REMEMBER WHEN---WE WILL MISS KEVIN VELLE

We just learned of the sudden death of Kevin Velle, an honorable man. From the archives of my mind I look back at better days...I want to think of all the good and positive memories of people I have known.
Here is a reprint from the New York times of a good week from the past. Life is short.

October 20, 1994
Season Opens For Folk Art
By SUZANNE SLESIN

ON your mark. Get set. Go -- for that sponge-ware pitcher!

The opening today of the 16th annual Fall Antiques Show at the Pier signifies open season for folk art -- all those charming, irresistible objects and artifacts sought after by collectors and ordinary people for whom capturing and living with folk art has become a way of life.

The show, at Pier 92 on the Hudson River at West 55th Street, is one of the bonanzas of American folk art, with merchandise from 1800 through the 1950's presented by 103 of the top dealers in the field from across the country. It is an event where objects with wonderful surfaces, original lively paint and not-to-be-believed patinas -- and sometimes price tags to match -- make many people's hearts race and checkbooks flip open.

By Tuesday, more than 1,500 people had paid $150 each for tickets to last night's preview party, sponsored by Country Living magazine and benefiting the Museum of American Folk Art. The party was also the place for those who wanted first crack at the stuff.

Over the last two decades, folk art has come to include both the six-figure weathervane and flea-market finds. It has leapfrogged from the arena of antiques to that of art, and prices have risen accordingly.

Whether buying or only looking, visitors to this four-day event can take in a range of merchandise -- from quilts to corner cupboards, from shooting-gallery targets to hardware store fittings -- illustrating the vibrant decorative expression that Eileen Dubrow, a dealer from Bayside, Queens, described as "a need to have something more than just a functional object." Mrs. Dubrow was selling an ornate 1858 staghorn and carved wood coat and umbrella stand that had stood for years in her home. "We wanted to bring something new and fresh to the show," she said. It could be in your foyer for $35,000.

Other treasures whose prices reflect their rarity included a pristine 1857 shirred wool rug depicting a lion in a jungle at the Kelter-Malce booth ($20,000); a graceful 1808 early bentwood American chair, from Samuel Herrup Antiques ($4,800), and at the Gemini Antiques booth, a rare mechanical bank depicting three black baseball players ($6,000).

As always, painted furniture -- from blanket chests to side chairs to a five-piece bedroom set of 1880 cottage furniture (at the Judith and James Milne booth, for $12,500) -- is an anchor of the show.

"It wasn't magical until someone put the paint on it," Robert Snyder, a Zieglersville, Pa., dealer, said of a 1920's oak extension table whose legs were painted red, white and blue. The patriotic table was priced at $4,800.

Connie Hayes described her mid-19th century pumpkin-and-rust corner cupboard, selling for $14,600, as having "wild paint." A more sedate blue-green seven-foot apothecary cabinet with 40 drawers, at Nan and David Pirnack's booth, was going for $7,500.

At the show -- running today and Friday from 11 A.M. to 9 P.M., Saturday until 8 P.M. and Sunday until 6 P.M. -- curiosity seekers who pay the $10 admission each day can check out the 1906 "Stamp Man," a two-piece suit covered with canceled 1- and 2-cent stamps, offered by Frank and Barbara Pollack for $2,750. Or Richard and Betty Ann Rasso's beautifully carved record player, crafted by William Plummer, a self-taught artist who died in 1942. How much? It's yours, for $35,000. Whether it can it be converted to play CD's might be the real question.

Huge items, like a forest of 26 painted barbershop poles ($18,000), offered by Harvey Pranian at the Harvey Antiques booth, and a fetching 1925 7-foot-4-inch cement swimmer by George Suchy, at the Walters Benisek Art and Antiques booth ($9,500), were reminders of the spatial constraints that put the brakes on impulse items.

"It's a Saturday night church," J. Kenneth Kohn, a psychiatrist and the owner of With All Due Ceremony, of Elkins Park, Pa., said as he lifted the top off a $4,500 26-by-36-inch model of a church to display the interior, a dance hall decorated for Christmas. "I'm semiretired, so this is therapy," he said of his involvement with folk art.

Dr. Kohn is not alone.

Photos: Shooting-gallery target; $12,000 for two, from Stephen Score.; Cement swimmer sculptured by George Suchy in 1925; $9,500, from Walters Benisek Art and Antiques.; Shirred wool rug depicting a lion; $20,000, from Kelter-Malce.; Kenneth Kohn lifts top off his $4,500 "Saturday night church." (pg. C1); Revolving hardware store fixture that held nuts and bolts; $2,400, from. Kevin R. Velle; This rare cast-iron mechanical bank, showing three black baseball players, is going for $6,000 at the Gemini Antiques booth.; A two-seat garden settee, made of horseshoes; $2,200, from Linda and Howard Stein.; The "Stamp Man," a suit and cap covered in canceled 1- and 2-cent stamps, is going for $2,750, from Frank and Barbara Pollack.; Intricately carved record player; $35,000, from Richard and Betty Ann Rasso.; Bentwood chair, an 1808 design, is $4,800 at Samuel Herrup Antiques.; A blue-green Shaker-style apothecary cabinet with 40 drawers is $7,500 at Nan and David Pirnack Antiques.; This maple Queen Anne highboy, made in the mid-1700's, was painted 100 years later; $59,000 at Kemble's.; Mid-19th-century coat and umbrella stand is $35,000 from Richard and Eileen Dubrow.; Group of 26 painted barber poles is $18,000 from Harvey Antiques. (pg. C10) (Photographs by Ed Quinn for The New York Times)