Exhibit featuring work of Minerva Teichert now open at Church History Museum
Jul 7, 2023, 7:30 PM
The Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is currently showing an exhibit of the paintings of Minerva Teichert. The exhibition began Thursday, July 6, 2023. Photo credit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled a new exhibition on Thursday. The exhibition showcases 45 paintings of Minerva Teichert.
The exhibit is entitled: “With This Covenant in My Heart: The Art and Faith of Minerva Teichert.”
Laura Paulsen Howe, art curator for the exhibit, joined KSL NewsRadio to discuss Teichert’s work and her life.
The life of Minerva Teichert
Howe says Teichert is from American Falls, Idaho and ended up in Cokeville, Wyoming. She goes to places such as New York and Chicago to further her knowledge of art.
And rather stay in one of those areas to progress her career, Teicher comes back home.
“She comes back here and a place where she doesn’t have access to a lot of resources,” Howe said. “She makes things happen. So, she’ll use a lot of her 10-foot living room studio to create giant paintings.”
Howe says the title of the exhibit “With This Covenant in My Heart” represents a similar time in history that society experienced just a few years ago.
She says that Teichert had just come home from art school in New York and married her husband, Herman. Then during the 1918 flu pandemic, Teichert becomes very ill.
Howe continues on by saying that as Teichert was on the verge of death, she thought what a waste all of her art training would be. She says that Teichert prayed to God and said, “If you give me some work to do, I’d gladly do it,”
“So we thought this was a beautiful metaphor for our exhibit,” Howe said.
Howe is asked about how the exhibit all came together.
“Well, one, we’re very grateful to some, a number of private lenders, who have very graciously lended some paintings that, yes, many people haven’t seen before,” she said. “As you’re putting together a show, we wanted to honor the legacy of Minerva. And so, it becomes just a game of find who has paintings.”
Paintings on display
The 45 original paintings on display will cover three galleries.
“She didn’t paint small in that living room wall,” Howe said.
Women are featured predominantly in her paintings in a variety of ways from powerful to subtle.
“She’s a woman herself,” Howe said. “I think she’s a great testament why we need lots of different kinds of people creating because everyone brings their own perspective to art.”
Throughout the process of putting the exhibit together, Howe says the one thing she was surprised by was the number of letters that Teichert left behind.
“And so, as I read through her letters,” Howe said. “I was so impressed that no matter what she was doing, she put it in the context of faith.”
The exhibit featuring the work of Minerva Teichert will be on display for 13 months according to Howe.
The museum is open to the public Monday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The museum is also open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free.
Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app.
Bonneville International Corporation, the company that owns KSL NewsRadio, is a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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