“Art from the Start,” an exhibit honoring retired Dowagiac educator Margaret E. Hunter, proves “we’ve got wonderful artists right here in the community.”

Tuesday afternoon, 20 Hunter paintings selected by Cyndy Wardlaw and former visual arts chair Thelda Mathews, were draped in the Dogwood gallery in Huntington Bank.

Visual Arts Committee colleague David Baker, who taught at Southwestern Michigan College, will talk about Hunter at 6 p.m.

Wardlaw’s art claim to fame is that a cousin, Paul Hadley, designed Indiana’s state flag.

Wardlaw organized a similar tribute to another notable Dowagiac artist, the late Alice Lewis, and thought Hunter, 91, deserves comparable recognition — especially since her legions of former students know her only as a teacher.

They’re in for a surprise for, as an artist ,her style is that she doesn’t stick to a particular style, let alone a medium. Some paintings are oils, others acrylic.

“What’s not here, that I’m sorry we couldn’t bring, is three papier mache fish attached to a cupboard door,” Wardlaw said. “Thelda and I had a ball, and she was right in the article. We did pick abstract pieces we liked,” but then there are the possum family or ‘What My Dentist Sees Upper’ and its companion piece, ‘What My Dentist Sees Lower.’

“She’s very proper,” Wardlaw said, “but wildness comes out in her paintings. She’s the most diversified artist I’ve ever seen.”

Hunter’s artwork will be for sale. Refreshments will be served.

 

Dowagiac Daily News