Since the Humarock Packet left, the building on the corner of Marshfield Avenue and River Street has gone through some changes. On a recent Saturday, I stopped by to see what was going on inside. There I met Lynda Sheil and took a look at her business, Euro Ports.

How long have you been in business here in Humarock?

Well actually, I'm glad you asked that question. I'm a brand new business. The gallery was just set up this weekend, April 6th. The reason I opened a gallery here is because normally I am available only to the trade or at shows. I've done shows from Don Scott's in Atlanta right up to Brimfield. I've done seven shows already this year. As opposed to taking my product and putting it back in storage, I decided to do my own gallery so that so that I could develop local trade. As it is, I do not market myself in Massachusetts and I'm looking for local trade.

Tell me a little about the things you have here.

Everything is vintage. My canvas - unlike your "gesso-ed" piece of canvas  - is a piece of furniture. I hand select every single piece that you see. They are selected for their character, if you will. I think all artists are characters and we seek out characters and that is in fact what I paint on. I like anything from late 1800s to 1950. And as you take a look around you can see all those different decades reflected here. I have 1950s dressers from Sears. I have beautiful French pieces that I have imported. I do import a lot of the products. Although they are made to look as though they are new, it is only the paint that is new. In effect, I have used old pieces and I have reworked them and done a completely different vision on them.

So this is mostly furniture and... objects would you say?

Objets d'art. And the business name is Euro Ports. My marketing is objets d'art. Hand painted, custom designed, I do a lot of custom commissions. One of a kind. It's very important that the client knows that. I never replicate the work so for instance this late teen hundreds white oak vanity with matching chair will never be replicated. I stripped that right down and then I started building my glaze. And this is made to look like the beach at Humarock at six in the morning from the south. So when you stand here and look at it you are going to get one look. The difference in my work is that there are five, six, seven layers of glaze here. So when you move around you get a whole different translucere. When you come to this side here it's all silver.

I have a passion for what I do. This is once- loved furniture that people will look at and say, "My grandmother had one of those." And they're absolutely sick that they threw it away.

Take for instance this oak chair. Now that is not the original paint. What I started with was a totally stripped chair. My first glaze on it was a stain. And then from the stain I have a process that I can put paint on and take paint off because I do very much a negative application in a lot of my work to make it look aged. I use vintage fabric whenever I can. Many of the fabrics I have here - I have Scalamadre, Cowain and Tout, Stroheim and Romain. Some of the fabrics in this gallery are $400 a yard.

On this chair, this is Stroheim and Romain silk. Feel this. This is 1970s leather. This was a once- loved chair. I've done a whole gilt application. Like the old masters, I've done red underneath. And then I've spent a lot of time stripping off the gilt so you could actually feel like you could see somebody wearing this. All of my things are made to look like they have been handed down from generation to generation and you will continue to do that. And it may not be in the main house any more because its a little bit shabby but it might be in the beach house.

None of my work is "shabby- chic". I don't use the white paint, buttermilk look that is so popular today. That is just not what I do. You will not find this look anywhere other than the dealers that are buying from me. And those are - at this point - New York, Dallas, Deal, New Jersey, Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, California and some of it went to Japan. I'm fortunate enough that I just recently became represented by a gallery in Philadelphia, the Oliver Gallery in Norristown.

So your process is to find these objects and give them a new life. Is that correct?

Absolutely.

So it involves re-covering them and also this process of putting on different glazes, paints stains or whatever and then ageing them or somehow manipulating them?

Absolutely. And it's real important that my client knows that all of my work is custom glazes. I hand make every single paint. Most of my paints are mica powder based. Mica powder is not an inexpensive process.

Things like this. I have a couple that makes me paper. This paper is made in a 14th century monastery style using the same techniques. It is one of a kind.

They are custom made for me. My vision for this was that I wanted this to look like a faux Pietra Dura table. Pietra Dura is a very expensive marble and extremely heavy because Pietra Dura usually does have a 2 to 3 inch face on it. So this piece - this paper - has many, many coats of urethane on it.

So you show these at at different shows and in between they come back here to Humarock?

Yes. You wouldn't fill a whole room with this. It would be much. It's like putting together an outfit. You're going to have that one spectacular piece of clothing and you can have a two dollar pair of shoes on and people are going to look at you and know that that's a spectacular piece of clothing. These are pieces that people who can do a little bit of risk taking in their decorating will use. I sell primarily - at this point - to the trade. I have a lot of decorators that come looking for my pieces. I've done very well. However, you know, I'm a local person. And as I've gone up and down the east coast to Georgia, to Palm Beach and to Miami, I said, you know, I don't want to spend my life on the road. And I have a wonderful community here. There are many many homes going up. I live on the South Shore so why wouldn't other people who live on the South Shore love and appreciate my product.

My prices will not be trade prices,. They will be retail prices. But I am at this point looking for trade.

Where did you get the name Euro Ports?

That's an interesting story. In addition to this I sell iron. As a matter of fact we're leaving for Mexico soon. My son and I have this made in Mexico. We hand pick every piece and bring it up. My original vision for this business was that I was going to import iron. I also was going to bring in containers from abroad. And that's what I was going to do. Do the antique business. And then I started painting a couple of pieces and then the whole business plan changed. So that's where the name came from. It was Euro Ports. And actually now I'm changing the card. I want to put Humarock Isle. I think that it's probably a little bit of a stretch. It originally said "importer", it's been changed to creator. Although we all know where the talent comes from. It is the great creator who is God.

People often say, "How did you ever get that vision?" I have to always tell people - it's important for them to know - that the furniture does speak to me. I will start out with a very clear vision and as I'm starting to work the piece something else totally different happens. And I know that's because I'm tapped in.

As a matter of fact, I've taken The Artist Way course. In the back I'm going to put up on the wall, "Great creator, you take care of the quality and I'll take care of the quantity."

That's a good saying.

Richard Sibley
Humarock.net