Bev Norwood wants people to stop dead in their tracks.
As an avid collector and dealer of 18th- and 19th-century Americana folk art, Norwood says that’s the most important part of finding a great piece.
“Folk art has to be something that makes you say ‘Wow!’ ” she said. “It has to resonate with you and really tug at your heart strings.”
The Timonium resident and her husband, Doug, have been avid collectors for more than 30 years, founding their business “Spirit of America” in 1976. For the first time, the couple will show part of their collection at the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show this weekend.
Americana folk art generally includes unique, one-of-a-kind American art pieces created between 1770 and 1850. The pieces can be anything from a schoolgirl’s sampler to a painted portrait to a decorative wooden chest, and are never mass-produced.
“American folk art evolved from people who had a lot less formal training or schooling than fine art painters. But what they did have was an extraordinary eye for beauty, so that they could really bring the spirit and vitality to a piece,” Bev Norwood said. “Take a simple, utilitarian box. A folk art painter is going to take that box and paint it with vibrant colors in multiple hues, giving it a dramatic form.”
Bev and Doug Norwood, both educators in the Baltimore City and Baltimore County school systems, originally started the business to supplement their income, but it quickly evolved into a passion.
One piece that holds an especially significant place in Bev Norwood’s heart is an early schoolgirl’s sampler she found in New York. “I brought it home and I just wanted to enjoy it, so I placed it on the wall. Then, on the morning of 9/11, something made me go back and look at the sampler,” she said. “It had been made on September 11, 1822. It was unbelievable. That’s the thing about folk art. It connects people and places together.”
If you go
- 28th annual Baltimore Summer Antiques Show
- Where: Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St., Baltimore
- When: Noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
- Tickets: $12
