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Art glass collectors buzz about Daum glassworks

Lifestyle Columns

By Terry and Kim Kovel Bees are native to every continent on Earth except Antarctica. With their prevalence in nature and their benefits to humans, in the forms of pollinating plants and producing honey, it’s no wonder they are often seen in decorative arts. They play important roles in religion, mythology and folklore all over the world. They were a symbol of royalty in ancient Lower Egypt, a symbol for the ancient Greek oracle at Delphi and part of Napoleon’s coat of arms. They also appear as decorative motifs, invoking their historical symbolism or simply adding realism to ...

Recent reads

Lifestyle Columns

Here are few of my favorite recent reads. Library staff would be happy to help you place requests on these or any other titles. If you’d like to place your own request, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and choose Library Catalog. Lyla’s boyfriend, Nico, is a struggling actor who believes that an appearance on a new reality dating competition could offer him the exposure he needs to get his big break. Lyla reluctantly agrees to appear on the show with him. At least it will be a free vacation to an island paradise. She’ll find a way to get eliminated early, and Nico can go on to win the ...

Apitz puts 50 years of photography into FOCUS

Lifestyle Feature

A month after closing his printing business, Rick Apitz is still trying to figure out what it means to be retire after nearly 50 years of being self employed. For five decades, Apitz ran a photography studio and printing business in New Ulm. For a time he even owned a frame gallery. On June ...

Replicated East Asian furniture has distinctive style

Lifestyle Columns

In design, imitation often leads to innovation. Trying to recreate something you’ve seen others make can take some out-of-the-box thinking to find substitutes for inaccessible materials or fill in the gaps of unknown steps. Antique furniture is filled with examples, especially when foreign influence is involved. By the 18th century, trade with East Asia brought new ideas for furniture, like the use of bamboo and lacquer, to Europe, and subsequently to America. Inspired by these new styles, and motivated by the need for inexpensive accessible versions, Western artisans created ...

Ceramic charger fits into art nouveau movement

Lifestyle Columns

With its soft colors, flower motifs and asymmetrical twining lines, this ceramic charger, made circa 1900, fits right into the art nouveau movement. However, when it sold for $2,500 at Auctions at Showplace, it was described as “Jugendstil.” German for “young style,” named after the ...

The dog days of summer

Lifestyle Columns

Did you know the term “Dog Days” refers to the heat and humidity of the mid-summer months of July and August here in the Northern Hemisphere? Most sources agree that Dog Days occur in mid-to-late summer but the exact dates can vary from source to source because they are tied to the dawn rising of the star Sirius, also known as the Dog star, and they change over time. The Old Farmer’s Almanac considers the Dog Days to begin on July 3 and end on August 11, which is typically the worst of the summer’s heat. I always picture a dog laying out on the front porch or on cold tiles of the ...