D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
August 2009
The Gift Museum
Ron Hanson's Two Spirit Gallery in Silver City is like a museum where you can buy what's on display. Plus: New auction company, custom bullropes, permaculture design, elder housing and more business news.
"I started beading when I was about eight years old," says Ron Hanson. "When I was 15, I started collecting antiques. These sorts of things have been a passion all my life," he adds, gesturing around his Silver City shop, Two Spirit Gallery. "But I didn't get into it as a business until retirement and I had an inheritance to invest."
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Ron Hanson in his shop, Two Spirit
Gallery, standing near a Buddha statue from Cambodia. Another Buddha
he owns and has on display has been authenticated as a Ming Dynasty piece
from the 16th century. (Photo by Donna Clayton) |
He looks around at his collection of ancient chests, their drawers overflowing with beads of many colors, at the Buddha statues and other ancient ritual items perched on shelves, tucked away in glass display cases, at the long strings of necklaces. He adds with a laugh, "This used to be half a farm!"
Hanson opened Two Spirit Gallery just over two years ago, soon after his arrival in Silver City from Palm Springs, Calif. He found his way to this small mountain town when he visited a childhood friend living near Santa Fe. The two met up in Albuquerque, spent a couple of days in Silver City.
"I loved it, bought a house and that was it," Hanson says with a bright smile. "The beautiful weather, the friendly people, the inclusive community — all of that made it the place for me."
Hanson characterizes Two Spirit as both a gallery and a retail shop. Hanging on walls all around the shop, displayed in glass museum-like cases and bursting out of the drawers of antique chests is an array of custom jewelry, Coptic carvings, jewelry from the nomadic tribes of the Middle East, tribal artifacts and African trade beads — a rich collection of colors and textures, of beauty and history.
There are a few items Hanson acknowledges he'll probably never sell, some simply because of price — like the 16th century Ming Dynasty Buddha tagged at nearly $3,000.
"I don't expect to sell it, but I like having it around," he says pleasantly, pointing out a few other "special" items, like the 100-plus-year-old Tibetan jewelry cask, the antique Tibetan treasure chest constructed of wood overlaid with silver, the small but regal Cambodian Buddha statue.
Other items, like the antique Korean chest of drawers, would be a headache to replace if he sold them.
"It creates a wonderful ambiance and, well, I'd have to find something equally nice to put all this stuff on!" he says, gesturing to the decorative items and delicate bird cage on which are hanging dozens and dozens of pairs of earrings. Another multi-drawer chest in the corner holds perhaps thousands of beads — ceramic ones, gemstone beads, some that appear to be metallic, perhaps cloisonne.
"I sell a lot of those special beads to the local artists," Hanson says.
Though there are plenty of substantial antiques in the shop, there are many more items priced to sell — and they do, many as gifts. Looking for a unique gift? You'll probably find it here.
Hanson acknowledges that many of his customers buy items as gifts — the perfect pair of earrings, a meaningful wall hanging — for loved ones. His customer base is split pretty much 50-50, he says, between locals and visitors.
"I do get a lot of people from Tucson, visiting from the east coast, from Europe," he says of his non-local clientele. And among the locals, many are repeat customers, popping in for another birthday gift or to see what new items Hanson has laid in since their last visit.
He goes on two major buying trips a year, he says. "I used to do more traveling myself, but that's impossible now with the shop." And he buys from local artisans and collectors who stop in with wares.
"That's how I got that wonderful Buddha," he says.
He also shops around to find special items for some of his customers, he adds. "Malas, particular Buddhas, sometimes pendants that represent specific things, and gemstones, too. The Buddhist items, especially, attract people."
Though he calls himself "more Buddhist than anything else," he also has some other religious items, including earth-based goddess images. "I respect all religions, if not all religious people," he says with a conspiratorial laugh and roll of the eyes.
As if on cue, a woman walks in and lays a quartet of handcrafted white sage incense bundles on Hanson's desk. She makes the items out of herbs she has harvested herself, she says. She tells him of her limited distribution, the quality and, of course, the price. As she talks, Hanson picks up a bundle, closes his eyes and sniffs thoughtfully, almost meditatively. She mentions that her incense bundles are sold at only one other business locally and that she would love to have them sold though his special shop.
Hanson buys the whole lot she has in her satchel — about a dozen. She's so thrilled at making this sale so effortlessly, she gives him an extra bundle as a gift.
Moments after the sage-bundle woman leaves, a young Asian man comes in and greets Hanson by name. He's just been traveling again, he says, and shows Hanson a ring he purchased. It appears to have a religious image and the young man turns it on his finger, admiring it himself as he shows his shopkeeper friend.
"Lovely. A treasure," Hanson agrees. The young man walks around the shop, pulling out a drawer filled with jewelry, gazing up at the thangkas (Buddhist religious wall tapestries) and other works of art on the walls.
"It's just a pleasure to the senses to come in here," he tells Hanson with a small sigh and earnest smile.
Hanson says that the best thing about having his business is the people he meets through the course of his days, minding the shop.
"This is my social life! I'm here or I'm at home," he says with a laugh.
Some of his repeat customers come in because of the quality and variety of his antique items. "You'd have to go to Santa Fe to see the kinds of things I have here," he says. Hanson acknowledges that X'ian Antiques in Deming has an amazing collection of fine antiques, but adds, "His place is more a museum, though. Bigger items, some big price tags. It's not at all the same kind of business as I run here. I'm much more gift-oriented with my inventory." He acknowledges a good relationship and professional respect with Tim Weber, the owner of X'ian Antiques. In fact, Weber has authenticated several of Hanson's pieces, like that Ming Dynasty Buddha.
It's true that many of Hanson's pieces are priced right for gift-giving. He gestures to the long stings of necklaces hanging on a bar fixture, many priced under $30.
The store also has some more elaborate pieces. Hanson points out an ornate beaded piece on a display bust. The delicate, intricate blue, brown and cream necklace was made by Shannon Curry, an associate who works in the store part-time.
Hanson pulls out another regal piece, this one weighty with beads and history.
"This pendant is actually an earring, the kind worn by Tibetan nobles," he explains. "That's why you so often see their statues with those long earlobes — they're literally stretched down by these huge earrings," which were worn as a sign of their status.
The Tibetan pieces, both the antiques and the jewelry, are his favorites, Hanson admits, saying they appeal because of their meaningfulness and their pure beauty.
Hanson says he has no plans to change or expand the business, already crammed with hundreds of items. "Just more of the same, a continuation of what's working so well," he says. He'll make his next buying trip to Tucson in September, he notes.
"I hope my regulars and some new folks, too, will come in and see the new things I'll be picking up."
Two Spirit Gallery, 311 N. Bullard St., Silver City, 956-8397. Showing ethnic antiques, museum-quality ritual pieces, beads and jewelry. Open Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
New in Town
Troy Davis and Alyson Owens have opened the Silver City Auction House at 11585 Hwy. 180, near the Real West Cinema. Auctioneer Davis is following in his dad's footsteps. "He was a livestock auctioneer," Davis says. The Silver City business' first auction will be on August 29, and Davis says he plans to work up to two a month, putting all manner of items on the block: general merchandise as well as some special sales like ones focusing on horse items, say, or art. The couple moved here in June from Virginia, where they also operated an auction business. 313-3274, 256-724-2410.
Ruth Olsson and Jeff Schadel have bought out Barb Fila's Bad Ass Bakery at 308 S. Bullard St. and will open Schadel's Bakery in the space, reviving a Silver City baking tradition. See Table Talk for details.
Rebecca Keller has registered her business, Keller Fencing, operating at 87 Box Canyon Road in Cliff. Keller's team of six installs vinyl, chain, ornamental, barbed wire, cedar wood fences and more. 535-2223.
Dr. Brad Haire recently opened a new practice at 1210 E. 32nd St., on Silver City's "Medical Row." The Riversong Center of Integrative Medicine offers intravenous therapies, treatment with Frequency Specific Microcurrent, light therapy using gemstones and special detoxifying protocols through the Nutri-Energetics system. Haire's wife and partner, Leesa Haire, operates the neighboring Heartsong Center for Integrative Wellness (see "Changing Your Mind," January 2009), offering Brain States Technology. Riversong: 534-8000. Heartsong: 534-9748.