Finding the Magic in Antiques

Pam Haft and her businesspartner Russ Stipanovich are the odd couple of local antiquing. Haft is small and delicate and accommodating. Stipanovich is big and straightforward and a shade gruff. She tends toward smart jackets and scarves; he tends toward T-shirts.Together the two Sharon residents have created a magical antiques shop in Amenia, Artisan Gallery Antiques, which opened on March 1.

Here’s how it happened: Stipanovich had the storefront space, at 3306 Route 343, where he did some dealing but mostly furniture finishing and restoration. Eventually, he decided to renovate the space and concentrate on selling antiques. Haft, who had been trading antiques at various spots, including Coffman’s in Great Barrington, MA, was one of Stipanovich’s more faithful customers. She just happened to be looking to find her own space.

When Haft heard about Stipanovich’s plans to renovate, she proposed a merger.

"I was really excited about the idea," Stipanovich said.

Haft, once a music teacher, fell into the antiques business when she became a Sharon weekender, filling her new house with local buys, which soon overran the available space. "And then it became an obsession."

Stipanovich started at age 12, when he wanted a fishing pole. His mother told him to sell a toy to make the money.

"I sold my Lionel train set and I never looked back."

A carpenter by trade, Stipanovich "always had stuff in other people’s shops." As time went on, the building, refinishing and restoring became too much. "As I got older, I wanted to do less work and more buying and selling."

The shop the two have created is his, hers and theirs (a few other dealers have shelf space). The mix is an eclectic collection of primitives, folk art, paintings, period furniture and antique decorative arts. The partners share an appreciation of old toys, outsider art, and utilitarian items — old tools, pieces of machinery — that have a sculptural feel. Where they tend to diverge, Stipanovich said, is "Pam goes a little more toward the Oriental and the formal, where I lean more to industrial design and one-of-a-kind pieces." After some discussion, the two agreed that the only area they really avoid is "phoo-phooey Victorian."

A walk around the restored space, under newly uncovered and painted tin ceilings, offers a wealth of interesting items, including a parchment paper tamborine painted with a scene of Mt. St. Michelle, an early 19th-century child’s Windsor chair, weighted canvas carnival "knock downs," and an Aluma Craft 1970s round smoked-glass table with four lucite chairs. There are 19th-century birdhouses and 20th-century metal flamingos and a magnificent striped barbershop pole.

We pause in our travels in front of a black, wrought-iron early 20th-century coal shovel, the design of which is positively elegant. A gorgeous wood and metal cranberry harvester hangs above it on the wall.

"It’s fun," Haft said. "We both like to expand the idea of what is art and what is antique." The shop’s logo is "A New Take on Antiques."

Now just having a good eye doesn’t guarantee a design sense. Some of the shop’s visual pleasure must be credited to stylist Kara O’Neil of Dover, who is "constantly moving things around," Haft said, and is responsible for both the interior and window arrangements. "She’s a real find," echoed Stipanovich, who met her at KJ’s eatery and gift shop around the corner.

While Artisan Gallery includes scores of small items, from old toys to jewelry, some of the bigger sales have included an 1810 Empire country fireplace mantel, a Sheridan table, a signed Alberto Giacometti lithograph. The gallery’s clients are primarily weekenders, but the two say they’ve found lively interest on the part of area residents and fellow shop owners. "There’s been a lot of enthusiasm," Stipanovich said.

In fact, the town is working to establish Amenia’s "antiques district" along this part of Route 343, a stretch which now includes six other shops specializing in some form of antiques and home goods. "I think the nucleus is here and activity is increasing slowly," said Stipanovich, who has been working from the space for three years and has watched the strip develop. He says he hopes for some "vision," for "some cafes and things that make people stay."

In the meantime, the two, who are at the shop Thursday through Monday, also carry their wares to various shows around the area, including the Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market in New Milford and Antiques in a Cow Pasture in Salisbury. "I beat the bushes constantly," Stipanovich said. He figures he averages three nights a week at auctions. The two also actively buy outright.

Haft and Stipanovich sell nothing they don’t love or aren’t fascinated by. After giving an enthusiastic visual tour of an amazingly detailed, handmade barn birdhouse (complete with a miniature canoe under the eaves), Haft sighed with pleasure.

Isn’t she tempted to keep some of these pieces?

"Yes," she replied instantly. "But when they sell, I’m delighted, too."

Artisan Gallery Antiques, 3306 Route 343, just east of the Amenia light, is open Thursday-Monday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tel.: 845-789-1066.