Decorative Arts

Looking for a distinctive handmade rug or an unusual piece of pottery? Gazelle of Cross Keys, a shop specializing in upscale wearable art and American crafts, has just opened Gazelle Decorative Arts on the opposite side of the Village Square, Village of Cross Keys.The new, larger space has hand-painted furniture and decorative pieces for the home and many of Gazelle's Christmas gifts. Holiday hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

It is hard to believe, considering our national fondness for the White House and its history, but new presidents used to sell off the furnishings from the previous administration in something like a garage sale. In an attempt to make "the people's house" their own, first families would get rid of the old to make room for the new, or the newest fashion. Incoming administrations could simply do away with what they didn't want and no one batted an eye until years later when first lady Jacqueline Kennedy asked for it all back.

Q: I want to give my dining room the elegant look produced by formal English or American period furniture. The room isn't large, but it does have a 10-foot ceiling. In addition to the table and chairs, should I purchase a sideboard or a breakfront? I'd also like your advice on decorations.A: The best way to start such a project is by looking at examples of period room settings. American and English dining rooms of the 18th and 19th centuries are depicted in many books that cover the history of interior design.

It's a safe bet that Artscape, Baltimore's annual outdoor festival of the arts, is one of the best things that ever happened to this city. This year the three-day event in July attracted more than 300,000 visitors for a dazzling weekend of art exhibitions, musical performances and tasty food along the Mount Royal Avenue corridor, and it seems to get better every year. It's also one of the most inclusive occasions in the city's civic life: Everybody's invited, and everybody shows up, ready to enjoy themselves and revel in the rich cultural life of this community.

It's dizzying to contemplate the banquet of decorating styles that surfeited the world during the long, long reign of Queen Victoria: from dour ranks of Gothic arches to rococo curlicues, from the aesthetic movement's stylized geometries to the sensuous sinuosity of art nouveau. In museums, their multiplicity invites varied treatment, and gets it.At New York's Metropolitan Museum, it's a proper tea party, with each style grouped decorously in its own location. The Philadelphia Museum of Art's huge Victorian gallery offers a feast, a vast melange with styles, materials and patterns intermingling.

James Abbott, 33, the Baltimore Museum of Art's recently appointed curator of decorative arts, has been interested in the decorative arts since he was a child."

Fine arts (painting, sculpture, etc.) and decorative arts (furniture, silverware, etc.) are two branches of the arts with overlapping but not identical functions. Fine arts perform a decorative function and relate to people in a non-physical, humanistic way; that is, they tell us something about ourselves at some level (or they should). Decorative arts perform a decorative function and relate to people in a physical, utilitarian way; that is, we use them in our everyday lives.It's not often that fine arts are utilitarian, unless you consider that filling up wall space satisfies the requirement.

Beverleigh B. Cochrane, a volunteer at the Baltimore Museum of Art who championed historic preservation, died of pneumonia Wednesday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 84. Beverleigh Jane Boulogne was born in Tulsa, Okla., and was a graduate of the University of Missouri. In 1944, she married Noel Blair Hunter Cochrane, a member of the Royal Air Force stationed in Ontario. After World War II, the couple settled in the Poplar Hill area of Baltimore. He founded and operated two companies that sold industrial equipment.

Otherworldly drawings Colorful, almost cartoon-like, drawings by Nelson Aldin are worth a look at Gallery ID8 in Fells Point. The works have a playful Dr. Seuss quality -- otherworldly creatures crawl across a plain, men roller-skate with trees sprouting from the tops of their heads, anglers wander around an open space with fish dangling from their lines. It is fun, wild stuff. The show, Mirth and Madness, will be up through Dec. 26. Gallery ID8 is at 2007 Fleet St. Hours are 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Fridays; noon-9 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m.-8 p.m. Sundays.

In the brief space of 12 years the Museum of Decorative Arts of Montreal has assembled what may be the most extensive collection of modern design objects in the world -- about 3,000. It's a feat that must have required rare vision and at times aggressive collecting, but the woman behind it is scarcely aggressive in personal manner. At the opening of "What Modern Was" a week ago, Liliane Stewart, president of the Decorative Arts Museum of Montreal, was soft-spoken, exquisitely polite, and almost eager to defer to the museum's director and the show's curator accompanying her. "It was a team effort," she said repeatedly of the collection.

Beverleigh B. Cochrane, a volunteer at the Baltimore Museum of Art who championed historic preservation, died of pneumonia Wednesday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 84. Beverleigh Jane Boulogne was born in Tulsa, Okla., and was a graduate of the University of Missouri. In 1944, she married Noel Blair Hunter Cochrane, a member of the Royal Air Force stationed in Ontario. After World War II, the couple settled in the Poplar Hill area of Baltimore. He founded and operated two companies that sold industrial equipment.

You're biting into a California roll, anticipating what you'll eat next from the $26.95 brunch buffet at Perry's, and, suddenly, loud music blares and lip-synching drag queens surround your table, urging your friend to take off his shirt. It is not an ordinary brunch, but Adams Morgan is not an ordinary neighborhood. The Washington hot spot is best known for its nightlife (think 20-somethings flooding the streets in a drunken stupor amid a string of bars), but the eclectic neighborhood is also a great place to spend an afternoon walking, shopping and eating.

Otherworldly drawings Colorful, almost cartoon-like, drawings by Nelson Aldin are worth a look at Gallery ID8 in Fells Point. The works have a playful Dr. Seuss quality -- otherworldly creatures crawl across a plain, men roller-skate with trees sprouting from the tops of their heads, anglers wander around an open space with fish dangling from their lines. It is fun, wild stuff. The show, Mirth and Madness, will be up through Dec. 26. Gallery ID8 is at 2007 Fleet St. Hours are 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Fridays; noon-9 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m.-8 p.m. Sundays.

Budget director of county to speak at chamber luncheon The Carroll County Chamber of Commerce will hold a member luncheon at noon April 8 at Martin's Westminster. Ted Zaleski, the county's budget director, will discuss the fiscal 2005 budget. The cost is $18, and reservations are required by Thursday. Information: 410-848-9050. Resource center offers programs for job seekers The Carroll County Business & Employment Resource Center offers workshops and programs to help people searching for a job or a new career.

If Williamsburg, Va. is the place to learn about Colonial America and New Orleans is identified by its French Quarter, how should Baltimore be known? As the quintessential 19th-century American city, according to a growing contingent of local scholars and cultural leaders. After all, they argue, Baltimore is a treasure trove of 19th-century art and history. Consider: The city was the birthplace of American railroading. It boasts the first Roman Catholic cathedral in America, the mother church of American Methodism, the first monument to George Washington.

AMONG THE Baltimore Museum of Art's holdings is a photograph of a crowded Tokyo street. The camera lens is trained on three women, each illuminated by a garish light, which raises the question: Is this a candid shot of hurried shoppers or a staged theatrical still? The work of Philip-Lorca diCorcia exemplifies a trend in contemporary photography that explores the relationship between fiction and reality. He was at the top of curator Darsie Alexander's "must have" list to enhance the museum's collection.

Furniture and furnishings show Discover the future of one-of-a-kind furniture and decorative arts at the Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show tomorrow through Sunday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Shoppers will find a large selection of items for the home and office, created by more than 250 artisans from across the nation. Look for furniture, hand-painted floor coverings, lighting, textile designs, ceramics, glass, metals and more. This year's theme is "The Decorative Arts in the Twenty First Century: The Importance of the Hand-Made in a Technological World."

Edward B. Stellmann Jr., a retired businessman who raised money for the Baltimore Museum of Art's decorative arts collection, died of cancer Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 68.Born in Baltimore, Mr. Stellmann became a partner with his brother, William, in Bibb Heating Co. He retired from the mechanical engineering company in 1990.He later served on the boards of the Roland Park Condominium and Margaret Bennett Home, which provides housing for low-income working women.He enjoyed trips to Europe with the BMA's Friends of the American Wing so much that he and his wife, Sandra Monroe Patterson Stellmann, arranged to be married by the mayor of Sorrento, Italy, on a 1993 trip with the group.

With one fabulously generous gift, the small Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester, N.H., has just become a significantly bigger player in the museum world. Last Wednesday, the museum announced that former Currier trustee Henry Melville Fuller, who died on Aug. 4, had left behind a $43 million bequest. It's one of the largest single gifts to any nonprofit organization in the state of New Hampshire, and among the largest by an individual to any museum in the country. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has never gotten a single gift nearly as big, and its budget and collections dwarf those of the Currier, a small 72-year-old institution with strengths in American painting, European modernism and decorative arts.

Fund-raisers at school to help recovery efforts Friendship Valley Elementary School will hold two fund-raisers tomorrow to benefit victims of the terrorist attacks and those involved in recovery efforts in New York and at the Pentagon. A children's book fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the school at 1100 Gist Road, Westminster. All books will sell for $2, with proceeds going to victims of the terrorist attacks. A "Words of Comfort" quilt for firefighters and police officers in New York will be on display.