, "I've never had one with this many strands." Happy New Year, Sally. I think that you have found what you are looking for. See you at the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show March 11-12 in Fort Worth.

Western Antiques Auction Oct 16-17, 2010 Fort Worth Stockyards - Be there!

2010-10-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

Cowgirls and cowboys and those who love 'em, get yourself to the huge western antiques auction Oct 16-17 in the Fort Worth Stockyards. This will be an event to remember.

Brenda and Jarrell McDonald, owners of three successful shops in the Fort Worth Stockyards Historic District, have been convinced by auctioneer Robb Burley to part with the entire contents of their own home on Eagle Mountain Lake. "We bought our private collection to sell someday," says Jarrell McDonald. "When we floated the idea with Robb Burley, he was on a plane and at our house the very next day. Someday is here."

Along North Main Street, just south of Exchange Avenue, Brenda and Jarrell own the Adobe Art Gallery and Frame Shop, the Bum Steer (with western and lodge furniture and home decor) and the fabulous Cross-Eyed Moose (with all the western antiques). The Cross-Eyed Moose will exhibit at the 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show on March 11-12, 2011.

In the meantime, everything will be temporarily moved out of the Adobe Gallery to serve as a preview space for 1200 lots for the two day auction. The preview will be all day Friday, Oct. 15 from 10 am to 6 pm and again on each auction day from 8 am to 10 am. A giant tent will be set up in the store parking lot and you can bet that there will be plenty of folks from many states and plenty of good food and drink to go around. Brenda and Jarrell are well-loved in the western antiques world and they know how to throw a party. Plus, they've got the goods.

What's in the auction? To begin with, industrial strength cowgirl. Brenda was obsessed with collecting early cowgirl images and memorabilia long before the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame came to town. The original Eleanor Blondin collection will be among the top cowgirl lots. Jarrell has been collecting and dealing in antique animal mounts since he was about twelve and guns since high school. Known for a good eye and a good deal, his collection includes over 100 antique guns, such as Colt and Winchester, from the 1870s on.

When they joined forces, collecting accelerated to include a huge 101 Ranch poster, saddles by RT Frasier and Shipley, Navajo rugs, spurs, chaps and posters from the French rodeo hero Bobby Estes. There's a selection of sizes too---from early western serving and dinner china to the back bars from two early saloons.

Born promoters, Brenda and Jarrell have come up with what's needed to make an auction fun. "The first 200 registered bidders," says Jarrell will receive their choice of a free Bob Moline print from the Moline family estate, valued at $50 each." There will be auction souvenir caps thrown out to the audience for high bidders on select lots and 92.1 Country Legends Radio will broadcast from the auction on Saturday. On Sunday, the event will be announced during the popular Red Steagall radio show.

Take a look at the entire collection at http://www.burleyauction.com/

You'll see Amon Carter's own poker table and chairs made by August Brandt, a Wenzel Friedrich horn chair and other horn furniture, bronzes, a Bohlin parade saddle, early western advertising, longhorn mounts and exotic African mounts and western home decor, such as lamps, textiles, furniture and folk art. 1200 is a lot of lots--bound to be something for everyone.

Auctioneer Robb Burley of New Braunfels, TX conducted the 2009 sale of the estate of Fort Worth collector Kelly Young, a well-loved regular at the Dolly Johnson Show for decades. Burley anticipates a blockbuster sale in Fort Worth on Oct. 16-17. "I was honored when Brenda and Jarrell McDonald gave me the opportunity to represent the collection they have spent 30 years putting together. They have a fantastic collection of Western Americana. This is truly a great auction opportunity for both collectors & dealers. Besides, with Jarrell & Brenda, you know it will be a party."

Last week I asked Brenda and Jarrell, "Is it hard to part with everything in your home?" Jarrell, thinking of boyhood treasures, winces a bit. Brenda, on the other hand, doesn't miss a beat: "Tell people that we're not closing the stores or getting a divorce. But we sure are going shopping." What will they collect next? Stay tuned.

Preview Schedule:

Friday Oct. 15, 10 am - 6 pm and Sat and Sun, 8 am to 10 am.

Auction Schedule:

Sat. Oct. 16, 10 am to ?? and Sun. Oct 17, 10 am to ??

Location: 2340 North Main, in the Fort Worth, TX

Historic Stockyards District.

Cash, check, Visa, Mastercard and American Express accepted, with a 10% buyers premium. For more information, contact Burley Auction Group at 830-237-3440.

And Save the Date!

Fri. March 11- Sat. March 12, 2011

The 48th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show

Will Rogers Memorial Center, Fort Worth

See www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com

Reflections after the 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show March 12-13, 2010 Fort Worth, Texas

2010-04-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Reposted from the 2010 Show
See Final 2010 News Release Wrap-Up at www.dollyjohnsonAntiqueandArtShow.com

Hello, at last. This is the final blog on the March 2010 Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show. It might be called: How I Spent the Recession - or - What an Antique and Art Show Taught me about Spunk—that Thrilling Balance of Backbone, Quality and Fun.

My goal was to help the longest-running antique show in the American west continue to evolve into a beautiful, diverse, life-filled, affordable and profitable antique and art show for North Texas---- to teach the old girl a few new tricks. Not those kind of tricks! Here are some of the things that I learned over the last 7 months as the new Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show Director:

1. The New Mix of Dealers Worked! With the opportunity to select about 50 new exhibitors for the show, I drew up a grid with categories of merchandise and then worked to both fill and limit each category to a certain number of dealers.

The categories included: Industrial Antiques, Mid-Century Modern, Art, Jewelry, Garden, Primitives, American, Western, French, English, Textiles, Folk Art, Native American, Formal (silver and rugs), Informal (Ironstone and advertising), feminine style, masculine style, investment prices, new-collector prices, urban, country, furniture, smalls—plus a vague category simply called “over-the-top.”

Based on feedback from shoppers and exhibitors, the whole mix was “over-the-top.”

The other way that I selected dealers was this: to find the most resilient, hard-working, creative dealers---those who are working hard enough during the recession to still be there on the other side. They brought fresh, exciting merchandise and displayed it with vitality. Some did better at the show than others, but every dealer gave it their all.

The first lesson about spunk has to do with these particular antiques dealers. Recession or no recession, these characters---and they are characters--- roll up their sleeves every day and get out there searching for something wonderful for the homes of their customers. Their goal is to bring home the bacon, not only to make a living, but also to enhance the lives of others. From Mayflower to Mid-Century Modern, they have spunk.

2. Potential Publicity is Infinite and the Audience is Out There if We Can Reach You— At the beginning of the show work, I made the decisions to expand the show into a more expensive space, to insert myself into the work full-time and to increase the ad budget by 50%. I did this knowing that I would not be increasing the dealers’ rent for this show. So the hustle was on for me. And I hustled. And so did Associate Show Director Cissy Thompson, show staff Barbara Felty---and dozens of other folks, see #5 below.

I learned that, especially with the internet, publicity options are endless. Tough decisions were made on what I could and could not do, both dollar and time-wise. There was so much more that could have been done, but I did all that I could do.

My instincts were that people who love antiques also love visual media, hence that beautiful show postcard created by designer Karina Ceuterick, and the many ads that I scrimped to afford in local print media. Not all, but most of the media where I advertised took an interest in the show and created their own compelling stories, both in print and on-line. We even had NBC TV News show up. These journalists and editors sensed the pent-up hunger in their audience for something fresh and beautiful and fun to come to North Texas. Our local media have spunk. Thank you to all, on-line and off.

3. I learned that Dallas will come to Fort Worth and that Dallas media folks have always been coming to the Dolly Johnson Show. Starting out, they knew more about the show than Fort Worth media did. They knew things that I didn’t know. I did equal outreach in Dallas and Fort Worth, and Dallas came through equal to Fort Worth or more. It reminded me of the sign that Fort Worth’s Amon Carter posted near the Dallas Texas Centennial Celebration in 1936: “For Erudition…. stay in Dallas. For Whooppee, Go to Fort Worth!” Fort Worth offers its share of erudition these days, but it’s a fun draw for folks from parts east. Welcome to Cowtown, spawn of spunk.

4. Spring Break Quandary- I also learned that, while many people leave Fort Worth for spring break, many others come to Fort Worth for the week. The Dolly Johnson Show has been held on the second weekend of March for 47 years, which is now Spring Break for surrounding school districts. I experimented by opening the show on Friday and Saturday, instead of Saturday and Sunday, hoping to reach some people Friday before they left on trips. It seemed to work. We were busy all day Friday, but I continue to get feedback on this from folks who expected the show to run all weekend.

The show could be publicized as part of a larger Spring Break adventure in DFW---or we could take a leap at some point onto an earlier weekend---not easy to do with dealer show schedules and the busy line-up at Will Rogers Memorial Center. Stay tuned.

5. I learned how many friends I have and how many people were willing to help--- an important thing for me to learn . This show truly “took a village.” Besides Cissy and myself, we had 11 on the staff, including James North and Tom Harter who brilliantly ran the dealer load-in and pack-out. We had 22 able porters and several volunteers, from my Junior High buddy Nicki Matranga to Trinity Terrace residents June and Hugh Chavern, to my mother, my children and Dolly Johnson’s great-grandson Josh Luter. The local antiques shops and antiques bloggers all jumped in to help, from Antiques Insider in Dallas to Fort Worth’s http://www.junkerval.com/ to Montgomery Street Antique Mall to nationally-rated bloggers http://www.cactuscreekdaily.com/ and http://www.gardenantqs.blogspot.com/.

Other show owners around the nation lent their help. Even my best friend Pam Benson, who owns Fort Worth’s Japanese Palace Restaurant, sent out an e-blast about the show to everyone spunky enough to like Japanese food. Thank you to Mayfest, our 2010 Benefit Booth, and to the family that shared the Susanna Fuller White trunk from the Mayflower as our special exhibit. Thank you to all friends, colleagues and family who helped in ways I may not even know about—you know who you are. Thank you. Special thanks to JJ Frambes, daughter of Dolly and the previous show owner, who had faith in me--- and in all who helped.

6. I learned that fun is important---and fun has a future. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram feature by John Austin began with these words: “Good golly, Miss Dolly! After nearly five decades of peddling early Americana, the venerable Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show is letting its hair down….” He got it right.

Antiques are meant to be fun. The top tier of the antiques and art world is cut-throat and serious. A level or so down, it may be less-profitable, but it’s a lot more fun.

Actor Harvey Fierstein was in town playing the lead in “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Bass Performance Hall. He spent almost a day at the show, gleefully buying some of the spunkiest antiques and folk art in the room. He had fun.

The new Friday Happy Hour Party was fun too. Look for that to expand next year. Also, look for Louis Armstrong blasting out "Hello, Dolly!" as our annual show-opener.

Another part of the fun came from the booths of dealers who pushed the well-worn envelope. The front line of antiques is always moving forward, embracing more and more items from our material history as time moves forward. In the booth of JRNE Antiques, you could buy an eight foot tall 1960s store display fiberglass vase, complete with flower.

In the booth of Cibolo Creek Antiques, you could buy two giant hand sculptures, the green column-shaped printing tubes from an old textile mill, museum-quality kinetic scupltures from the 1970s or 1960s fabric made into new pillows. (Dolly Goes Double-Knit!)

The Mews of Dallas offered some of the more beautiful and upscale antiques in the show, but in the middle of their booth, they offered three rusty bicycle seats mounted like sculpture. That’s fun. Exhibitor Al Roche offered a canoe covered in bottle caps, alongside a fine folk art cupboard. That’s fun.

Spunk is part fun, part quality and part backbone. Spunk belongs to those who buy, sell and live with antiques. Spunk endures.

Spunk knows that time passes by relentlessly. Yet spunk bends the rules of time a little by living with and passing on the best of the past into the future. Long live spunk! Long live quality! Recession or no recession, long live backbone! Again, sellers and buyers, you know who you are.

Enjoy the show photos by Art Director Doug Stanley and look for the announcement of next year’s show dates as soon as we get them. Thank you again to everyone who came and who helped to bring to life the magnificent 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show.

Farewell, Dolly! --- Until Next Year!

See Final 2010 News Release Wrap-Up at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Fell Down on the Blog (But what a show!)

2010-03-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Apologies for falling down on the blog for the 47th Annual
Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show on March 12-13—but what a great show it was! More on that later.

Now I understand people who say they get too busy to blog. Our friends Judy and Jane Aldridge were intercepted by a last-minute photo shoot at their home and could not get there on set up day. Thank you to blogger Valerie Arnett who came instead and got those pre-show photos out to the world.

For my own absence from the blog, it wasn’t helped by the fact that I could not get internet access for days in my tiny temporary office at the back of the show at Will Rogers Memorial Center last week. Finally, my sweet husband pointed out that I had inserted a camera memory card into the computer instead of the wireless card. What would the great show promoter Buffalo Bill say to that? Get your act together, Jan!

I didn’t worry, though. Show exhibitor Michael Breddin of Leftovers Antiques told me that, when he Googled “Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show,” he found 47 pages of on-line references. So someone out there was doing something to spread the word. Thank you.

Thank you is my mantra at the moment.

Thank you to all who came to the show, to all who helped to spread the word in the media and on the internet and to their friends. Thank you to our marvelous show staff—what a team! And thank you to those magnificent 75 dealers.

Enjoy the photos here from Art Director Doug Stanley, to whom I also owe a great big thank you.

More on the show coming, stay tuned. And thank you.

Celebrity Bloggers Jane and Judy Aldridge Pre-Blog the Show

2010-03-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

Big News! Mother-daughter team Judy and Jane Aldridge will pre-blog the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show on our set up day, Thursday, March 11. Through their blogs, you will see a sneak peek of the show---- and see it through their fresh and re-freshing eyes.

This is not just any mother-daughter team. This team appears in Vogue Magazine and travels to fashion events in Paris, Japan and New York. Vintage couture is their calling, but their roots are in all things antique. Judy Aldridge grew up in Alaska where her parents ran the only antiques store in the state.

Judy's blog is atlantishome.typepad.com. She has a following of 1400 who appreciate her eye in the world of fashion and decor and collecting. Jane's blog is seaofshoes.com and attracts a following of 14,000 readers. Their blogs and photos of the merchandise at the Dolly Johnson Show will take us global by sometime Thursday evening, Texas time.

Of course, Judy and Jane will be the only visitors allowed on the floor of the show during set up. How else can we do all that unpacking and primping for our close-up?

So take a peek through their blogs--and stay tuned here, where we will give updates on the unfolding of the 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will very soon be here!

Show opens Friday, March 12, 9 am - 7 pm, with a Happy Hour Party from 4-7 pm. On Saturday, March 13 the show runs 9 am - 5 pm. Find directions, discount coupon and special events at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

One Week Till the Show - Leftovers Antiques is On the Way

2010-03-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

Leftovers Home Mercantile -- The Main Course

An early morning at Leftovers, still gray outside, but inside all lights were shining. Birds were chirping in their antique cages. And Michael Breddin and I were sitting on down-filled linen chairs, surrounded by the layered and lovely world that Breddin and business partner Ed Fulkerson have created at Leftovers Home Mercantile in Brenham, Texas.

Nearby, the store’s baby, a 140 pound St. Bernard named Gracie, claims her spot.

Breddin and Fulkerson built the nearly 10,000 square foot antiques store on Highway 290 three years ago. But the Leftovers story goes far further back.

Originally from Kansas, Ed Fulkerson was the General Manager for the Homestead stores in Fredericksburg, TX when he met antiques dealer Michael Breddin of Brenham. Together, they started Leftovers Antiques and began exhibiting at antiques shows across the US. From the beginning, the two brought a fresh approach to living with and displaying antiques. Layering is their look. It’s not a cluttered layering. It’s putting many items together in a cohesive, calm and beautiful way.

What are you looking for as you shop for your store today?

“When we go to England,” says Michael, “We don’t go with a list. You never know what you will run across. But we do look for older 17th through 19th century antiques because they create an older mix with the antiques from the US. We look for paint and we love it.”

“We like to shop in England,” says Breddin, “because we can see so much more in a small amount of time. On a short trip we will hit 10 -18 different shows. Some are huge, some are very small. One show sent us free tickets to a venue that cost 35 cents to get in.

“At the same time,” Breddin goes on, “we have storage units all over America that are being filled constantly and then the antiques are shipped to Brenham. There’s a full load today in Indiana, a half load in Iowa.”

The current Leftovers mix is about 30-40% American and rest English, with a little French and beyond. The palette is light, but the heft can be substantial. A huge Art Deco sofa has just gone out the door.

The look that Leftovers achieves, says Breddin, “is not all American or all European. We try to keep an artistic and creative mix so that one makes the other better. “

“I’m hoping to get it all here for the show,” he says. “The largest portion of our business is logistics: we wait for things to arrive.”

What’s arriving?

The Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show in Fort Worth will be the first show where Leftovers will exhibit following the winter buying trip. Ed Fulkerson reports that “We bought good early 18th and 19th century English country antiques, many pieces in old paint, which we love. We looked for and found medium-size furniture, such as Welsh dressers, breakfronts and cupboards in a smaller scale, good for urban settings, as well as country homes.”

“The exchange rate was decent,” he goes on, “not the highest we’ve seen, nor the lowest. The weather conditions were tough. They were socked in, one of the worst winters for England. We put 2000 miles on a Sprinter van, all at 20 mph, through snow, on lanes ten feet wide with sheep in the middle.”

“With the weather closing some shows, we really had to search. We have enough of a network there that we had people holding wonderful merchandise for us, so we came home with an excellent container.”

How is a Leftovers container different from a typical container of imported antiques?

“We focus,” answers Fulkerson, “on period pieces, the early pieces. We don’t buy the 20th century massed-produced pieces such as barley twist. We look for original, early surfaces and the very clean-lined bench-made furniture of the 1820s era. We’ll see heavy-paneled sides, hand-cut nails and boards on the back that are 12 inches wide and 2 inches thick—and nearly 200 years old. We buy pine from the 1840s-1860s, some early oak and early mahogany. And, of course, the early English country paint.”

What do customers want today?

“What we are trying to do,” says Michael Breddin “is to re-purpose antiques to be functional for clients for today. People want things that will function. A cupboard holds a TV. A dowry chest becomes a coffee table. We sell antiques ready to go into homes, with a function for today’s living.”

But there isn’t just one look now. Among customers today, everyone is different. They each want different things. Things are more relaxed and casual, not so formal. People are not trying to copy a magazine. People want to live with what they love.”

So what is the future of formal?

“Even fabulous glass and silver in our collection is presented in a casual way. It’s not about having six sizes of the same plate pattern. It’s about what you need and love and can mix together.”

“In a place as formal as North Texas, we find that the houses that we are doing in Dallas lately are more about comfort than formality. Entertainment is without pretense, more casual. It’s less about keeping up with the Joneses and more about eating with the Joneses’”

And, most likely, the Joneses love leftovers.

See Leftovers Antiques at the 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, March 12-13, which will soon be here! Show Special Events Schedule and Discount Coupon at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

King George Comes to Cowtown!

2010-03-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

“Our container shipped from England today. It will be here just in time for the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show.”

Tammy Strop of The Cheeky Mare Antiques in Hutto, TX will arrive at the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show by way of England and France, a detour that defines the antiques she will unpack in Fort Worth. “I went over there looking for Georgian furniture and smalls and I found them,” says Tammy.

New to antiques? Well, Georgian antiques relate to the reign of George III in England, but cover more than his life-span, say from about 1714 to even as late as 1837. He may have lost the American colonies, but his furniture won the respect of his former subjects. The lines are straight, the woods are dark and the feel is formal. In Tammy’s booth, however, formal feels pretty darn friendly.

What did she find? “A wonderful Georgian drop-leaf oak table, about 1720 or 30, also cabinets, good Georgian chests.” She also bagged smalls such as inkwells and Black Forest (dark carved wood) pieces, including a watch holder, and 18th c. carved and signed large Black Forest tray, carved bear items, always, always, always looking for the most unusual pieces.

The trip involves discoveries of antiques at the huge Newark Antique Fair in eastern England, but many items are offered to Tammy by phone or internet even before she leaves Texas. A notebook bears the list of color coded antiques that she plans to buy, well in advance (see photo below). Already in the notebook? Two Chesterfield wingback leather chairs, ironstone, a train station bench, Wedgwood, Imari, art and furniture ranging from a 1710 Georgian chest of drawers to a green beaded-board barn box and pine harvest tables. “I also take a list of things that customers want me to find,” says Tammy. This is dealer who plans ahead.

In fact Tammy puts her planning skills to use by organizing groups to travel and shop for antiques in England and France. “We had eight people on this tour,” she reports. “We keep our groups small and personalized. We try to make sure that they are looking for different things. And we were lucky to stay about a day ahead of each winter storm.”

One member of the group was Casey Lyford, who was shopping for industrial and painted antiques to open a new shop in McKinney, TX, to be called Patina Green. Suffice it to say that a fair amount of France is coming to McKinney.

In France the group was surprised by good prices. “Prices in England are generally good,” says Tammy, “but prices in Paris were much better than in the past and dealers were really willing to negotiate. I was encouraged.” Tammy was so encouraged that she bought more broadly in France. The extra tall 45 foot container holds early garden antiques and French industrial antiques, both tending to be on the heavy side, so they must be pretty terrific to ship back home.

The shipping is also well-planned. “We have such a good relationship with our shippers and packers,” reflects Tammy. “As we shop, we are armed with walkie-talkies. When we buy something, we tag it and call the packers to come right then. Our items are tagged, wrapped and in the container by that night. Our container shipped from England today. It will be here just in time for the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show.”

This will be Tammy’s first time to exhibit at the Dolly Johnson Show, part of the premiere effort to broaden the show with antiques and art from many eras and styles. You can see and read the whole story of her winter 2010 buying tour at http://cheekymare.typepad.com

And talk to Tammy if you want more information about the buying trips this spring and fall, which will include the south of France. Future tours will visit Belgium and Germany. Contact Tammy Strop at 512-426-5764 or see her March 12-13 in Fort Worth at the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here! Show info and discount coupon at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Happy New Year!

2010-03-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

Reposted from the 2010 Show, but still a good read if you love antiques. 2011 Show dates are March 11-12, 2011.

Blog 1.01.10
Re-Posted
Happy New Year - In with the Old!
“He uses his old inkpot and his old brush, but he paints new things.”
translated from a Japanese scroll hanging in my laundry room

It’s a lot easier to start something new than to re-make something old. That’s why there are so many churches…so many new houses…new gizmos…new nations…new beginnings. This blog will tell the story of taking a well-loved 47 year old antique show in Fort Worth, Texas and re-making it into a shining star for the future.

You have to be a pretty good antique show to throw open your doors for 47 years. Dolly Johnson and then her daughter, “JJ” Frambes, nurtured this show as a small, prestigious, high-quality Americana antique show at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, where Dolly’s husband, Rip Johnson, was the General Manager for many years.

From what I know of her feisty spirit, I think that Dolly Johnson would cheer on the changes that I hope to make to her show. On March 12-13, 2010 the show will move to a larger exhibit hall at Will Rogers so that we can welcome antiques of all eras and styles, from Pilgrim Century to Mid-Century Modern. There will be art and antiques from France, England and Italy. There will be American Colonial and Spanish Colonial. Look for Garden, Industrial, Retro, Textiles and Jewelry, as well the top-quality American primitives and western antiques for which the show has been loved all these years by a strong regional audience.

Why Me?

I first exhibited in the Dolly Johnson Show in 1998 as Hot Tamale Antiques. It was difficult to get into. JJ was tough. She vetted every dealer for authenticity and quality. I just barely made the cut. Six years ago, I started writing press releases for JJ and, simply because JJ Frambes was so much fun to work with, I gradually became more and more involved with promoting the show.

Since 1998 I have also served as the staff writer for the magnificent Marburger Farm Antique Show in Round Top, Texas. This month I will write what is probably my 50th Marburger Farm press release, chronicling the cow pasture that became a blockbuster international antique show.

Before 1998 I was a Presbyterian pastor in New York City. While some ministers yearned to start shiny new churches, my passion was to re-develop old churches and to bring them into a new sense of mission and purpose, building on the best of their history and traditions and memories. I was lucky enough to serve two such churches over 19 years, the West-Park Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side and the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I can tell you a thing or two about antique plumbing, ancient boilers and how to help an old community find new life and end up dancing in the aisles on Easter Sunday.

I first learned about antique show promotion by organizing benefit shows for the church in New York City, with the help of the Stella Show Management Company. The Stella team is, in my view, the best antique show promotion company in the world. Once again, I got lucky.

And now I find myself in the position of owning a 47 year old antique show in the town where I grew up. Or perhaps it owns me.

Why Antiques?
On this New Year’s Day 2010, there are two wars going on and a recession. There are the threats of terror, swine flu and the soon-looming $5 parking fee at Will Rogers Memorial Center. On top of all that, there are ads in every direction that scream “out with the old and buy something new, new, new.” Yet still, I got lucky.

Why? Because I get to spend my energies in the community of those who buy, sell, live with and love antiques and all things vintage. We are those who would rather re-imagine and re-make the old than lust after the new. We are the lovers and re-purposers of the material culture of the past.

On this Christmas Eve, we had a rare snowstorm in North Texas. In our old farmhouse on the prairie, the Orr-Harters were snowed-in. We could not get to the mall, even if we wanted to. We could not even go to my sister’s party where there was shrimp and tenderloin, which we definitely wanted to.

Still, we were lucky. Our home was warm and the snowy landscape cast a light into the house that helped me to see our old things in a new way. Except for our computers, the Orr-Harter family lives only with antiques. Even the TV is more or less an antique. From any spot in the house, I can see our history in the stories of each chair. At last count, we have 53 chairs, indoors and out, and I can remember where each one came from. We use them all, except for the 2 Danish Modern ones in the store-room that came from Tom’s mother. We have saved those for our young architect son.

On Christmas Eve, I sat by the fireplace in the rocker that we bought at a roadside flea market in Maine and carried home in a Honda Civic. I saw the mission settee that the future architect son bought so proudly at an upstate New York auction for $25, theoretically for his tree house. Our 10 year old daughter sat in one of the old chairs around the kitchen table. Tom and I were sitting in those kitchen chairs when we decided to try to conceive this very child.

In case you think we have only ample seating, on Christmas Eve I also studied each piece of vintage art on the walls--- the scene of trees and cows that hung over the sofa in my grandparents’ home, the metal Wonder Bread sign that I gave to mother and that she re-gifted to me, the big primitive painting of a cowboy playing a harmonica on his horse in starlight. I lugged it all over America before accepting that no one would buy it. So there it is in our kitchen; it reminds me of my still-harmonica-playing father. There is a hooked rug of a butterfly hanging on the living room wall and a seven foot tall bottle tree in the bedroom. With a collection of old cobalt blue Pepto-Bismol bottles, it is a memorial to a friend. When I wake up each morning, I see a 1950s poster of a cowboy on a bronc and a painting of trees that once read faintly on the back, “painted in exchange for lunch and overalls.” These things inspire me to seize the day.

I got lucky. I have the love of a sweet and healthy family and of friends and dogs who put up with me. And it all happens in a home where antiques are used every day, for both utility and for memory, for practicality and for comfort and joy. What I realized about antiques that Christmas Eve is that the comfort and joy that they bring us are in fact very practical and necessary. We have created a new nest out of old things. This comforts us. Bring on the snow.

That’s more than enough about me. Each week watch this blog for the inside story on the dealers and customers who will bring the Dolly Johnson Antique & Art Show to life for the 47th time, in a new way. You'll hear about experienced dealers re-thinking their buying for younger shoppers. You'll discover some new and upcoming dealers and see how they approach a 47 year old show with a new eye. You'll meet Cissy Thompson, the show's Associate Director, who knows the who's-who of Dallas-Fort Worth antiques lovers. And more. Much more.

Let us hear back from you. How do you love and live with antiques and why?

See you at the show March 12-13 http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Hello, Dolly! Who the heck was Dolly Johnson?

2010-03-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

First there was Dolly Madison, then Dolly Parton, then Dolly Johnson. Or was it the other way around? And now, in Dallas, there’s even a shop called Dolly Python! What is it with all the these Dollys?

The late Dolly Johnson, the founder of our show, was a mid-twentieth century character in Fort Worth, Texas. Though tiny, she had big Texas hair and a bigger Texas heart. Together with her husband Rip Johnson, Dolly and Rip brought energy, excitement and passion to everything they touched. They loved Fort Worth and Fort Worth loved them.

Rip was the General Manager of Will Rogers Memorial Center for many years. He brought fresh new entertainment to Fort Worth—the Harlem Globetrotters, the Ice Capades, major musical acts and more. Perhaps you have driven on Rip Johnson Way, the road named for him at Will Rogers Memorial Center today.

I call Dolly “a character” because people of all ages, from many places have told me that they knew Dolly Johnson and that they have never known anyone else like her. Their very first words about her tend to recount a late night event or phone call. Apparently Dolly had a light-hearted view of time. The middle of the night was fair game for friendship, visits and phone calls. She was a character and she had character. I wish that I had known her.

In the show archives I found a yellowed newspaper, the very first volume of Antique News & Views. It had eight pages and two of them told the story of Dolly Johnson taking a group of Texas friends to the very first Heart of Country Antiques Show in Nashville in 1982. The article begins: “Dolly Johnson is a petite, fun-loving 19 year veteran Antique Show manager from Ft. Worth, Texas.”

Nineteen years? A photo with the article shows Dolly with antiques author Mary Emmerling who is described by the reporter as “shockingly youthful.” When Mary Emmerling was just starting out and when Heart of Country was born, Dolly Johnson had already been producing her show in Fort Worth for 19 years. Emma Lee Turney came to do one of Dolly’s shows in order to learn how to start her own show in Round Top, Texas in 1968.

Dolly Johnson never met a yard sale where she couldn’t find some treasure. The collections mounted and filled her new Tanglewood home in Fort Worth. There were quilts and coverlets, found locally and on trips back east. There was plain, primitive, bench-made furniture, very unlike the furniture that most people wanted in post-war America. There was a collection of tiny graniteware child and doll pots and pans and dishes. On and on, the list of well-loved antiques grew each year of Dolly’s life.

In the early 60s, Rip, ever the promoter, dared Dolly to start an antique show. She took him up on it and produced her first show in the spring of 1963. Her focus was American antiques. This was before women’s lib and years before the 1976 Bi-Centennial would light the Americana market aflame.

Influenced by the Dolly Johnson Antique Show, an active group of collectors began to emerge in Fort Worth and to spread across Texas. It was a time when people named shows after themselves, so naturally Dolly named the new show after herself. It was actually known as “Dolly Johnson’s Antique Show.” Today we don’t name shows after an individual’s full name---it’s just that Dolly’s show is one that has survived and evolved and is still going strong. For many, it is simply called “The Dolly Show.”

You can imagine the excitement that must have surrounded Dolly Johnson’s Antique Show when the American Bi-Centennial finally arrived.

I digress here…Does anyone out there remember the celebration of the Bi-Centennial in Fort Worth? Many events were planned, including a huge gathering to hear the symphony at the old Leonard’s M & O Subway parking lot. Well, on the 4th of July, 1976 it poured rain in Fort Worth. Not sprinkles, it rained and rained and rained. And we all went downtown anyway. In the pouring rain, the citizens sat on soaked bales of hay that had been set up like mountains to get us out of the water. I remember eating thoroughly drowned fried chicken.

But at sunset, amid all the soaking flags and banners, the rains parted and the most beautiful light flooded the city with a long summer sundown. Everything reflected a pinkish golden glow and the world seemed clean and new. In our wet clothes, the citizens of Fort Worth finally heard the music and saw the fireworks that had been planned all along. When Fort Worth gets its Trinity River Vision in place with a new town lake, many people will remember that at the bottom of that lake is the place where we sat on wet bales of hay and celebrated our country, rain or shine.

And with that Bi-Centennial came the new-found craze for antiques. Dolly Johnson had helped to usher it in. Suddenly, abandoned small towns sprouted antique shops and collectors clubs began to form and flourish. Helen Pringle, one of the group that went with Dolly to that first Nashville antique show, writes on our show website about “the long line of shoppers” who began to eagerly await the opening of the Dolly Johnson Show each year. See www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com under “Show History.”

At the fall 2009 Marburger Farm Antique Show in Round Top, I sold an enourmous Minnesota stepback cupboard to a woman about my age from Houston. I told her about the March 12-13 show in Fort Worth. She looked at me and said, “I knew Dolly Johnson.” Well, it turned out that they were in fact old family friends.

The next day, when Dolly’s friend came back with a truck big enough to carry her cupboard, she handed me a bag. It was a gift. Inside was a marvelous geometric American hooked rug, with all the signs of being well-used. “When I was a young girl, Dolly and I went to an antique show together,” she said. “Dolly picked this rug out for me to have in my future home. I want you to have it now.” The spirit of Dolly lives on.

Dolly’s daughter, JJ Frambes, who is a whole story of her own, took over running the show for the last 20 years or so. Her daughter, Krista Luter, and JJ’s grandchildren, Haley and Josh Luter, helped from an early age. In fact, you can probably find Dolly and Rip Johnson’s great-grandchildren at this year’s show, helping still.

So move over, Dolly Madison, Dolly Parton and Dolly Python. The Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show will soon be here! Show Special Events and Discount Coupon at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Free Parking at the Show March 12-13!!

2010-03-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Good News! The City of Fort Worth has announced that parking will still be free on March 12-13 for the 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show at Will Rogers Memorial Center. Paid parking will not start at city facilities until May, 2010.

That's good, because otherwise my mother would definitely want a parking fee rebate.

So plan to come early and often. If the parking at Will Rogers is full, just use the free trailer parking lot south of the Cowgirl Museum or the free underground garage directly under the show building with an elevator to the show lobby.

Since that's all we have to say about parking, enjoy these photos of the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here! Discount Coupon and Full Show Schedule at
http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

One Month till Show Time! What’s Your Best Ever Buy from the Dolly Johnson Show?

2010-02-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

Today is one month to show time for the 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show March 12 -13. Let’s do some "show and tell."

This is your invitation to write a comment (see comment button below—it won’t bite). Tell us about your absolutely favorite best ever buy at the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show.

The photo here comes from Lisa Hull, owner of diGs (artifacts for the home), which is a delightful new booth at Montgomery Street Antique Mall, aisle 7, in Fort Worth. Lisa writes, “Here are the chairs that I bought at last year’s Dolly Johnson Show. I know now that you are a ‘chair’ person…By the way, I loved the invitation/announcement to the show. It was stunning. I look forward to seeing you at the show.”

So send words, send photos, tell us your treasures!

For some, this will be easy, like the magazine editor who confided to me this week that she found her “best score ever--- a pair of 1940s Olsen-Stelzer cowboy boots and matching belt--- at the Dolly Johnson show many years ago.”

For others, it’s going to be hard. I think of people who have bought something wonderful every year of the show and have 46 prior prizes. You know who you are.

I think of my friends William and Laura who probably won’t tell us their favorite, but it’s a long list of possibilities. William is famously always the first person in line for the show.

I think of my friend Linda, who year after year looks for the artwork of her uncle, BJ Lore, illustrator of the program covers for the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and Rodeo for decades. She came to my booth, so discouraged. “I’ll never find anything.” In the very next booth, she found a 1930s Texas elementary school reader with illustrations by her uncle—for $5.

My own favorite buy at the Dolly Johnson Show cost quite a bit more than that and I ended up buying it, selling it and then buying it back. But that’s another story. Stay tuned.

For now, one month from the show, what marvelous and wonderful thing did you buy at the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show?
And, if you have to, you can tell us about the one that got away!

For show info and a discount coupon coming soon, see http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Mayfest Makes a Comeback – The Tradition Continues!

2010-02-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

At the March 12-13 Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, visit the Benefit Booth which supports Mayfest 2010. Today I spoke with Mary Kaye Juran who is coordinating the Benefit Booth, along with all of her other volunteer leadership for Mayfest. Her vision is a booth filled with flowers, plants, antiques, art and Mayfest memorabilia, all for sale to help Mayfest return on April 29 – May 2, 2010.

“I’m growing violets,” says Mary Kaye of her plan to sell live violets planted in antique dishes and pots—including teapots, mis-matched antique china and other vintage containers. But growing violets is (hopefully) an easy task compared to her responsibility for coordinating all the shuttles and buses at Mayfest, as well as heading up the event’s headquarters. “On some days that means three meals a day for the Mayfest Committee and their families—that’s feeding about 150 a day. I’m going to start cooking early.”

What is Mayfest and why is the Dolly Johnson Show supporting it?

Mayfest is a four day festival along the Trinity River in Fort Worth that attracts over 200,000 participants in activities for all ages. As Mary Kaye puts it, “Mayfest is an important contribution to the community. It gets all aspects of the city involved together and it’s truly a family activity. You’ll see three and four generations of a family coming to Mayfest together.”

Mayfest runs this year from Thursday April 29 to Sunday May 2. Over 33 acres of fun will include seven stages of live entertainment, bringing in over 5,000 performers ranging from musical groups of all kinds to dancers, folklorico, karate, ballet, clogging and more. There will be every kind of food, arts and gifts vendors, plus games and activities, such as the ever-awaited Great American Duck Race and the Mayfest Haunted House.

Mayfest is a partnership between these groups: The Junior League of Fort Worth, Streams and Valleys, The City of Fort Worth Parks and Community Services Department and the Tarrant Regional Water District. Their stewardship of the event raises funds for community programs and, to date, has returned $5.8 million to community needs in Fort Worth and for enhancing the Trinity River and surrounding parks. This year, Streams and Valleys is working to extend bike trails for public use and to provide the Fort Worth Police Department with a patrol vehicle sized just right for a hiking trail.

The Trinity River, which runs through the heart of Fort Worth, was not always as beautiful as it is today. In the 1960s various flood control ideas had turned the river into a mess of ugly floodways and ditches full of litter and debris. In 1969, a group of citizens founded Streams & Valleys in order to clean up the river and to encourage recreation and enjoyment of this unique civic asset.

The power of citizens working together paid off. By 1973 the Trinity River and surrounding parkland had fresh flowing water, 8,000 new trees and 40 miles of river trails for hiking and exercise. Even the fish and wildlife returned. A celebration of the rebirth of the Trinity River led to the annual community riverfront festival called Mayfest, now 37 years strong.

In 2009, just as the Mayfest was preparing to open, uncertainty about the H1N1 Flu Virus led to the closing of the festival, along with school closures and cancellation of other events planned in the city. The financial cost of the sudden closure was enormous. Once again, a partnership among citizens, business, government and generous donors has worked all year to raise the funds needed to bring Mayfest back on April 29 through May 2, 2010.

The 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show is delighted to be a part of this effort. In addition to providing a Benefit Booth, the show has donated 1,000 show tickets for Mayfest volunteers to sell in the month of February, with 100% of those proceeds going directly to Mayfest.

We also have worked closely with area antique shops who have generously donated art, antiques and gift certificates to be sold in the Benefit Booth. So far, those donors include:

Benbrook Antique Mall
Camp Bowie Mercantile
Carter Bowden Antiques
K. Flories Antiques
Montgomery Street Antique Mall
Mosley’s Memories Estate Sales
Old Home Supply
Pease-Cobb Antiques
RetroMania Antiques
Simple Things

Of course many of the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show exhibitors will also put some Flower Power behind Mayfest by contributing antiques and art, including yours truly, Hot Tamale Antiques---and all of her friends. To contribute, email me at JanOH4(at)aol(dot)com

The photo here shows Kitty Welch of the Mayfest office with one of the prints that will be for sale at the booth. These magnificent signed and numbered bird prints were created by Fort Worth artists Scott and Stuart Gentling several years ago, as a gift for Mayfest. Now their gift will help Mayfest recover and return as a jewel in the crown on the cowgirl hat of Fort Worth, Texas. See all about Mayfest at www.mayfest.org

Get lucky and you could win free tickets to Mayfest for your family as one of the door prizes at the Friday March 12 Happy Hour Party from 4-7 pm at the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, which will soon be here.

Welcome back, Mayfest! The Tradition Continues!
See Show Info and Happy Hour Party Plans at www.dollyjohnsonAntiqueandArtShow.com

Hello, Dolly! Who the heck was Dolly Johnson?

2010-02-11T23:27:00.000-08:00

The late Dolly Johnson, the founder of our show, was a mid-twentieth century character in Fort Worth, Texas. Though tiny, she had a big Texas personality and a bigger Texas heart. Together with her husband Rip Johnson, Dolly and Rip brought energy, excitement and passion to everything they touched. They loved Fort Worth and Fort Worth loved them.

Rip was the General Manager of Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum for many years. He brought fresh new entertainment to Fort Worth—the Harlem Globetrotters, the Ice Capades, major musical acts and more. Perhaps you have driven on Rip Johnson Way, the road named for him at Will Rogers Memorial Center today. Rip brought ice hockey to Fort Worth, including my yankee hockey player, Tom Harter.

I call Dolly “a character” because people of all ages, from many places have told me that they knew Dolly Johnson and that they have never known anyone else like her. Their very first words about her tend to recount a late night event or phone call. Apparently Dolly had a light-hearted view of time. The middle of the night was fair game for friendship, visits and phone calls. She was a character and she had character. I wish that I had known her.

In the show archives I found a yellowed newspaper, the very first volume of Antique News & Views. It had eight pages and two of them told the story of Dolly Johnson taking a group of Texas friends to the very first Heart of Country Antiques Show in Nashville in 1982. The article begins: “Dolly Johnson is a petite, fun-loving 19 year veteran Antique Show manager from Ft. Worth, Texas.”

Nineteen years? A photo with the article shows Dolly with antiques author Mary Emmerling who is described by the reporter as “shockingly youthful.” When Mary Emmerling was just starting out and when Heart of Country was born, Dolly Johnson had already been producing her show in Fort Worth for 19 years. Emma Lee Turney came to do one of Dolly’s shows in order to learn how to start her own show in Round Top, Texas in 1968.

Dolly Johnson never met an estate sale where she couldn’t find some treasure. The collections mounted and filled her new Tanglewood home in Fort Worth. There were quilts and coverlets, found locally and on trips back east. There was plain, primitive, bench-made furniture, very unlike the furniture that most people wanted in post-war America. There was a collection of tiny graniteware child and doll pots and pans and dishes. On and on, the list of well-loved antiques grew each year of Dolly’s life.

The next day, when Dolly’s friend came back with a truck big enough to carry her cupboard, she handed me a bag. It was a gift. Inside was a marvelous geometric American hooked rug, with all the signs of being well-used. “When I was a young girl, Dolly and I went to an antique show together,” she said. “Dolly picked this rug out for me to have in my future home. I want you to have it now.” The spirit of Dolly lives on.

Dolly’s daughter, JJ Frambes, who is a whole story of her own, took over running the show for the last 20 years or so. Her daughter, Krista Luter, and JJ’s grandchildren, Haley and Josh Luter, helped from an early age. In fact, you can probably find Dolly and Rip Johnson’s great-grandchildren at this year’s show, helping still.

So move over, Dolly Madison, Dolly Parton and Dolly Python. The Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show will soon be here!

Blog Photos by Krista Luter
Show Special Events and Discount Coupon at http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

The Show is Selling Out

2010-01-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

The show is selling out. I’m sitting here looking at my list of 70 spaces filled with antiques dealers from California to North Carolina. Five spaces are left, with 14 dealers who want them. On top of that, there is a waiting list forming for cancellations. And, on top of that, an additional 33 antiques dealers across the US have asked to be considered for the 2011 show in mild-mannered Fort Worth. What’s the excitement all about?

It’s exciting when an established antique show, which could rest on well-earned laurels, changes directions instead and invests in the future of the antiques world.

This is how I am spending the recession: helping the 47 year old Dolly Johnson Antique & Art Show evolve into a small blockbuster, with all types of antiques, with quality at more than one price level and sized-right for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Will it happen? Who knows? The dealers are certainly doing their part.

As I write, three Dolly Johnson Show exhibitors are in England shopping two weeks of antiques fairs there in one of the coldest winters in memory. Another, Karen Buckingham, is driving a truck back east to shop in Pennsylvania and New England. Then she will rush home so that she will have time to unpack and prepare everything for the show. “I do all my own dry-scraping,” says Karen. “That way I know that the surface is the real thing.” Dry-scraping? Not for the faint of heart.

About Antiques Dealers: Welcome to our World
After 21 years of selling at antiques shows from New York to Santa Fe, I know a lot of dealers. And I know a few things about dealers.

The first thing you have to know about antiques dealers is that we are all a little nuts. It’s not just a question of who gets up at 5 am and drives in the dark to an estate sale to wait at the head of the line. Lots of people can do that. It’s who does it week after week, year after year, decade after decade. Some dealers work through estate sales. Some buy privately out of homes or through pickers and other dealers who scout out antiques for them to buy. Many hit multiple auctions every weekend, hoping that they buy the best thing there and not a truckload of bargains again.

Others travel across America and around the globe, developing relationships with local residents who help them lug home the best of the best. And others of us buy anywhere and everywhere that we can. Chuck Auerbach, a dealer friend from Ohio, once told me that searching for antiques to re-sell was simply the discipline of getting out there and “hoping to get lucky.” Hope and the work of searching, day after day, decade after decade.

Some dealers have a specific type of antique that they focus on. At the 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, look for Gayle Green, described by one antiques collector as “the best majolica dealer in America.” Show after show, Gayle is glad to explain the history and process of making majolica to new shoppers. She knows her stuff. And she loves it.

Other dealers evolve in what they try to buy and sell. Jo Rader of Black Swan Antiques has exhibited American primitives for many years at the show. This March 12-13, things in her booth will be a little different.

“I’m going in a 300 mile radius, north, south, east and west,” says Jo. “And this year I’m looking for industrial antiques, which I have never done before, and also for the extremely good primitives.” What has she found so far? A clean-lined step back cupboard, metal school lockers, theater seats, wire gym baskets and game boards.”

Dealers who do shows are especially considered a little nuts. When people say to me, “Oh, it must be so much fun to do antique shows.” I tend to respond, “Well….. it’s more like being in the circus.”

What keeps us at it? Some are making living… or paying a mortgage...or putting a child through college… or all of the above. There are easier ways to do these things, so why antique shows?

Some antiques dealers were born into the business or have never done anything else but deal in antiques. Others came from related fields such as design, art, architecture. Many antiques dealers are refugees from some other line of work---lots of teachers, home-makers, middle-aged hippies, retail and wholesale sales workers, fashion refugees, even a few insurance folks, nurses, office workers, therapists, ……Some of us are well-educated. Some of us have learned everything we know the hard way. (Is there an easy way?) And some of us do antique shows just because our spouse needs a break from us every once in a while.

But most of us do it because we love the version of the world that is created within the days and hours and space of a truly great antique show. We love the antiques and we love creating an environment of beauty and diversity and delight that shoppers can take home to the bigger world, one piece at a time.

What Makes a Great Antiques Dealer?

A creative approach to life makes for a great antiques dealer. Add to that the willingness to get down on their knees in the dark and dig into piles of who knows what. As the hero in Larry McMurtry’s antiques saga, Cadillac Jack, puts it: great antiques dealers live in the faith that the first rule of the antiques business is “Anything can be anywhere.”

Of course, the second rule is that it usually isn’t. But we keep at it.

Come to the 47th Annual Dolly Johnson Antique & Art Show in Fort Worth and see for yourself what the excitement is all about. What makes a great antiques shopper? Stay tuned.
http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/

Flower Power!

2010-01-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

Here at the world headquarters of the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, in the middle of winter, we are thinking of flowers. When the show opens on Friday March 12 and Saturday March 13 in Fort Worth, the 2010 theme will be Flower Power!

Each of the 75 extraordinary exhibitors will bring at least one equally extraordinary antique with a floral twist. You can expect over 100 examples of the flower inspiring antiques and art of all eras and styles. At the Will Rogers Memorial Center, spring will have sprung.

Look for a small mid-century metal Italian purse. I fantasize that this little gem might have been bought at the NoneSuch Shop at the old Neiman Marcus on Fort Worth's Camp Bowie Blvd. West about 1966. Perhaps Twiggy had one like it. Anyone out there remember Twiggy?

From European and American textiles to Native American jewelry and beadwork, expect blossoms to bloom in all directions. We'll even have fresh flowers and live plants for sale in the Mayfest Benefit Booth. More on Mayfest soon. Meanwhile, think flower power! http://www.dollyjohnsonantiqueandartshow.com/