{"id":20700,"date":"2023-04-24T09:30:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T07:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=28414"},"modified":"2023-04-24T09:36:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T07:36:39","slug":"a-vibrant-north-london-home-filled-with-chalkware-art","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-vibrant-north-london-home-filled-with-chalkware-art\/","title":{"rendered":"A vibrant North London home filled with chalkware art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pamela Nestor shares her vibrant north London home with an impressive collection of chalkware figures. Photographs Polly Eltes <\/p>

By Celia Rufey\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 24 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Although Pamela Nestor lives alone, she is never short of company. The walls of her north London home are alive with vintage<\/a> chalkware plaques, mostly of African heads, and tables and window sills are filled with freestanding statues and busts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pamela has been collecting these expressive heads and figures since the 1990s, when she took a break from a successful career as a singer and songwriter (she toured with the musical Hair and later worked in partnership with Joan Armatrading) in order to pursue \u2018the academic side of life\u2019. This eventually led to a PhD in literature from London University.<\/p>\n

\u2018When I got involved in academic work, I was writing about black people\u2019s lives, music and poetry,\u2019 Pamela explains, \u2018and I wanted to find beautiful images that tied in with that work. That\u2019s how my collection began and, because I couldn\u2019t afford bronze<\/a>, I discovered chalkware wall plaques, mainly of African women.\u2019<\/p>\n

Chalkware is the label, first applied in America, to wall decorations and decorative lamps moulded from plaster of Paris, which looks like chalk before it is painted, hence its name. While the technique was used from the 18th century onwards, mainly for copying expensive English Staffordshire figures<\/a>, it had another significant moment during America\u2019s Great Depression when more costly materials were unaffordable.<\/p>\n

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Many pieces in this medium continued to be made from the 1940s to the 1960s when modernity was having its first moment. Chalkware is vulnerable to chipping and breaking but, hung on the wall as intended, it can be preserved intact and rare specimens command high prices at auction.<\/p>\n

Pamela\u2019s first purchase came by chance when she found a chalkware plaque of an African woman in a charity shop and, after that, she began hunting in earnest, looking for them at car boot sales, antiques fairs<\/a> and, later, the internet, as well as charity shops. \u2018Some of the plaques are Art Deco<\/a>, some were made in the 1940s, 50s and 60s,\u2019 she says. \u2018But it isn\u2019t about how old or rare they are. I go looking for ones with faces similar in character to those I see every day on the streets and in the shops. They aren\u2019t all black either, but most are women.\u2019<\/p>\n

Although Pamela now has a considerable collection \u2013 over 100 plaques at the last count \u2013 she never stops looking out for them, but increasing pressure on space has made her choosy. \u2018I nearly bought a head the other day,\u2019 she admits, \u2018but I couldn\u2019t remember if I already had her, so I left her in the shop.\u2019 She regretted her caution when she got home and discovered it was a head she didn\u2019t have. \u2018It\u2019s become a bit of an addiction!\u2019<\/p>\n

Pamela displays the plaques in a way that connects with her love of music, both from her time as a singer and now listening to her younger son who plays the piano in her music room. \u2018I like to position pieces around a mirror or picture to give a sense of movement and flow to the arrangement, just like the feeling I get listening to music. That idea is at the heart of how I use the plaques to decorate.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Her early collecting years in the 1990s not only filled her home with vintage plaques but also vibrant glassware<\/a>, in a quality now sought after. \u2018I began buying small pieces that were affordable but the glass always had to be thick and heavy with vivid colours,\u2019 she says, explaining that she is drawn to its tactile quality as well as the solidity and the beautiful shapes.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think it\u2019s part of my love of visual stimulation: I keep coming back to similar tones in orange, red, blue, purple, strong green and bright pink. You can see these tones coming through the Murano and other mid-century glass<\/a> I\u2019ve collected.\u2019<\/p>\n

As with the chalkware plaques, positioning the glass is an important part of the way she appreciates it and adds to the experience. \u2018It\u2019s essential to place the pieces to allow natural light to run through them so the colours explode. The other effect I enjoy happens in the evening when the street lamp outside the living room window comes on and shines through the glass on the sill. It\u2019s like looking through stained glass.\u2019<\/p>\n

In 1979, when she moved into the newly built property, Pamela embraced the freedom of the blank canvas. She sought out furniture from the 1930s and 1950s and chose richly patterned African textiles to make blinds and curtains, to cover chairs and, together with fabric designed and printed by a friend, to cover cushions throughout the house.<\/p>\n

A passion for interesting textiles<\/a> led to the creation of the star attraction in Pamela\u2019s bedroom: a stunning crazy patchwork quilt, which she sewed by hand from a mix of vintage cottons, silks, velvet, lace and appliqu\u00e9, using fabrics discovered in charity shops<\/a>, car boot sales and antiques markets. \u2018It was a mad time,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018I couldn\u2019t stop until I\u2019d finished and it took nearly three months. Never again!\u2019<\/p>\n

If charity shops have served her well, so too have the antiques fairs<\/a> she visits in and around London. Brighton and Lewes are also regular haunts; Lewes especially, she says, for the quantity and quality of its antiques shops<\/a>. Pamela links her flair for collecting with an interest generated by nearly 20 years spent as a student when black women had less of a presence in academic life than they do now. \u2018My style is a fusion of contemporary and retro with African, Caribbean and European influences.\u2019<\/p>\n

\""PN01\"<\/picture><\/div>
Pamela pauses on the stairs, framed by African chalkware plaques and a famous Tretchikoff print on the wall behind. <\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Light and colour from the garden stream through the Murano glass into the music room. The silk curtains were a lucky charity shop find and the heavily textured throw on the sofa is African. The yellow cushions featuring tree motifs were designed by a friend. The plaques on the wall are part of her extensive collection. <\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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One of Pamela\u2019s favourite busts sits on the dining table. \u2018I\u2019m very attached to her. She came wearing earrings, but I\u2019ve given her a few necklaces as well.\u2019 <\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Glass from the 1950s onwards lines the window sill.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Pamela describes the collection of busts on the table as a homage to womanhood. \u2018They all have distinct characters and not all are black, even if they are coloured that way\u2019.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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In the music room, the piano is host to a selection of small figures. Their movements are echoed in the way she has positioned the plaques on the wall above.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Pamela\u2019s talent for combining disparate elements has a special moment in the bathroom where a large mirror she found in a charity shop reflects pin-up girl plaques and 1950s face masks. Taking the eye downwards are two African handwoven placemats \u2013 fine art given deserved recognition.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Pictures on the wall behind the dining table include another Tretchikoff print and an inked portrait drawn by a friend, artist Armet Francis, in the shape of Africa; <\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""PN16\"<\/picture><\/div>
The star attraction in Pamela\u2019s bedroom is the crazy patchwork quilt she sewed by hand from fabrics, vintage and modern, gathered from trips to charity shops, car boot sales and antiques markets as well as gifts from friends. \u2018It was a mad time,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018I couldn\u2019t stop until I\u2019d finished it and it took three months. Never again!\u2019<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""PN18\"<\/picture><\/div>
In Pamela\u2019s bedroom is the crazy patchwork quilt she sewed by hand from fabrics, vintage and modern.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""PN21\"<\/picture><\/div>
The circular wall hangings in the guest bedroom are African wall art made from coloured electrical wire. Pamela enjoys the sense of movement within each pattern.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Pamela brings her signature style to the garden. \u2018I don\u2019t plan or know what I\u2019m doing,\u2019 she laughs. \u2018I want generosity in the planting with something to delight the eyes whichever way I turn.\u2019<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Pamela looking out at her garden.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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