Sherry L. Howard

Books on art, history, auctions and the fun of it all.

A wondrous time at book-club talk

My neighbors and I at our book-club conversation. That’s me seated at left on sofa in back row.

The paintings felt right at home, settling into the comfortable warmth of my neighbor’s living room with its soft pastel yellow walls. Recessed lighting from the ceiling illuminated “Survivor” framed inside a space above the fireplace and “The Odd Sister” nestled beside “Three Women Praising” near the stairway.

Ten minutes before, the paintings had hung on the walls of my own home among others that I’ve collected over the years. They were hanging temporarily in my neighbor’s home for a book club meeting. I had been invited to talk about my book “ART WITH HEART: How I Built a Sweet Collection by Buying Cheap at Auction.” I had planned to set up six paintings on easels, but my neighbor offered to remove paintings from their walls to hang mine. How gracious!

It worked wonderfully, and our conversation about my book and art made for a very enjoyable evening. I love talking about both, and so did they. If your book club would like to invite me in for a chat (or Zoom me in), just drop me a line on my CONTACT page. If you’re close by, maybe a few of my paintings will join me.

Here I am in my neighbors’ home during the book-club conversation. Thanks to my next-door neighbor and book-club member Delores. At left is the linocut “Survivor” by Elizabeth Catlett (partially hidden). To the right are an untitled painting by Columbus Knox that I call “Three Women Praising” next to Samuel J. Brown Jr.s’ “The Odd Sister.”

ARTS TALKS - "Auction Finds: A New Twist on Art Collecting"

I love talking about the artists featured in my blog “Auction Finds” and now in my new book “ART WITH HEART.” I have a passion for them, their art and their stories that I share at book signings and in general conversations with art lovers. That was the case on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, during my Art Talk and Book Signing at the Paul Robeson House & Museum. The conversation, with art collector and gallery owner Adrian Moody, was the second of a two-part members exchange with the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia. Moody is co-owner of Moody Jones Gallery in Glenside, PA.

You can listen to the Oct. 17 conversation on YouTube.

The Art Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia has purchased two copies of my book “ART WITH HEART,” and we’ve scheduled a Zoom Arts Talk about the book and my collection from 5:30-7 pm Thursday, Nov. 4.

You can register here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/…/auction-finds-a-new-twist…

The upcoming presentation is featured in a blog post on the Free Library website: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/post/4751

The book is part of the library’s online catalog:

https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/2591656

Many thanks to Alina Josan, an artist and librarian who’s a longtime fan of my blog Auction Finds. She’s turned me on to the many research resources available in the library’s Art Department. I will certainly be using them as I continue to document artists in Philadelphia and beyond in my blog.

Here's where to buy my new book "ART WITH HEART"

How I built an art collection without going broke

I collect art, but I’m not someone who has the means to pay $500,000 for a Charles White or $12 million for a Rembrandt. I’m one of the “rest of us” who want beautiful artwork in our homes but can’t afford to pay big bucks for it.

So I found a novel way to build my collection – by buying art for very little money at mom-and-pop auction houses near where I live.

“ART WITH HEART” is a selection of stories of how I found art that spoke to me, how I lost some, won others, learned some lessons that I share with you – and enjoyed every minute of it.

So, grab a seat next to me as I take you through the moments I spent building a collection that stirred my heart.

MY NEWEST ARTIST INTERVIEWS

I became acquainted with the works of artist Tom McKinney when I first started buying art from a framer before I discovered auctions. I bought a print awash in dark tones titled “Lazy Afternoon,” of three Black men sitting on stone steps. Their scraggly faces and thin bodies told the story of lives worn down by too many hardships and too much booze.

That was Tom McKinney then. He acknowledges that he has blossomed. Read more on my Auction Finds blog.

The artist Benjamin Britt was always a mystery to me. He seemed to be on the periphery of my thoughts, never fully formed, almost an illusion. Much like his artwork. He was a fan of Salvador Dali’s surrealistic and Picasso’s abstract art.

At auction once, I picked up an unframed reproduction print by Britt. It had no color, just a grainy gray background with seemingly disconnected images. Whatever did it all mean? I wondered.

Britt died in 1996. He couldn’t answer for himself, but his son told me the story of this largely little-known Philadelphia artist. Read more on my Auction Finds blog.

WHYY interviews Sherry about her new book

It’s been more than a month since I self-published my book “ART WITH HEART: How I Built a Sweet Collection by Buying Cheap at Auction.” The book tells the story of how I amassed a collection of about 200 paintings, prints and sculptures by buying at mom-and-pop auction houses near where I live.

The book is available as an ebook and paperback at amazon.com.

On Sunday June 27, 2021, WHYY, the PBS station in Philadelphia, published an interview on its website and as a short radio piece. It’s a wonderful story about my collection and how I acquired it, written by Peter Crimmins, the station’s arts and culture reporter.

You can read the story here. You can listen to a short audio segment at myauctionfinds.com.

This painting by Philadelphia artist Columbus Knox and a story about the artist are included in the book.

BOOK TRAILER

About Sherry L. Howard

A southerner, Sherry Howard has always loved the sensibilities of southern writers. They were storytellers. They wrote about people whose lives did not fit the mold.

That was her purpose when she became a newspaper reporter. She wanted to write about the people whose lives paralleled hers, who looked like her, and whose stories went beyond the narrow confines imposed on them.

Once she left newspapers, her mission did not change. She started going to auctions where she discovered a whole new world in the arts and artifacts that many people discarded. On the surface, many of the items appeared to be mundane/non-descript, but digging into their pasts she turned up stories waiting to be revealed.

She wrote about beautiful things and tragical things. She wrote about the unusual and the familiar.

She used her reporting, research and writing skills to get to the heart of each of the items, and shared them in her blog Auction Finds. She became such an expert that readers wrote to her seeking answers to questions about their own art and artifacts.

Through Auction Finds, she has given little-known artists a voice and untold black history a presence. It’s been a beautiful journey.

Two artists on how they create

"Auction Finds" - The blog that spawned this book

“Auction Finds … and the stories behind them” grew out of a network of blogs called “We Are Black Women” that I founded with a journalist-friend. I had started going to auctions years before in search of works by veteran African American artists. I found, though, that auctions had an abundance of tales that weren’t being told.

A cute rosy-cheeked doll led me to a 1940s white photographer named Constance Banner, a poster for a 1900s car unearthed the first Black automaker of the Patterson-Greenfield car and a tattered softcover book revealed the world of dreams and their lottery numbers in Prof. Uriah Konje’s “H.P. Dream Book” (one of my best-read blog posts).

Many were items I had never seen or heard of before, and they were as fascinating to me as to the folks who wrote to me with praise and questions. “ART WITH HEART” tells the stories of how I built my art collection by buying cheap at auction.

This sculpture, titled “Treasured Moment,” was part of an auction of items belonging to the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. You can read the story here.

Reader Reviews for "ART WITH HEART"

Been reading the blog for years but found this book fascinating. I recognized so many culturally important artists and was hugely impressed with the pieces that the author was able to purchase without a lot of resources. Research and a great eye mostly! Terrific photos of the art make this book a real gem!

V. Harris

Sherry describes her memoir as her adventure into the world of mom-and-pop auction houses where she acquired works of art on the cheap to build her eclectic collection, as well as to sell at a profit. But “Art With Heart” is much more than that. Sherry also sheds light on the African American artists whose works are the centerpiece of her collection. As she noted, they weren’t exactly household names though they were just as talented as many established white mainstream artists. As a bonus, Sherry offers priceless advice, based on her experiences, to would-be art connoisseurs. I enjoyed “Art With Heart” for both its entertainment and educational value.

Ewart Rouse

An auction in progress

Click to listen to the bidding for Robert Cromartie’s “Untitled (African American Soldier).” I wasn’t able to get it, but I did buy his painting of the woman at a subsequent auction.

Buy “ART WITH HEART” to read about how I eventually bought the painting of the woman.

SOME POINTERS ON BUYING ART THAT YOU'LL FIND IN MY BOOK

The value of an artwork sometimes depends on who wants it at a given point in time.
Provenance is the history of the artwork: who owned it, where it was exhibited (or not).
Never use cardboard as a backing for your framed artwork.
Collect what you love, whether by subject, medium, gender, ethnicity.