Celebrating a city

A painting evokes

a nostalgic idea

of New Ulm

By KREMENA TODOROVA

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The statue of Hermann towers over town...

New Ulm's landmark buildings float out of the haze of the past: the old post office, the Armory, Turner Hall before it burned down, Schell's mansion, the Gag house, the Cathedral...

Unfolding with each image and detail, the town's history gently merges into its present: the main street bustling with business, the happy-go-lucky image of a music lover's destination...

The montage tugs at memories and heartstrings, evoking a nostalgic idea of New Ulm -- a feeling for a town -- an artist's complex vision of what constitutes a community's consciousness.

With the piece, which celebrates New Ulm 150th anniversary, artist Marian Anderson responded to a request by Network New Ulm Youth, a local program that aims at building leadership qualities in youth. The painting is intended to help raise money for the program, with Anderson donating most of the proceeds.

Anderson, a well-known western and wildlife artist based in rural Mankato, created the collage, called "City of Charm and Tradition," in the soft, blending tones of gold, brown and greyish blue.

The work has the aged, "patinated" quality of a Renaissance or neo-classical piece -- and a similar sense of structure, balance and depth. Balancing the eclectic elements was more of a challenge that painting the work, Anderson says, noting that once she'd laid the painting out, the process was "very fluid."

Anderson also notes that she sought to "set a feeling or a mood," draw the spectator into the picture, and "tell a story that goes beyond an illustration." She appears to have succeeded -- in spite of being a montage, the work affects the senses as a single entity.

Anderson completed extensive research before doing the painting. She walked through the streets of New Ulm, talked to people and collected old photos and stories, to sift out buildings and events integral to the town's identity.

"As I prepared to do the painting, I spent considerable time visiting," says Anderson. "I found people to be more than willing to offer anything they could, old photos, touring me around to see the sights of the town while telling about the history of their loved home..."

Anderson's immersion into her subject helped form her own impression of, and feeling for, New Ulm.

"As I looked for detail interests, I searched for worn stone steps and polished handrails, worn smooth with the oils of time. I noticed a few panes of glass, bubbly and warped, reminding you of what has been seen through them. I wondered what it might have been like in those beginning years of New Ulm.

"From atop the west side near Hermann, I was looking east over the city, with that feeling you get when standing on a battlefield after many years, or sitting in an old vacant train depot where you can nearly hear the distant train whistle... I could see the pride built into the buildings and tried to imagine the steamboats at the river and horse-drawn wagons, smoke rising from the chimneys and children playing...

"The monumental sculptures and restoration of the beautiful homes was a true sign of a community proudly remembering their forefathers."

Anderson wove her personal past into the painting as well. As a child growing up in this area, she visited grandparents in New Ulm.

"I saw Santa and went to my first movie, roller-skated for the first time and went to the fair, along with many other memories," she says.

"It is with pride that I can claim an attachment to this community through my heritage while painting 'City of Charm and Tradition'."

Prints of Anderson's painting are available for advance sale now through Sept.1, says Bob Webb, the Network New Ulm member who spearheaded the project.

Artist's proofs, inspected and autographed by Anderson, will be selling for $135 until that date and $155 later. Network New Ulm will sell 50 such proofs; 17 have already been reserved, sight unseen.

"Regular" prints, of which 950 will be available, will sell for $75 now and $95 at later dates. Eleven of those have been spoken for, as well. Framed proofs cost extra.

Proofs can be reserved at the Chamber of Commerce, which will also have a photo of the painting as of next week.

The original oil canvass will be unveiled to the public during this fall's Octoberfest.