Artist of the week: Minerva Teichert.
I had seen a few of Minerva Tiechert's paintings in the Ensign magazine. I thought her paintings were ok, before I knew who she was. But after I watched a program about her life and the artist behind the brush, she became one of my favorite artists. You can read a really neat write up about the life of Minerva here. She was an Idaho girl, who grew up in the wild west. After finishing school, she taught school for a few years and finally at 19 headed back East to art school in New York. She studied art under some of the best. Minerva often would do rope tricks and Indian dances to earn money to pay for school.
At one point one of her teachers "Robert Henri asked her, shortly before she left New York, whether any artist had ever told the “great Mormon story.” “ ‘Not to suit me,’ I answered. ‘Good Heavens, girl, what a chance. You do it. You’re the one. Oh, to be a Mormon.’ I said to him, ‘You could be.’ He paused almost reverently for a moment, then answered, ‘That’s your birthright. You feel it. You’ll do it well.’ I felt that I had been commissioned.” (Unpublished ms., 1947.)
At that point in her life she moved home, married her handsome cowboy, and painted.
Something that I love about her is the fact that she tacked up huge pieces of canvas on her living room wall, and would look through binoculars backward to get enough distance from her painting to make sure everything looked right. I love that. Her paintings are huge, and tell many stories, from the Bible to pioneers, often with a focus on women.
She was an amazing woman who spent her life being a wife, mother, grandmother, womens rights activist, and a painter. Minerva was a women of faith. She was spunky and unique. It is estimated she painted over 1,000 paintings in her life. Such an inspiring woman. My secret wish is to find an Minerva Teichert original painting at a yard sale for $5. Hey anything is possible!
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