One of the Chicago area’s most dynamic antiques shows is headlining a roster of interesting speakers with popular PBS television personality Marcia Adams.
Adams, a resident of Ft. Wayne, Ind., and an authority on America’s rich and diverse culinary heritage, will present a slide-lecture at 10 a.m. Friday to help kick off the Hinsdale Antiques Show and Sale, “Pride of the Prairie,” a benefit for The Hinsdale Community House.
Adams says the theme of her talk will be “how you can have tables with terrific personalities using things that are old.”
As Middle America’s answer to Martha Stewart, Adams’ down-to-earth warmth invites everyone to share her enthusiasm for regional recipes. Her new 26-part PBS series, “Marcia Adams’ Kitchen,” premiers this fall and is based on Adams’ popular “Heirloom Recipes,” one of her numerous cookbooks that feature recipes along with food traditions.
“I prefer old recipes because they are so different,” Adams says. “I’m saving old recipes the way some people save antiques. So many came out of an oral tradition, and they are being lost.”
One of her newest interests, she says, developed from a short segment at the end of each television show that proved very popular with viewers. During those segments, Adams offers tips on entertaining with antique dishes, bowls and other accoutrements related to food; she also features a quilt from a particular area.
Family heirlooms
“I always liked antique dishes,” Adams adds. “Ella Grabill, my paternal grandmother, entertained very elegantly. I always remember it was so much fun to go to her house, because her tables were so pretty. She would set the table two days in advance and cover it with a light piece of muslin so it wouldn’t get dusty. It would be all shrouded, as if it were gift-wrapped. When the time came, she would whisk it off, and here was this table she had arranged,” says Adams, who inherited quite a few Haviland china pieces and many lovely cut glass bowls from her grandmother.
While her grandmother used these dishes only “for good,” or special occasions, “I decided to use those things (on an everyday basis), and for years I did,” says Adams.
Dick Carter, director of two pledge drives at Chicago WTTW-TV in which Adams took part, recalls that Adams and her husband “drove in from Ft. Wayne in a big Cadillac with all these incredible things in the back: baskets, shawls, lots of things to display the food in.”
Carter calls Adams “a delight to work with–a sweet, kind professional person. She’s like everyone’s favorite aunt.”
Mix and match
Adams encourages people to “play” with the dishes they already own and “have fun with them, mix them up.
“I believe in unmatched things,” she adds. “I think it is much more interesting. I think you have to have a unifying theme though, so it doesn’t look like you are schizophrenic.”
Adams also experiments with old hand-made textiles such as table linens.
Most of Adams’ books–“Heartland” (Clarkson Potter, $30), “Christmas in the Heartland” (Clarkson Potter, $25), “Heirloom Recipes,” (Clarkson Potter, $22.50) and “Recipes Remembered,” (Clarkson Potter, $18)–will be available for purchase at the show. There will be a book-signing session following the lecture; admission to the lecture is $20.
There are a variety of other events revolving around the Hinsdale antiques show, which begins with an evening preview from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday at $85 a person; reservations required.
Dealers debate
Other special events include a lecture on “The Fine Art of Buying and Selling at Auction” at 1 p.m. Sunday (fee $5), followed by identification and auction estimates from 2 to 5 p.m. at $5 per item for silver, china, jewelry, furniture, paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints (photographs accepted).
A panel discussion featuring antiques dealers will address the question “Does An Antique Have to be Old?” at 2 p.m. Saturday (fee $10); the discussion will be moderated by Lita Solis-Cohen, senior editor of Maine Antiques Digest.
Nationally known dealers, including Leslie Hindman, Michael FitzSimmons and Michael Corbett, will share their knowledge of the market during the panel discussion.
Janie Petkus, owner of an interior design business based in Hinsdale, will give a designer tour of the show at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16; fee $10.
Rebecca Sawyer-Fay, author of “Living with Folk Art” (Hearst Books, $25) will give a slide lecture on the same subject at 1:30 p.m. Friday: fee $10.
Professor Donald Kalec, a restoration architect specializing in Frank Lloyd Wright, will speak on “The Decorative Arts & Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright,” at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17; fee $10.
Regular antiques show hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 17.
Tickets, both adults and children: $8; admission is good for three days. All events take place at The Community House, 8th and Madison Streets, Hinsdale. Call 708-323-7500.
