FIVE MINUTES WITH DONNA McNEIL
INTERVIEW BY JEN DEROSE
PHOTOGRAPHED BY RYAN DAVID BROWN
The independent curator and founding executive director of Rockland’s Ellis-Beauregard Foundation on her design heroes, her church-home’s thrilling surprise, and flying saucer art
I always smile when I see…
the 10-foot-tall double doors in my house, which is an 1851 renovated church in Rockland. They’re painted black on the exterior, and then — boom, surprise! — they’re yellow inside.
A favorite collection is…
the early-20th-century celluloid powder boxes I found at Sadie’s Antiques in Rockport. I have them on a stairway half-wall and use them to hold jewelry. I like to think about the ladies who once used them.
An unexpected find was…
a painted plate by an unknown Mexican artist I spotted at a hole-in-the-wall gift shop in Marfa, Texas. Most Mexican pottery is brightly colored, so this one stood out. I love that the depiction is so guileless and celebrates women.
Advertisement
I’m reading…
Love in the Time of Cholera. I find it to be a beautiful metaphor for our times. I tend to read in the early morning or evening, but my favorite way is to settle in with a book and read all day until I finish. $16.95. hellohellobooks.com
The designers I admire are…
the old guard — Mies van der Rohe, Eames, Corbusier, Nelson, and Saarinen, whose Womb chair I have in my church sanctuary-turned-living-room. I got it at Allen & Walker Antiques in Portland and tracked down vintage citron Knoll fabric to recover it.
“I’m grateful to the talented Greg Parker, Shoshannah White, and Anna Hepler [whose The Referee is pictured] for creating much of the art in my collection.”
My go-to local gallery is…
Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells, which juxtaposes objects with art. I got this vintage sled there. I love its orb shape, magnificent scratches, and worn leather handles. It hangs in my stairway.
Advertisement