BoomerGirl Diary

Once anyone has three or more of something, it’s a collection, according to Angie Conrad, owner of the antique shop My Father’s Daughter in Lawrence, Kan. And Conrad definitely has more than three items in more than three collections at her home.

Probably her largest collection is her green Depression glass, which consists of 300 or more pieces. Other collections include Majolica pottery, Belleek porcelain, curtsying lady figurines, antique poetry books, Christmas decorations and glass Figaro. From her childhood she has saved her Herman Munster lunchbox, Barbie dolls and the first thing she collected—rocks.

Conrad says she was influenced by her grandmothers, her mother and her father who all have collected various items. She also follows her own tastes and believes collectors should seek out affordable items that appeal to them.

“They say art imitates life, so I think if you like something in your life you tend to be drawn to things that are similar to it. I enjoy history, museums. Normal people can’t go out and buy $100,000 works of art, so it’s nice to go out and find something you can afford, no matter what it is,” Conrad says.

Her watercolor of two women by Italian artist Giuseppe Guidi is a good example of how affordable art can be. She placed a silent bid of $38 on his painting at an estate auction and won. Much later she took it to the Antique Road Show in Kansas City and learned it was valued at $5,000.

Much of what Conrad collects is invaluable to her.

“Very rarely I’ll sell something that I have kept for a long time, or that I really treasure. I won’t sell anything from the family,” she says.

Like other collectors, Conrad feels she is doing more than acquiring collections of things that appeal to her.

“One day they will go to someone else, so maybe I’m just the carekeeper of them for now. I just need to make sure they are taken care of for the next person, just like the people before me.”

“Artists that I know…”

Ann Evans, director of the Lawrence Arts Center, is never far from paintings, drawings, watercolors, photographs, ceramics or glass work.

“As the director [who is] promoting artists and encouraging people to buy artwork, it’s really important to me that I do that, too. I love having it in my home. I can’t imagine not having artwork in my home, and real artwork and by people that I know, artists that I know,” Evans says.

All of the art in Evans’ home is original from artists she knows, many of whom she considers to be her friends.

One display in Evans’ home comes from Elizabeth Layton, a Wellsville, Kan., artist who died in 1993. She gave several drawings to Evans when she was president of the Lawrence Daffodil Flower Club. Flowers and artwork were shown at the arts center every year, and Layton decided Evans needed a drawing for herself each year.

“Daffodil blossoms spell a word. The first one was ‘love,’ ‘try,’ ‘grow,’ ‘listen,’ ‘forgive.’ And so those were just incredibly wonderful. They are about the only ones I haven’t bought,” Evans says.

The first local artist’s work Evans purchased 25 years ago was a painting by Bob Sudlow. Other artists whose works can be seen in her home include Louie Copt, Robert Green, Ron Hinton, Paul Hotvedt, Mike Ott, and Martin Cheng. That’s only a partial list — Evans has used abundant local resources to build her collection.

“One of my dreams and goals is to have people have some original artwork in their homes. And not just buy it but to buy it because they like it, they enjoy it, and they like to have it around. We talk about Lawrence being the City of the Arts. Well, the best thing we as nonartists can do is buy art and attend performances. We’re blessed in Lawrence to have so many artists,” Evans says.