The Miller Times • Published Sep 9, 2026
A visually stunning new book featuring rare, museum-quality antiques and folk art from Eastern Ontario has just been published by collectors Shaun Markey and Todd Coopee.
And as it turns out, With Hands and Heart is somewhat of a rarity itself, since so little has been published on the treasures found in that part of the country exclusively.
The items in the 176-page book come from 10 important Eastern Ontario collections, many of them amassed during the last half century and most of them never before published in print.
More than 100 items are featured in the book and they originate from 50 towns, villages and cities in the region. Each one has its own full-page photograph, along with a story that identifies where it came from, who made it, when, and how it reflects the time period – all in plain language that’s suitable for collectors at any stage, or for those who simply love beautiful coffee table books with heart.
“This book is about survivors,” says Shaun, a retired Ottawa-area marketing and public relations professional and a collector for over 40 years. “In some cases, these items are 150 years old, but the amazing thing is that despite everything they’ve survived and are still cherished by the collectors who have them.”
Todd Coopee, a Prescott-area IT consultant, vintage toy collector, author and founder of Sonderho Press, which published With Hands and Heart, believes it’s crucial to do books of this kind. It’s not about hoping it’ll become a Canadian best seller, he says, but an attempt to preserve an important part of our cultural heritage which can too easily be lost.
“Many remarkable objects sit quietly in private homes, known only to their owners,” he writes in the Collectors’ Notes at the front of the book. “Some are well researched, others understood largely through memory and experience. Without documentation and sharing, however, even the most significant collections risk becoming invisible. Objects may survive, but their stories often do not.”
When the project began, Shaun, who is a well-connected collector, approached 10 people with museum-quality collections and asked about featuring some of their pieces in the book. The terms? For privacy reasons the collectors would not be identified, but the featured items – which the collectors themselves could choose – must come from Eastern Ontario.
Somewhat to Shaun’s surprise, “they all said yes.”
The book includes various types of furniture, crocks, folk art paintings, sculpture, trade signs and advertising.
Over 500 pictures were initially reviewed, taken by Ottawa-area photographer and graphic designer Denis Savoie, who also designed the book. Shaun wrote the stories that accompanied the items, Todd edited them, organized their order and presentation, and through a convivial back-and-forthing and consideration of over 100 possible titles, With Hands and Heart was born.
Shaun and Todd originally met through a mutual colleague and their history goes back roughly 15 years. Todd helped Shaun publish his 2019 book Folk Art in the Attic, as well as his 2023 book Antique Memories. And Shaun helped Todd with his 2013 book, Light Bulb Baking: A History of the Easy-Bake Oven. Clearly, the men have complementary skills.
The cover of With Hands and Heart features what Shaun describes as “one of the finest pieces of Canadian folk art in existence”. It’s an elaborate trinket box, made by William Loney (1877-1956) of Prince Edward County, for his sister Edith. A blacksmith and iron worker by trade, Loney also possessed an artist’s eye and an ability that could incorporate carving, painting and forging into his work and there are 12 of his pieces in the book. “Loney is one of the most amazing folk artists Canada has ever produced,” says Shaun. “He really deserves a book of his own.”
Other highlights include an open 1870s dish dresser from Wilno in Renfrew County where many Polish immigrants settled. There’s also a poster from 1932 advertising an agricultural fair in Roseneath, Ontario showing a carousel, circus and people playing.
Over the years, Miller & Miller Auctions has also benefitted from Shaun’s expertise since he’s helped put together several of their post-war folk art catalogues, a challenge he’s clearly well-equipped to handle.
But it was the combined expertise of Shaun, Todd and Denis that brought this latest book to fruition, something which will no doubt prove to be a lasting resource and a visually-rich and informative tribute to the cultural history of Eastern Ontario.
Writes Shaun Markey in the book’s Collectors’ Notes, “this book allowed me to immerse myself in ten collections, a rare and generous experience, and one that reinforced a belief shared through these pages: collecting matters most when it leads outward, toward understanding, preservation and shared access.”