November 15, 2018 at 2:39 p.m.
Royal Lady has connected many to the Wild & Scenic St. Croix Riverway
Royal Lady has connected many to the Wild & Scenic St. Croix Riverway
The illuminated parade down Bench Street November 23, officially opens the town holiday.
Think ‘Pettis’ and the St. Croix River automatically comes to mind.
The lighting festival always has a theme and this year it is the 50th anniversary of the St. Croix entering the “Wild & Scenic” riverway under the National Park Service. Congress designated the Nama-kagon to its confluence with the St. Croix, and downstream to Taylors Falls, as “wild and scenic” in 1968. The entire stretch of the river, south of Taylors Falls to the Mississippi, is now federally protected.
Pettis paintings have made people around the world aware of this treasure.
The St. Croix abides in the subconscious of countless art lovers through their exposure to a work by Pettis they have encountered in museums, galleries, and yes, even buying calendars and mugs.
A Pettis piece is grounded in expressive and classical realism. Lately she is drawn to Soviet Impressionism, definitely Hudson School, and she is scary adept at re-creating the sensation of being outdoors. You’ll have a visceral reaction to her pieces, which means feeling the chill off a layer of ice in a winter image or catching yourself warming in the sunlit glow in a summer scene.
Her favorite subject, she said, is a good old stately white pine tree.
Pettis explained during an interview at her Taylors Falls studio, “Good work transcends what’s in a photo...you bring it all to the easel,” she adds.
An artists’s intention can not be discounted either, she has been know to tell painting students. “Intent varies depending on how I feel about a place, what time of year it is.”
Pettis is only the ninth American woman painter to achieve ARC Living Master recognition. The Art Renewal Center honor is reserved for a painter who has a level of artistry “that compares to the masters of prior centuries.”
This year’s Royal Lady has called Taylors Falls home since she married local Randy Pearson, 21 years ago and they settled in his house on Basil St. A rental property Randy owned nearby is now Mary’s studio.
She had raised kids and earned a living as a comparatively commercial-leaning artist across the river, in Osceola. She paid the bills doing commissioned paintings of beloved pets, horses, and also made paintings of wildlife, etc.
She now has a lengthy list of awards from juried shows and international competitions. She still studies with masters, and even after painting for 45 years she continues to be amazed by the harmony of art and nature.
Among her goals is to better understand how artists influence other artists.
She also ponders why some people hear music in paintings or see colors when they listen to music. The music inherent in three dimensional art is one of the great mysteries of the universe, along with the anatomy of a rock.
If it’s a fact that one who is willing to learn makes the best teacher, then Pettis has nothing to be worried about.
By all accounts she is a fine teacher. The same way musicians learn notes, or a writer first must learn grammar and spelling before there can be a novel, she believes an artist should acquire foundational skills. Pettis holds workshops and outdoor painting classes in and around Taylors Falls attracting students from across the nation. Her neighbor and Lighting Festival Committee member Barb Young, says Pettis has the ability to not only tell you how to excel, but show you how.
“She loves to share with others,” Young noted.
A Pettis exhibit is opening today (Nov 15, 16 and 17) at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis that involves 35 paintings. The exhibit complements selections by modern composer Kevin Puts in the series, “Sharing the Harvest.” Orchestra Hall periodically brings ‘dual sensory’ experiences to the public. Pettis was part of “Beyond the Surface” there in 2017 displaying her art along with the program of French impressionistic orchestral pieces.
Pettis says over the course of her whole life all she wanted to do was paint, and she is happiest with a paintbrush in her hand.
Her advice-- be fearless, be persistent. “I always felt that if I just got good enough I could do this for a living,” she stated.
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The wild and scenic riverway theme is carried through in this year’s collectible ornament, a birch bark canoe.
The ornaments are available at Taylors Falls shops and at the bazaar in the old railroad depot/community center. A limited custom made ornament is released for the Lighting Festival annually, and this design (see photo) acknowledges native people within the riverway and their story. Julie and Don Hobson, residents of Taylors Falls, made the ornaments.
The Pettis studio will not hold a Lighting Festival open house this year, but a new historical homesite on Bench Street has been added. See Festival upcomings.
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