Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

What’s the difference between this year’s open house and last year’s? This year prints of 26 watercolors are available; last year there were prints of 13 watercolors. This year note cards will be also available, and on Sunday, there will be jewelry by Heather Morphew.

Please check out the 5-Ws information below the photos.

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These three proofs were approved last week. To date, proofs of 26 of Mother's watercolors have been approved. Prints range in price from $15 to $70.

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The items in this jewelry collection were designed and created by Heather Morphew. Heather will have her jewelry available at the open house on Sunday the 14th until mid- or late-afternoon. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

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WHAT

The second annual November holiday open house featuring prints* of Mother’s (Marion Gunderson) watercolors.

Jewelry will be available on the Sunday (the 14^th) of the open house.

WHY

All profits from sales of prints go to the Rolfe (Iowa) Public Library where Mother worked for 35 years. To date, approximately $3,000 has been given to the library.

WHEN

Thursday, November 11: 1:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Saturday, November 13: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Sunday, November 14: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

WHO

Anyone is welcome to attend. I will be hosting.

On Sunday, jewelry designed and created by Heather Morphew will be available. www.morphewdesigns.com

WHERE

14106 Green Dr., Perry, Iowa, Bill’s and my home. (Directions are below.)

MISC.

1. *Prints may also be viewed and ordered online. Print prices range from $15 to $70. www.mariongundersonart.ecrater.com

2. On the Saturday and Sunday of the open house,“Art on the Prairie” will be held in Perry, including at the historic Hotel Pattee. www.destination33.com/artontheprairie

3. Contact information: mariongundersonart@gmail.com (515) 465-2746

4. Background information about Mother is available at this blog. On the home page, click on the “Marion Gunderson” category.

DIRECTIONS to 14106 Green Dr., Perry, IA

Bill’s and my home is 2 ½ (2.5) miles west of Perry, Iowa, on Highway 141.

Or, about 30 minutes northwest of the I35/80 Grimes exit at the northwest edge of Des Moines.

If coming from the east, for example from Des Moines:  Take Highway 141 to Perry until you get to the stoplight that is at the Hy-Vee/McDonalds intersection. From that stop light, continue through the intersection (don’t turn at the intersection) and keep going west another 2 1/2 (2.5) miles past Hull Ave. (gravel) and past H. Ave. (gravel) until paved (not gravel) Green Drive is on your left.  Turn left/south onto Green Drive. Green Drive curves back to the east. Our home is about 1/20th mile off of Highway 141.  It is the first house in the development.  (If you get to the airport on Highway 141, you’ve gone 1/4 mile too far west.)

If you are coming from the west on Highway 141, for example from Dawson:  Once you are on Highway 141 with the Perry airport driveway on your right (on the south side of Highway  141), continue another 1/4 (.25) miles east.  (Go somewhat slowly on Highway 141 between the Perry airport and our house because Green Drive pops up sooner than you’d think.) Turn right/south onto paved (not gravel) Green Drive. Green Drive curves back to the east.  Our home is about 1/20th mile off of Highway 141.  It is the first house in the development.

515-465-2746

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Mother's (Marion Gunderson) signature on one of her 1954 paintings.

Yesterday I was in my (“our” to many of you) hometown of Rolfe, Iowa, to approve the proof of another of Mother’s (Marion Gunderson) watercolors. Four members of my family, including my dad, have been offering prints of Mother’s watercolors for sale; the profits go to the Rolfe Public Library (Trust) where Mother worked for thirty-five years.

The most recent project partially supported by profits from sales of prints is the digitizing of 101 years (1888-1989) of Rolfe newspapers. Mother indexed at least 99 years of those papers (1888-1987) for genealogical purposes; the digitizing of entire newspapers for free online (Internet) availability is a perpetuation of her labor of love.

As a result of my dad’s falls (the first one being on May 4th) and his passing away on July 1st, I’ve been on hiatus from fundraising. However, on the assumption that fundraising continues to go as well as it was before May 4th, the Rolfe newspapers will be available online in keyword-searchable format in early 2011. In addition to prints sales supporting the project, to expedite the completion of this project, donations* to the Rolfe Public Library Trust are very welcome.

Back to yesterday…. The above image is from the painting of which we are most recently offering prints. I’ll post the full image within the next couple of days. For now, I’ll just say that although these particular prints can transcend seasons to be displayed year-round, if you are looking for unique, elegant-yet-fun artwork for Halloween, this is your ticket!

Yesterday I approved the proof of another of Mother's (Marion Gunderson) watercolors. We are now offering prints of 22 of her watercolors. Although inventories vary, prints may be purchased and/or ordered at the Rolfe Public Library, Wild Faces Gallery in Rolfe, or through me.** Also, I'm 99% positive I'll be hosting an open house in Bill's and my Perry, Iowa, home on Thursday, November 11, and Saturday, November 13 (and maybe Sunday, November 14). (Click on photo to "feel" the watercolor paper texture.)

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*If you wish to contribute toward the newspaper project and can’t or don’t want to print the donation form, quick and easy steps to accomplish the same are to 1. mail or deliver your contribution to the Rolfe Public Library (Trust), 319 Garfield St., Rolfe, Iowa, 50581. 2. If you are writing a check, make sure to make it payable to the “Rolfe Public Library Trust,” and 3. write “newspaper project” on the memo line.

**For more information about the newspaper project or about prints, feel free to contact me via email at mariongundersonart@gmail.com . I am also available by appointment. Prints may also be ordered online.

(Click here to go to Louise Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Speaking of Younkers…at about the same time I posted most recently, I ran across a placard from one of Mother’s (Marion Gunderson) watercolor exhibits. Below is the front of the placard, as well as the back of it with her handwriting indicating the month and year of the exhibit. July 1970.

The handwriting is in pencil on a dark background, making it quite difficult to read in the raw scan. Using the actual placard as a guide, I edited the bottom photo to provide more contrast between her penciled writing and the dark background. Mother’s actual handwriting is probably most dear to her immediate family. Even so, I wanted to include it in this post.

Placard from Mother's July 1970 exhibit at Younkers in Des Moines. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Mother's handwriting on the back of the placard. (Click on photo twice magnify.)

As far as I know, none of us in the family knows where in the Younkers store Mother exhibited. We are assuming her exhibit was in the Younkers Tea Room in downtown Des Moines. If you happen to have more information, either verifying or contradicting, I hope you’ll let me know.

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(Click here to go to Louise Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)

Mother (Marion Gunderson) used to store her watercolors in two ways at Gunderland. She had approximately seventy of her watercolors stored loose in portfolios under the basement steps. Another fifteen-or-so of her paintings were framed and displayed around the perimeter of the basement.

A portion of Marion Gunderson's ISU Heating Plant watercolor, 1951. (Click photo to enlarge.)

It must have been after Mother passed away in 2004 that one of those paintings hanging in the basement caught my attention. I had no idea what building/location was in the painting. I just knew that the Georgia O’Keeffe-like gentle-curvy lines and rich colors that Mother used prompted me to ask to have this particular painting.

Not realizing that the painting included mounds of black coal, I thought that perhaps the painting was of another ag-related building. My dad (Deane Gunderson) and my husband (Bill Shimon) didn’t know the exact location of the building in the painting; because of the coal in the painting, they believed the painting might have been of something factory-related.

Mother’s, Clara’s (my oldest sister) and Marti’s (one of my middle siblings) work helped with my investigation. Several years ago at Mother’s request, Marti took inventory snapshots of as many of Mother’s watercolors as could be located. Mother then put those snapshots in an album. Along with the snapshots, Mother provided corresponding documentary notes for most of her paintings that were in those snapshots. Since before Mother passed away in 2004, Clara has been our family’s keeper and continuing recorder of documentation about Mother’s watercolors.

Back to the above-mentioned painting…I hung on to the painting for another couple of years before asking Clara if she had any idea of the identity of the building in the painting. Clara looked in Mother’s notes and found that about this particular painting, Mother had noted, “ISU Heat Plant, Ames, Iowa. From charcoal sketch done while at ISU.”

Bingo! Identity known!

Alongside Mother’s signature on the painting she included the year “1951.” Mother attended Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) from 1937-1941. We assume that she created a charcoal sketch of the heating plant sometime between 1937 and 1941, and later, with the charcoal sketch as her reference, in 1951 painted her watercolor of the same heating plant.

Because the heating plant in the watercolor looks nothing like the present Iowa State University power plant, I was confused about what Mother’s vantage point might have been when she painted the heating plant. I recently contacted Jeffrey Witt, ISU’s Assistant Director of Utilities, to learn more about the history of Iowa State’s heating plant. More specifically, I wondered if he could shed some light on where Mother’s vantage point as she painted might have been, in relation to the current power plant at Iowa State.

In the next post I’ll include the connect-the-dots information Jeff provided in regard to history of Iowa State’s heating/power plant and Mother’s 1951 watercolor of the older plant.

(Click here to go to Louise Shimon’s blog’s home page.)