About Dalton Quips Dalton Quips traces its roots to the East Coast of Massachusetts. Professional artist Barbara Dalton, a native of Boston, began visiting public "Take it or Leave it" recycling yards back in 2006. With her ability to see creative potential in things that most people view as junk, she transformed old broken furniture, costume jewelry, and household dust catchers ‘rescued’ from the landfill, and transformed into prize-winning works of art. Today, her passion for infusing new life into discarded objects is evident in the eclectic way she crafts each piece. Along with found objects, Bub collects words, phrases, anecdotes, and witticisms. The Quips line is a great success. They are available in a large variety of sizes, colors and words. A piece of recycled wood provides the backing to the ‘word wood’. It is painted with at least 3 coats of paint, distressed and sanded so the layers of color show through. It’s stenciled with metallic colors and collaged with vintage magazines, graphic art paper and old storybooks. The word part of the assemblage is hand lettered and accented with bursts of color and gold marker. The hangers are an integral part of this charming and unique art. Made with strong curly garden wire and strung with game pieces, poker chips, Barbie shoes, antique costume jewelry, and just about anything small enough to hang, but big enough drill through! Even though her work is somewhat produced in volume, each piece is one of a kind.
In 2008, Bub closed her gallery in Massachusetts and moved her business to rural south-central Michigan, where she supplies retail art galleries across the U.S. with her unique and wildly popular artwork. To date, her art can be purchased from galleries in [Place Holder text; Get list of states where Barb has dealers], and she is looking to expand her wholesale cutomer base. Consequently, if you are a gallery owner or manager, and are interested in setting up a wholesale account with Dalton Quips, please contact us using the form on our Contact page and indicate that you are interested in becoming a dealer.
A Note from Bub... My dad was a commercial artist and sign painter. We grew up surrounded by jigsaws, sawdust and paint cans. The color and smell of letters painted on wood etched a love for words and phrases early on. I’m fond of the big boys like Oscar Wilde, Lillian Hellmann and H. L. Mencken whose clever epitaphs guide us through life and cause us to smile out loud. Or the talk show host one-liners overheard at the water cooler. As Elmore Leonard said about writing, “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” I like making those words we keep a kind of art that speaks back to you.