We found Don Coley and his RoseLane antiques, garden, and art shop (334-683-8310) by accident. We were on Clements Street in Marion and began seeing all these signs and bottle trees along the road:
…and followed them to his shop. It’s a large garden shop on the outside, complete with bottle trees, a beer can bush, and more art:
Inside is a gorgeous old home – it’s Don’s home – that’s completely open to the public as his art studio and gallery:
Just look at all the wonderful things he has – old folk pottery (which…that’s one of the new things Don is working on – he was given a large kiln and has been digging his own mud and making pieces including face jugs):
He has everything from a painting by Nicola Marschall to works by people who are completely unfamiliar:
His home is just something else. Anyone else having a Scarlett O’Hara moment like I did with these drapes?
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One of the funniest things is that Don sold a Venus de Milo statue to a gentleman who owns a gas station, and they placed it between the pumps (those old ’70s non-digital pumps with the numbers that roll). Av’s friend Al Benn did a story about it in 2007 because a woman would come by at night and dress the statue:
Perry County’s Venus de Milo lives between two gas pumps and has had her armless, near-naked body draped in everything from a colorful boa to a maternity outfit.
Unlike the original Venus, which is on display at the Louvre in Paris and attracts thousands of tourists each year, the one here is outside a convenience store where folks drop by to get some hoop cheese, saltines and RC colas.
—The mystery clothier began adding some color to the gray statute about two weeks after her arrival, initially draping a pink-and-yellow boa around her neck.After that, Venus wound up in a one-piece orange bathing suit. A few weeks later, she was decked out in a maternity outfit, complete with pillow. Soon, a larger pillow was added, apparently by someone who wanted to show her “progress.”
Then, the “blessed event” arrived — a “baby” with bright yellow hair, chubby cheeks and a green dress. She was carefully placed in a metal carrier and draped around Venus’ neck.