Sally Caverly
is an art lover, researcher and conservationist. Born in 1962, she grew up in
Massachusetts and on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Sally holds a Masters
of Education, a Bachelors of Arts in marketing from Simmons College and a
diploma from Phillips Academy, Andover. After serving as Market Research
Department Head at Houghton Mifflin Company, she operated an online retail
store. Sally currently serves as a Director at the North and South Rivers
Watershed Association.
Sally developed a love for the wildlife and the mountains of
New Hampshire's Lakes Region early in life. Her taste in art is an extension of
these loves. Her passion for art collecting and her interest in research were
acquired through family environment, formal education and work experience.
Sally's grandfather was a carver and painter. Her father
dabbled in painting until her mother displayed an eye for a well-composed
painting. The youngest of five children, she was in tow in the 70's and 80's
when her parents amassed an important collection of American impressionist
paintings and sculpture. They visited New England antique shops, galleries,
auction houses and private homes. The auction paddle was sometimes passed to Sally,
beginning in her teens.
In her twenties, Sally began her own collection by
purchasing a pastel of ducks by William Henry Chandler. She became a regular at
art and antique haunts, often with a baby on her hip and a toddler in hand.
While following the artists she grew up with, others also caught her eye.
Since 2008, Sally has added to her early foundation in
classic art forms. She has studied American decoys and other folk art.
Attending and exhibiting at most of the major decoy and sporting art shows and
sales, Sally has visited folk art shows and museums, as well as the homes of
private collectors. Specializing in East Coast carvers of decoys and decorative
songbird miniatures, Sally also has an interest in American sporting art
painters Frank Benson, John Whorf and A. L. Ripley.
When not researching or pursuing art, Sally tutors special
needs students. She also enjoys vegetable gardening and spending time with her
family and the dogs, cats and chickens she keeps on Hawkfield Farm. She enjoys
kayaking on the North River, bird watching on the North River and on Duxbury
Beach, and downhill and cross-country skiing. Sally is most proud of nurturing
three adult daughters: a geologist who is an environmental consultant, a
science teacher, and a ceramicist who is employed by the Pucker Gallery in
Boston. The family tradition continues!
"There is no such
thing as teaching a person anything. You may be helped toward learning by a
hint someone has given you, but anything you really learn has got to be learned
by experience."
Frank Benson
