News on Aunt Firma from the 2016 Maple Syrup Fair

Greetings to all you Firma Phillips fans. 2021 seems to be my year for catching up on old news. 

In 2016 we went to the Parke County Maple Syrup Festival with friends the last Sunday of February. Like the Park County Covered Bridge Festival, the Maple Fair is an annual event that takes place over two weekends, in its case the last weekend of February and the first weekend of March when the tree sap is running. The artists always set up in the main building at the fairgrounds where the pancake breakfast is served. I always meet some interesting artists there. That year they were raffling one of Aunt Firma's paintings as a fund raiser. :) Ben talked with an artist in one of the booths - I wish I had taken her card - her Mom was a contemporary and colleague of Aunt Firma's. Anyway the very first year of the Bridge Festival the artists association asked to display in the courthouse. (When I was growing up in the sixties, that is where the artists displayed their paintings, but they eventually had their own building).

Anyway this lady told Ben the organizers didn't want to let the artists use the courthouse because the space was too big and there wouldn't be enough paintings to fill it. Well, as the story goes, Aunt Firma got busy painting and she earned $8,000 that year - or else the group did! That would have been in 1956.

Oh, and I took a photo on my iphone of the painting being raffled.

Happy New Year, All!

Junebug

Aunt Firma a Sculptor too?

Wow, another year has passed since I've posted to this blog. And once again, it's my Aunt Firma Phillips who brings me back. This time an artist from Lexington, Kentucky contacted me about a piece she had recently purchased. She writes:

"Hi! I found a piece of art by Firma Phillips today and found your email on your blog. The piece is actually a sculpture and differs from her landscape paintings. I have attached a picture of it. The signature on it matches the ones on the paintings I've seen online. Can you give me any further information about her? I live in Lexington KY and was curious about where she was located as well. Thanks in advance!"

Here are the pictures Jennifer has provided (click on the thumbnails to see a larger version):
Wow, that's a new one, Jennifer! Thanks for sharing it! Aunt Firma painted on many different surfaces - iron skillets, saws, jugs, her kitchen counter, her chairs ... but I never saw a sculpture before (thanks for giving me permission to share it on the blog!) There is quite a bit of history about Aunt Firma at this blog if you're able to find it. You can search by her name or the term "Artist" or "Painter." Here's an account from my cousin-by-marriage (once removed) Richard Nichol: More History on Firma. And here's a link to a story I wrote about her a long time ago, called Her Last Picture. I hope that helps if you haven't already seen them. Once in a while her paintings are sold on eBAY.

And speaking of Painters and Poets - Archie Foxworthy

I have posted frequently on this blog about my great-aunt Firma Duchene Philips, a well-known scenery painter and one of the charter members of the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival. I'd now like to introduce some other memorable folks from my youth - namely Archie and Mary Foxworthy. I spent my teenage years with my grandparents Claude and Helen Alward in Fountain County just outside the town of Wallace, Indiana. Every fall my grandparents would help Archie and Mary ready the produce and products they had raised on their Parke County farm to sell at the Rockville Covered Bridge Festival. My grandparents would tie bunches of bittersweet and help bundle other local fruit and flora such as persimmons and sassafras roots as well as various jams and jellies, I suppose. For many years Archie and Mary ran a produce stand on the corner of highway 234 and US 41, across from a little store called Jipville, where they sold the fruits and vegetables they had raised throughout the growing season. I got to know them there, and at Wolf Creek Community Church, and through Lodge and Eastern Star activities in Wallace. Also Archie had a sugar camp for as long as I can remember - and I have an oil painting of it painted by my Aunt Firma Phillips. The painting has also been around for as long as I can remember. When Parke County started the Maple Syrup Festival which runs from the last weekend of February through the first weekend of March, Archie and Mary became very involved in this event. In fact I'm looking forward to attending this coming weekend and buying some of Foxworthy Farms maple syrup. Now 93 years old, Archie is a musician, a poet, a humorist, and a philosopher. Duane Busick, an Indiana journalist, has produced a wonderful three-part series of videos about Archie entitled "Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure" which can now be viewed on YouTube - and the links follow below. I hope you enjoy meeting Archie and his family as much as I have enjoyed knowing them throughout my life.


Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure - Part One - opens with spectacular scenes of Parke County Covered Bridges as Archie picks his banjo with a hickory nut and sings in the background ...





Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure - Part Two



Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure - Part Three



And here's my Aunt Firma's painting of Archie's Maple Syrup Camp.

JuneBug

More of Aunt Firma's Paintings

Here are pictures of two really nice little paintings (9 1/2 x 7 1/2) by Firma Phillips on ebay over Christmas - from a seller in Springfield, Illinois. I wanted to bid on them myself, but didn't really have the money.

JuneBug

Heads Up for All You Firma Duchene Watchers!

Just thought I'd let you know that one of Aunt Firma's paintings sold on ebay for $350.00. Here's the link (for as long as ebay keeps it, anyway). And here's what the seller wrote about it:

• 
  
  Beautiful Southern Indiana Landscape by Indiana Artist "Aunt" Firma Duchane Phillips.


• 
  
  Oil on Canvas measures 36 x 24 inches - 42 x 30 overall in very good frame.


• 
  
  Painting is in excellent condition, very bright and vivid with excellent detail. No chipping or tears.
  
  

Those Brown County Artists on eBAY

For those of you interested in Firma Phillips and other Indiana Artists of the 40's and 50's, I saw an auction a while back on ebay for a book entitled Those Brown County Artists - the ones who came, the ones who stayed, the ones who moved on, 1900-1950.

The ebay description reads:

Those Brown County Artists

Compiled by Barbara Judd

Edited by M. Joanne Nesbit

Copyright 1993

Published by Nana's Books

234 Pages

Soft Cover

BRAND NEW CONDITION

Just some of the artists written about in Those Brown County Artists:

Adam Emory Albright, Gustave Baumann, Dale Bessire, Curry Bohm, Karl Brandner, Sybil Connell, Anthony Buchta, John Bundy, Ruthven Byrum, Charles Dahlgreen, Homer Davisson, W.A. Eyden, Marie Goth, Alexis Fournier, Robert Root, Ethel Lomasney, Leota Loop, John Hafen, Glen Cooper Henshaw, Karl Martz, Paul Randall, Frederick Polley, William McKendree Snyder, Roy Trobaugh, Gaar Williams, Arnold Turtle, George Jo Mess, Frank Hohenberger, Lucie Hartrath, Carl Krafft, Kenneth Reeve, Doel Reed, Clifton Wheeler, Oscar Erickson, L.O. Griffith, Carl Graf, Georges LaChance, Paul Turner Sargent, Ada Shulz, Derk Smit, T.C. Steele, Will Vawter, E.K. Williams and many others.

The url is listed below:

Ebay Auction - Those Brown County Artists

While Aunt Firma is not mentioned in here (Technically, She's a Fountain County or Parke County Artist), she often traveled to Brown County to paint.

STOP THE PRESSES!

REPOST from 2006:

Wow! Stop the Presses, all you inquirers who want to know the worth of your painting by Firma Phillips! Wait'll You Read This!

At our first formal barn / garage / antique sale at our new location, lots of friends and neighbors stopped by. One friend from church Cathy Franz has been a patron of Aunt Firma's paintings for many years. She went to an estate sale recently where one of Aunt Firma's paintings sold for $1200!!!!!!

She was also telling me that there was a gentleman in ... Kokomo or was it Frankfurt ... who collects Aunt Firma's paintings. She is going to call to give me the contact information.

Sorry the information is so sketchy, the barn sale was hugely busy, and I didn't have time to write down all the details, but will fill them in as I get a chance.

JuneBug

From another of Aunt Firma's Patrons

Thanks to Robert Shaw for this photo of a 36 x 24 inch painting of a
short covered bridge that he and his family purchased at a church garage
sale several years ago. He says that it hangs in their family room and
that they enjoy it very much.
Thanks, Robert, for this lovely sample of Aunt Firma's work!
Sincerely,
JuneBug

How much is your painting worth?

A few years ago I received an email from Morris Robinson with an oft asked question:


Hello Jeanne:

I would like to have an idea of the value of a fall scene that I purchased from Firma in the summer of 1973. The oil painting is about 30 inches wide and 24 inches high. I don't intend to sell it. Rather, I intend to contribute it to my law firm.

Allow me to share an anecdote. When I purchased the painting, I gave Ms. Phillips a check drawn on a Boston bank. She accepted it. I couldn't help asking her, "How do you know that I am who I say I am and that my check is good?" I never forgot her response. "You didn't come all the way to Turkey Run, Indiana to pass off a bad check. Anyway, I can always paint another painting!" I have told the story many times. The check, incidentally, was good.

Best wishes.

Morris Robinson

I asked the family and got the following answer from cousin Dorinda that many might find helpful:

There are several questions that I need to ask ...

1. I would imagine that is in excellent condition, if not, then that would devalue the painting.
2. What type of frame is it in?? If the painting is in an ornate frame then the package is worth more than if it is in a plainer frame.
3. I have found that some subjects she painted are worth more than other subjects ( less known subjects i.e. a painting of Turkey Run Bridge is more memorable to collectors than an obscure barn).
4. Just going by size and subject matter, One sold last year on Ebay for $175.00 and another was over $200.00 approximately the same size.

Hopefully, this information helps you.

Dorinda

Also thanks to Dorinda for the following suggestion:

If you set up an automatic search on ebay for Indiana Artists, pay particular attention to paintings that may show up from Brown County artists from the 1940's, 50's, 60's, and 70's, to see what they look like and how they are priced. Aunt Firma used to go to Brown County to paint, and she may well have painted with, or at least met some of these people. The styles seem very similar.

Other relevant localities include Parke County and Fountain County - I believe Aunt Firma helped influence many of those artists. For instance the two Parke County artists listed below mention on the Parke County Covered Bridge Art Association web site that they studied under Aunt Firma - and I'm sure many others have also studied with her through the years.

Mary Harrison
Louise Michael

From one of Aunt Firma's Patrons

I'm taking the liberty to share this email and lovely photograph of Aunt Firma's work from Bill Morgan received some time back - thanks so for sharing this, Bill, the pic is gorgeous!

Jeanne:

I found you through a search for Firma Phillips on the web. Love your website, as I come from a family of maniacal amateur photographers, and, alas, have the bug myself.

Our mother passed away last Wednesday at age 88. We are sad, but she was ready to go, and said so outloud to several of us in the last few months. While her health was not the best, she was reasonably O.K. and active to the end. She took a fall on Wednesday morning, the first sign of anything wrong, and was gone by 2 the same afternoon. This was how she wanted to go.

We're now in the throes of deciding what to do with her things. Amongst the treasures are 2 works by your aunt that my brother bought for our parents. We will probably keep them in the family, but want to establish value for insurance purposes. We wonder if you might know who to contact who might know the value of her work these days. One work is painted on an old cast-iron flat iron, a winter scene of a covered bridge. It is signed, but not dated. The second is a large crockery butter churn, with winter scenes of houses and barns painted over the entire surface. The pottery lid is also fully painted. It is signed and dated 1972. My father drilled a small hole in the bottom and converted it to a table lamp, but we have the original wooden churn plunger if someone preferred to have it look like a churn again.

I do not have digital photos at the moment, but will send some if it would help evaluate the works, or if you would just like to see them. Thank you in advance for any information you can provide.
I'll be sending a link to your "Weddings and Funerals" story to my sibs - I think it would be a good read for them right now. It was for me.

-- Bill Morgan
Morgan Roemmel Design, LLC
Muncie, Indiana

Cousin Lowell on the topic of Firma

Firma did graduate from Kingman. I think she always had the talent to draw and paint but utilized it after Glen passed away(1962). Probably a financial necessity. I know that she was in the group of artist that started the Rockville Bridge Festival.

She studied painting at Wabash College after she had been painting for a while. She had a studio at Sugar Creek village by Turkey Run and previous to that one at Grange Corner just south of the old Grange Corner store and of course in both of her residences.

My sister Marie stayed with Glen and Firma while she studied nursing during much of World War 2. That was in Paris,Illinois. Marie would have not been able to afford nursing training without the generosity of Firma and was always grateful to Firma.

I would imagine that most of the artist that were of her era have passed on now ... contact the Covered Bridge Association for more information.

Sad that I know so little about a person I liked and admired.

Lowell

Addendum: When I said that Firma studied Painting at Wabash College ,I should have said she was tutored by an art professor from Wabash College. I think this was when she learned to paint with a knife. Barbara said that Firma had painted a picture of the instructor.

Artist Firma Duchene Phillips

Hi, everyone, I and my family would like to thank all of you who have
come across my story about my Great Aunt Firma Duchene Phillips
and have contacted us to let us know you have one of her paintings or to
share a memory of her or were just wondering about the current value of
some of her works. We have really enjoyed hearing from all of you and
seeing all the lovely pictures you have sent.

I am posting on this topic on my blog site for those who are
interested in Aunt Firma and her art work so that people can not only
share with us but with one another. I'll be happy to put any pictures
that you want to share of her works on the web so that you can link to
them - just email me.

I do watch for her paintings on ebay and will try to post a notice
here when someone puts up one of her paintings for auction. It has
happened a few times. It's funny - even though Benny and I have dabbled
in the antique and refinishing business for several years, I haven't
come across any of her paintings myself in antique stores or malls or
flea markets - hopefully that means people must be hanging on to them.

Thanks again and hope to hear from you!

JuneBug, Co-Proprietor of Second Looks Antiques and Refinishing

Her Last Picture