Charles Mallett’s new Yardley, Pa., gallery is a labor of love that features everything from dolls and wands to python skin and turkey feathers.
By: Pat Summers
There’s a maverick gallerist in Yardley, Pa. And both he and the art gallery he directs bear watching. Visiting. Enjoying.
Charles Mallett named the place the Gallery at Afton Pond. But that’s Lake Afton, if you please, down the street from his site in a converted firehouse.
Mr. Mallett doesn’t care about literal accuracy. "I’m a poet," he says. "I have poetic license in my pocket, and ‘Afton Pond’ scans better to me. It has a more romantic sound." Over and out: Afton Pond it is.
He plans no solo shows at the gallery. Moving determinedly in the opposite direction, Mr. Mallett hopes to build up his current stable of 50-some artists to 100 by the fall. That will only enrich the mélange of interesting and artful wares now on view in the gallery.
And he will not distinguish, or even discuss, the old art versus craft chestnut. "There’s no such dividing line," he says. "Art’s something from the heart and the hands." That’s it for him.
For all these reasons, the wide range of art displayed in the Gallery at Afton Pond is phenomenal.
You may see elegant tables and a chess set as "crafts" fine crafts, but crafts nevertheless. Mr. Mallett won’t hear of that. These are made with heart and hands, and so they’re art. Same with wood vessels and blacksmith-made tools and woven scarves. They’re art. Period.
Reincarnated from its earlier life as a one-hour photo shop, the long gallery space is crisply lit and appealing. Pale wood floors and large, glass-front showcases that break up the walls stand out. Chains hanging from a ceiling beam allow artwork to be stacked on one wall; facing it, a slot-wall allows for shelves to show smaller pieces.
A showcase near the door displays jewelry earrings, bracelets, necklaces and ornate collars none resembling what you see everywhere. Here too are small works in wood, including magic wands. (You read it right: wands.)
A wood-turner himself, Mr. Mallett produces red oak, ash and osage orange wands sans unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and dragons’ heartstrings à la Harry Potter for practice. He notes that "If you mess up a wand, you have a shaft for your drop spindle!" Used by hand spinners to make thread or yarn, some drop spindles on sale nearby confirm that accidents do happen.
From the front of the gallery, it’s easy to survey the wide variety of materials and works on hand: dolls, paintings, textiles, wood, furniture, metal, glass, pottery, steel. And music too. "Sure, music! Isn’t that an art?" Mr. Mallett says.
He plays and sells CDs by local musicians, including guitarist Tom Yermack, and plans a monthly music night at the gallery. That will complement the wine-tasting nights he’ll start in September, along with poetry nights and occasions to meet the artists.
To stock the gallery, Mr. Mallett started with dolls. His wife, Vykki Morrison, is a doll maker and she knew lots of others. Today, he says collector dolls are "one of the hottest branches of art marketing in the world," and he represents a half-dozen of the top doll artists in the U.S.
He says of doll-maker Mark Dennis, from Millersville, "he’s on the verge of being an overnight success after 20 years."
As a novice wood-turner, Mr. Mallett made a growing number of connections and soon found himself representing nearly 30 artists. At that point, he decided "a gallery would be an easier way to do this." Then "every single thing fell into place" to let that happen, starting with the discovery of this former firehouse site in Yardley.
Mr. Mallett extols his landlord, Tom Cramer, for converting the space into a gallery, and cites owners Glenn and Arlene Johnson, as well as the artists who raided their own bodies of work to fill the place in time for last month’s grand opening.
To the myriad materials mentioned earlier, add boa constrictor, abalone, Tibetan goat, African porcupine quills and impala horns at least if you’re talking about a striking mask made by Denise Lovass of Bend, Ore. Throw in python skin, a coyote skull, and a rattlesnake rattle if you’re looking at another of her works.
With turkey feathers for trim, these masks can look Native American in origin, although that’s not the case, Mr. Mallett says. So consider them a contemporary homage and enjoy them. This is Ms. Lovass’s only site east of Colorado.
With surfaces that suggest some David Smith sculptures, Catherine Thornton, of Raleigh, N.C., etches her images on stainless steel. Mr. Mallett expects to feel sad as they are sold and leave the gallery.
Hari Hawkins of Trenton is represented in wood by a table, a voluminous jewelry box and a quirky stair-step chess set, besides his photography.
The hanging fabric works by Joanie San Chirico of Toms River begin as plain white material. She dyes them, then cuts, stitches and quilts them, and may also use appliqués and paint. They are intensely colorful, with much detailed handwork to admire.
Two Yardley-based artists are represented at the gallery: Blair Barbour, with a number of dramatic abstract paintings on silk, and Gerard Mullin, by a handsome bed frame, skillfully wrought.
Marilyn Radzik of Honolulu makes dolls that may have started out in life as gourds, but are now unrecognizably encrusted with shells, beads, jewels, crystals. Their hollow hidden places are lined with velvet.
In true maverick fashion, Mr. Mallett has mixed and matched the gallery’s artwork, rather than grouping by artist or medium. That would be "boring as three-day old slug tracks!" he exclaims.
Now "I’m having fun!" he adds, referring to his earlier life, which has included stents in his heart, high blood pressure, PTSD and the effects of Agent Orange, a result of his service in Vietnam. Mr. Mallett grew up in Cape May County, where he worked at one job or another since he was 8 years old.
Besides college studies here and there, he has also run a gallery and a touring company, served on art show juries and taught found-object art, and done all kinds of writing. About focusing on any one thing, or artist, he says, "Why use a rifle when you can use a shotgun?"
That philosophy is one reason for group shows-only here. He prefers to show a lot of artists and sell their work at reasonable prices.
Possibly Mr. Mallett’s most heretical stand of all: "Nothing Christmas will appear anywhere in this building until after Thanksgiving!" (Ahhhh. Thank you!)
The Gallery at Afton Pond is located at 15A S. Main St., Yardley Pa. Hours: Tues.-Thurs., Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. For information, call (215) 321-3998.