Sharon's early childhood was spent in the desert of Arizona. It was the 1940’s, murmurs of change on the horizon. The family were encouraged to move to the desert to help ease her sister’s asthma, “Not much frightens me but her getting a breath was so scary, at this point in my life I know it gave me empathy. I was left to roam, my mother had her hands full, understandably so.”
Wandering alone in the desert, and mostly barefoot, she recalled that her eyes missed little. Sharon felt that her levels of sensitivity and sensibility were likely highly developed at a young age because of these experiences, “It was heaven sent, and the treasures to be found! I started collecting old white porcelain and would find these glass jars turned colour from the harsh sunlight.”
The family kitchen became a space for mixing potions of earth, clays and wild herbs. Before turning five Sharon was selling pieces to the women in the neighbourhood. Looking back now, it feels almost inevitable that she would one day be running her very own antique shop, though at the time she was simply following her curiosity.
Those early years of gathering objects from the desert were just the beginning. By the time Sharon reached college California was on the horizon. A decision was made and that was that. I asked Sharon if there were any regrets about leaving that chapter of her life and her plan to become a teacher behind. “Nah, I honestly never loved school and always loved exploring ideas or places or people, I left Arizona State after my second year”.
California in the sixties was a time for new ideas, new ideals. Young people were flocking from all corners of America. Sharon was one of them, she found a job almost immediately with Joseph Magnin, the luxury retailer. Sharon absolutely loved her new life, living just a short walk from the beach Sharon went daily with her friends who worked for the airlines. This life was a world away from her old one. A new chapter had started.
Years passed, and after settling and having children, Maine eventually became home. Sharon and Paul, who met later in life, discovered they had a shared affection for the place. One summer with both their children in tow, they journeyed east to explore what the opposite side of the coast might offer them. “We found ourselves on the old porch of a sea captains 18th century home on the main street of Wiscasset”, this house became their new home and which later became Marston House. Sharon was in awe of it all, seasons were something not experienced before, “Winters were white, and sledding was wonderful, skating on the ponds was pure delight”.
Settled in Wiscasset, with the children now grown up. Sharon and Paul headed for the hills of Provence, in the Luberon region. A place they had almost reached during a month long stay in Paris in 1983, vowing then that they would one day return. A place the late sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle insisted they must see. Paul suggested they go to a realtor and see what was available, “nothing appealed until a polaroid photo fell onto the floor of the realtor’s desk. And that was that, the rest is history.”
They found their home amongst rolling hills, in part of an ancient home. A place they would spend many years renovating. Provence had the beauty of the seasons like Maine, and the hardships of both. Long hot summers, wild penetrating winds and mild winters. In other ways, it reminded Sharon of her childhood in Arizona “the ancient spirits are still alive in the hills surrounding us!”.
Their days unfold with walks through the Luberon hills and hours spent at early morning markets. It was here they found things that they had never seen before or sold before, “I dealt only in Americana at that time, my passion was mid 1800’s, impossible to find and expensive when we did! Here it was in abundance, and when you add the elegance of royalty and the effect it had on the makers of everything to homes and furnishings it became a treasure hunt on a daily basis, and so it became our life.” Sharon noted in our conversation, and not without significance, that this had been their first summer not returning to the US (apart from the year none of us wish to revisit).
Now is a time one might expect to quieten, but the days still brim with work to do. Rest, it seems, will have to wait. Place has never been a mere backdrop for Sharon and Paul, born almost two thousand miles apart Sharon from Arizona and Paul from Chicago. Their lives together have centered around coastal Maine in America and the Luberon region of Provence in France. Sharon running her antiques shop Marston House and Paul managing his projects as an architect, they brought their passions together in one place. Memories of that first trip to Paris resurface. This will become the focus of Part III: Paris in the 80’s.
