Lee Ann and Tom Moore felt they had found “the” house the first time they viewed it in 2008. Unique in floorplan, and crowning the hill at the corner of College Street and First Street South in Columbus, it is, Tom says, “an outside-inside house.”
The home embracing three lots overlooks the Tombigbee River in front and nestles in back against terraced woods. The gem, built in 1956, is a fitting home tour choice for the Decorative Arts and Preservation Forum Nov. 4-7 and its theme — “Mid-Twentieth Century Influences on the Southern Houses in Which We Live.”
The four-day forum and antiques show and sale presented by the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation, and held at Trotter Convention Center, puts the mid-1900s centerstage. These were the post-war years, when architecture, decor and furnishings departed radically from the excess ornamentation of the Victorian era, and American style entered a new age. It”s the most modern period the forum has focused on to date.
“We moved to the mid-twentieth century because turn-of-the-century and mid-century homes are very appealing to younger families now, because of the livable style of the houses,” said Ralph Null, of the planning committee. “Today”s young professionals really are looking for a comfortable house that”s a bit nostalgic.”
Nancy Carpenter, manager of the Heritage Foundation, remarked, “We”ve expanded and added some elements to the forum this year that we”re very excited about. And every bit of the proceeds stays here in Columbus and benefits the restoration of the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center.”
A respite
The fluid architecture of the Moore”s one-story home isn”t readily detected until inside. Following the curve of the lots the house, at most points, is one room deep. The prevailing feeling is of warmth, intriguing angles and flow as walls of muted gold, almond or woodsy green lead visitors through spaces infused with natural light and views of the river on one side and trees, and the family”s pool, on the other.
“You”re downtown, but you feel like you”re in the country,” said Tom, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general and vice president of marketing for Stark Aerospace.
Artwork is a presence in every room, much of it done by Tom. Several vibrant canvases were painted by Lee Ann”s mother and family. Still other treasured pieces, as well as striking rugs, were collected abroad as Tom”s tours took him to distant countries.
But the most remarkable work of all is perhaps that of Lee Ann”s late grandmother. Called the “Grandma Moses of Stitchery,” Ethel Wright Mohamed (1906-1992) used intricate stitches to tell stories on fabric. Her “paintings with thread” have won national acclaim. A commissioned tapestry is in the Smithsonian”s permanent collection. Twelve of her stitchery pictures were in one of the museum”s six-month exhibits.
“Each piece had a story,” said Lee Ann. “She”d just sit and imagine, then put a stitch in and start.” While most of her grandmother”s stitchery is on display in Mama”s Dream World Museum in Belzoni, Lee Ann has brought several to Columbus for Saturday”s 2 p.m. tour.
Antiques
The Antiques Show and Sale at Trotter Convention Center Friday and Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) brings together quality dealers from throughout the country and serves as a backdrop for plentiful parties and talks on art and design. Trotter”s ballroom and foyer will feature floral design by Null.
Admission to the sale is $5 daily. Saturday attendees are welcome to a continental breakfast, lunch, curator talks and tours of the Moore home and of the restored McGahey Building (BancorpSouth) downtown at no additional cost.
Floral, garden experts
Following a ticketed gala and preview party Thursday evening at Trotter, Friday is devoted to the art of flowers and gardens, with presenters John Grady Burns and Brooks Garcia beginning at 9 a.m.
A shrimp and grits brunch sponsored by Flower magazine is the perfect break between their talks.
Burns, a renowned event planner and designer in Atlanta, is the owner of Flora and author of design how-to”s “Personally Yours” and “Evergreen.” The MSU alumnus attributes much of his talent and creativity to early training with Null, founder of the MSU floral management program.
“With the holidays approaching, we”re more or less focused on my book, ”Evergreen (”Decorating with Colours of the Season”) so my demonstration will mostly be on floral design for the holidays,” said Burns
Garcia of Atlanta is an award-winning garden expert, owner of Brooks Garcia Fine Gardens Inc. His own garden, and clients”, have appeared in magazines including Veranda and Metropolitan Homes, and on HGTV”s “A Gardener”s Diary.”
“We”re going to ask ourselves questions about the elements that make up a garden,” he said of his talk. “Many times people look at a magazine and say, oh, I love that garden, but they don”t know exactly why. What is it you love about it? Is it the plants, that urn, the bench? When people understand what it is, they can begin to create the setting they want.”
Take it from the curators
Saturday features talks by four authorities in their fields.
From 9-10 a.m., John Keefe, curator of decorative arts at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and George Roland, curator of prints and drawings, share insight into “How, Where and When to Collect Wisely.”
Keefe explained, “We”ll talk about some ground rules for collecting — not buying into the teeth of fashion and collect what everybody else collects, the things that have already been picked over, but finding that undersung area you like, exploring the unknown and how to go about doing that.”
Roland has been with the museum for about a decade, after living in London for 45 years.
“I”ve spent 30 years collecting contemporary prints, so I know a little about how to do that effectively,” he said. “There is a big difference between shopping and collecting.” Like Keefe, Roland has attended the forum for many years.
“Columbus is such a welcoming community; I always encourage other people to make the journey,” he said. “The forum is a wonderful institution, well-planned and well-run.”
Conformity, or not
At 10:30 a.m., Dr. Kristina Wilson, associate professor in the department of visual and performing arts at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., will talk about “Suburban Modern: Conformity and Rebellion in 1950s Furnishings.”
“Modernism became mainstream in the 1950s — we”ll look at modernism from the perspective of the suburban home, the place that was supposedly all about conformity and ”keeping up with the Joneses,”” Wilson said.
The looking glass
After a break for lunch, Jane Spillman, curator of American glass at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y., will present a talk at 12:30 p.m.
“We”ll look at the amazing changes in the styles of both American and European tableware in the first half of the century, beginning with cut glass of 1890 to 1920 and through the ”60s,” said Spillman.
How to go
Admission to the Antiques Show and Sale is $5 per day. Tickets to Thursday”s opening gala and preview party are $25 ($30 at the door). Tickets for Friday”s flower and garden seminars, plus the shrimp and grits brunch, are $25.
A grand patron ticket for $150 is an all-inclusive pass to every event the forum offers, including the antiques show, talks, brunch, tours and two special events open only to grand patrons — a cocktail party Friday at the home of Null and Fred Kinder, and an elegant buffet dinner Saturday at Whitehall, the circa 1843 Greek Revival mansion of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Boggess, catered by Harding Catering and featuring floral design by Dr. Jim DelPrince, who will also design for the Moore”s home.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.columbus-ms.org, or contact the Heritage Foundation at 800-920-3533.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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