When: Saturday, June 8 from 10am-1pm
Where: WYES located at 916 Navarre Avenue in New Orleans
Why: During the event, attendees may have items evaluated by antique experts and sit in on antique-related seminars (TBA)
Benefiting: WYES
Email: dhansel@wyes.org
About the Experts:
John C. Jones
Certified Generalist Appraiser
As a tangible asset advisor, independent private broker and USPAP-certified generalist appraiser specializing in decorative arts. John has worked with some of the world’s most prestigious institutions and global leaders in the auction industry and has established himself as a respected thought leader in the arts and collectables
John was an appointed appraiser on the PBS Antiques Roadshow series for three consecutive seasons. He has been featured on HGTV, CNN and MSNBC and has contributed articles to The New York Times and Art + Auction.
With more than a decade of experience as a private broker of fine paintings, silver, jewelry and decorative arts, John’s career has included being a USPAP-certified appraisal representative with Pall Mall Art Advisors (now The Fine Art Group), a role as the exclusive southeastern regional representative for Freeman’s and a roster of private consulting and brokerage clients. He is also an associate member of the Appraisers Association of America, The Decorative Arts Trust of Philadelphia.
Originally from Birmingham, he holds a Bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Alabama and is a graduate of the Appraisal Studies Program at NYU, where he was appointed the graduate spokesperson.
Charles C. Cage
Silver & Fine Books, Documents & Manuscripts
Charles C. Cage, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, moved to New Orleans in 1978 to attend Loyola University, by which time he had already spent a number of years working at his mother’s used bookstore. He continued to work in the book trade for an additional ten years before apprenticing at Gerald Katz on Royal Street, specialists in antique jewelry. After his apprenticeship, he worked for fifteen years at Dixon & Dixon on Royal, eventually becoming Vice–President of the Silver and Jewelry Departments. He joined New Orleans Auction Galleries in 2006 as in-‐house specialist on Silver and Books, Documents & Manuscripts. In addition to his duties at New Orleans Auction Galleries, he has served as consultant to the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Cabildo, the Newark Museum and the Delaware Art Museum, and is currently engaged to catalogue the silver collection of the LSU Art Museum.
Jelena Restovic James
Director of Fine Art
Jelena Restovic James (Director of Paintings and Works on Paper) received her degree in Italian Art from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA, and holds a diploma in Art from Antiquity to the Renaissance from Christie’s London. Over the past 15 years at New Orleans Auction Galleries, James has formed strong bonds with local collectors, galleries, and institutions working closely with them to develop and augment their Regional fine arts collections. An active member of the local arts community, James has served on the committee of the Contemporary Arts Center’s New Orleans Sweet Arts Ball and volunteered for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Annual Gala. She is an honors graduate of the Louise S. McGehee High School.
Michele M. Carolla
British and American Paintings and Sculpture
Michele M. Carolla received her Masters in Art History from Tulane University with a concentration in 19th century American and British painting. After graduating, Carolla taught Art History at Newcomb College of Tulane University, worked at the Gallier House Museum, New Orleans, and worked with several prominent local galleries and art dealers. She has been a consultant for both local and national painting collectors, helping them build and better their fine art collections. She has also contributed valuations for the Times Picayune’s “Special Vintage Treasures” column. Carolla has almost ten years auction experience. She has a USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) certificate and is a Candidate, American Society of Appraisers.
Ireys Bowman
General Specialist – Decorative Objects, Porcelain, Handbags
Ireys Bowman received her B.A. degree in Art History from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She has extensive experience handling a wide range of items from numerous major estates throughout her 25 years at New Orleans Auction Galleries, including the Estates of Martha Ann and Ray Samuel, New Orleans, Louisiana, A. Hays Town, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Warren Strauss, Houston, Texas.
Tom Halverson
American Furniture & Decorative Arts
Tom Halverson, a Midwest native, graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Tom has been at New Orleans Auction Galleries since 1996, after co-founding a successful New Orleans antique store in 1993. A specialist in 19th century American furniture and decorative arts, he has had a long-‐standing interest in the Antebellum New Orleans furniture trade. In his tenure at New Orleans Auction Galleries, he has assisted in placing objects with some of the nation’s premier private collections and institutions including the High Museum of Art, Winterthur House and Gardens, The Art Institute of Chicago, New Orleans Museum of Art and the St. Louis Museum of Art.
Greg S. Kowles
Furniture & Restoration
Greg S. Kowles graduated magna cumq laude from St. Mary’s University, Winona, Minnesota with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Museum Administration. Upon graduating in 1981, he owned and operated an antiques business until 2009. He has worked in the auction industry since 1991, working at New Orleans Auction Galleries from 2001 to present as cataloguer and evaluator of property, with extensive general knowledge and specializing in American furniture and decorative arts. Greg has also collaborated, researched and consulted on the publication of Late 19th Century Furniture by Berkey and Gay, worked as a consultant and researcher for Antique Trader: Furniture and Price Guide in 2001, authored several articles on collecting and evaluating antiques with a question and answer forum for the “Antiques Gazette” from 2001 to 2004. Greg has been a member of the International Society of Appraisers since 2005.
Kim Lemon
Fine Jewelry
Kim Lemon joined New Orleans Auction Galleries in 2008 after spending more than a decade working in interior design. Originally responsible for setting up the auction’s floors and intricately designed vignettes, Kim transitioned into Fine Jewelry in 2013. As the Director of Fine Jewelry, she’s responsible for finding, assessing, selecting and cataloguing uniquely stunning and storied pieces to be sold at auction. Kim has been fascinated by gemstones’ distinct characteristics and beautiful design since childhood and is a soon-to-be Graduate Gemologist® from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Claudia Kheel
Southern Regional Fine Art Specialist
Claudia Kheel is an authority on Louisiana and Southern Regional Art. Kheel is current a Fine Art Consultant at New Orleans Auction Galleries. For ten years, she was the Director of American and Southern Paintings, Prints and Photography at Neal Auction Company. She previously served as Curator of Fine Arts at the Indiana State Museum and Visual Arts Curator at the Louisiana State Museum.
Ms. Kheel earned a Master of Arts in American Art History from Newcomb College at Tulane University and a Bachelor of Arts with distinction in all subjects from Cornell University. In addition to teaching at SoPA, she is a visiting faculty member at the Louisiana State University School of Art + Design, where she lectures on Louisiana and Southern art.
As a contributing author, Ms. Kheel has written for the revised New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, published by the Center of Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi; the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ KNOWLA Online Encyclopedia; “Morris Henry Hobbs: In Old New Orleans,” a chapter in the critically acclaimed book Printmaking in New Orleans published by The Historic New Orleans Collection; “Louisiana Art in the Early to Mid-Twentieth Century,” a chapter in the exhibition catalogue Collecting Passions: Highlights from the LSU Museum of Art Collection; “Morris Henry Hobbs and Mardi Gras,” an article for Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide and an exhibition catalogue for “From Our Illustrious Past: Antebellum Portraits of St. Mary Parish” for the Grevemberg House Museum.
Ms. Kheel has lectured on Louisiana and Southern art at Louisiana State Museum, the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, Alexander Mouton House, West Baton Rouge Museum, Natchitoches Historic Foundation, Inc., and Classical Institute of the South.
