Minerva's Pageant

At the YSA Conference this weekend, I watched a live broadcast given by Elder Perry and his wife, Barbara Dayton Perry. She told a little bit about the life of "the Great Mormon Artist," Minerva Teichert. This was particularly special to me because of the many threads that tie me to this artist.

1.) My last semester at BYU, I had an internship at the Museum of Art working under Marian Wardle, Minerva's granddaughter and the Curator of American Art, on an upcoming exhibit featuring Minerva Teichert's work. I was awarded the internship (over an Art History major) because of my experience in costume design. The museum was imagining trying to do something along the lines of Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters. They wanted me to orchestrate planning and development between the museum staff and the theatre department. In the end, the production was too large scale for the museum to undertake and I spent a lot of my time doing research. This research included shuffling through boxes and boxes and boxes of Minerva's personal papers that had been quickly packed away after her death and were gathering dust in the basement of the MOA. I loved reading her journals, notebooks, and the plethora of notes scribbled down on random papers (she would write insights down that struck her randomly so a lot of what I read was disjointed) some with food stains, some from a newspaper, some from books. I looked through magazines and catalogs she collected to use as inspiration for paintings. I read speeches and rough drafts to speeches and church talks and talks given at celebrations held in her honor- all of which were written in her own handwriting with her own corrections and additions and deletions. And because I was privy to something so personal, I feel like I know her.

2.)Of course, I feel a personal connection to her because she chose the path of an artist. And I imagine my purpose to be divinely directed, just as she did (remembering that she was frustrated a lot of her life and not feeling like she got the recognition or opportunities she had hoped for.) The way my education has unfolded and the opportunities that have fallen into my lap makes it nearly impossible to believe otherwise. At 19 she went to Chicago to study and later New York, paying her way as she went. She was courted by two men, one wealthy and the other a cowboy. She chose the cowboy and was married in her late twenties. Minerva wore a "flapper girl"/indian headband her whole life! I think this is one of my favorite details about her. It's a testament to her flare for the dramatic. She was opinionated and passionate.

3.) It was because of the Teichert family that my dad served a mission. He worked as a cattle rancher in Wyoming during his summers in high school. Minerva fed my dad many times and it was her son- who ranched with my dad- that really encouraged him to serve a mission. His parents told him they would pay for college or a mission, but they wouldn't pay for both. He descibes them as indifferent whether he served or not. So without the influence and prodding of the Teichert family, it isn't likely he would have gone.

4.) Minerva loved Native Americans... I love all things Native American!

So, the point is, I feel close to Minerva. I imagine that when I die I'll meet her on the other side and we'll have a lot to talk about. I was happy to hear Sister Perry introduce her to everyone else.