Oil painting of GR in 1836 on display

Believed to be one of the earliest images of Grand Rapids, according to a Monday release, the painting can now be seen in the Newcomers exhibit at the museum.The image shows Grand Rapids as remembered by painter Aaron Turner, who was 13 when he first came to the area around 1836. It is believed to have been painted in the 1880s.

The painting looks east over the Grand River from Island Number One. Three structures shown are on the land that is now home to the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, McKay Tower and Rosa Parks Circle.The painting is signed "Renrut," or "Turner" in reverse.Turner was an early Grand Rapids pioneer. He was a newspaper editor and Grand Rapids' first city clerk. In addition, he designed the city seal that Grand Rapids still uses.

The painting was given to the Public Museum in 2012 by the Harold Garter estate after being privately owned for 100 years."We are fortunate to have such an early depiction of the city decades prior to the advent of photography," Tom Dilley, Chair of the Collections Committee of the Museum, said in a statement, also saying the painting is "essential" to the museum's collection.

“They are amazing. They are something you keep forever after the horse has died,” Pink Ribbon Classic show organizer Erica Lackey said. “Oh, you are going to make me cry.”And she almost did as she talked about the paintings she has of her departed horses.In the short history of the oil painting reproduction, top prize has traditionally been a 12-by-6-inch portrait done by an artist with a very long history of painting equines in the Valley.

On Saturday morning, artist Shirley Dickerson cheerfully arrived carrying two samples of her work. Then she carefully set them beside other prizes, which were horse tack and a second-place prize that was a set of pink zebra-striped luggage.“We do travel a lot,” Lackey said, adding that the vast majority of contestants are women.

The third annual Pink Ribbon Classic, which took place at the Walla Walla County Fairgrounds this weekend, raises money for the Providence St. Mary Cancer Center Special Needs Fund. Last year it included 65 horses and riders and raised $9,000.On Saturday by noon, the number of horses entered had already reached last year’s total. By the end of the weekend, 85 horses and riders would compete in a variety of English and Western riding and showing competitions, all of them vying for top horse, top rider and top prize.

But the prize they were after was not a lump of cash, colorful ribbon or flashy saddle. What the top junior and adult riders did win were items that they will most likely treasure long after their winning horses have gone out to celestial pastures.Horse owners often have a strong bond to their horses. And for the past 60 years, Dickerson has made a small business of that bond, though she actually started with photography.

Back in the 1950s, she was in her early 20s and worked at a Milton-Freewater newspaper. On the side, she would photograph horse shows and competitions. She did it the old fashion way with film. She even had her own darkroom. And she relied on a primitive form of correspondence.As word go out, she began getting more requests for oil paintings, though she still photographed shows for a number of years.“And I don’t have a digital (camera) yet,” she said. She has her eye on one; it’s just to pricey.

As for her paintings, over the years Dickerson switched from oils to pastels. The finished product takes her up to 30 hours to complete. Cost is around $150, not including the frame. She also paints dogs and is known for her paintings of local police dogs.Besides her painting career and the 10-year stint with the newspaper, Dickerson said most of her life has been spent as a farmer’s wife.

She and her husband used to grow beets and other crops. They also raised cattle. And she was pretty handy on a horse and used to enter barrel races.

A Professor Emeritus of Speech and Hearing Science at UMass Amherst who retired 11 years ago to paint full time, Mr. Seymour, who is self-taught, works primarily with egg tempera, scratch painting, and pastels. His work depicts scenes of African-American life on-Island and elsewhere. Two of his works hang in the collection at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. He has devoted one corner of his new studio to a display of work representing President Barak Obama and his family.

"One of the reasons I've done so many pieces on them is the magnitude of the achievement," he said. "I keep returning to the theme." A news photo he saw of the Obama family at a food bank inspired "In the Eyes of Children." In it, black schoolchildren hold up a sign reading "We love our Prez!"

"For me, it's a special piece," Mr. Seymour said. "When I was in school, we really didn't have any black figure to look up to. The images in our textbooks were white people. I saw how those little faces were beaming with pride." Another work, "Obama's Little Patriots," represents the kind of coalition that put the President in office. Mr. Seymour chose children to convey a sense of innocence and included many flags because he felt they offer so many different meanings to people. Both of these paintings combine scratch painting with pastels.

"There's probably no one else in the world working in the methods I am," he said. Scratch painting, or sgraffito, entails scratching an image onto Masonite boards covered with white clay and a layer of black ink.

Mr. Seymour's technique entails a sophisticated process. He uses special microscopic medical pins that allow him a precision not possible with conventional tips on scrape pens. Many of his works combine pan and wax pastels with traditional scratchboard materials, and the specialized tools he's developed allow him to create tonal effects not otherwise possible.

"The method evolved out of my allergies," Mr. Seymour explained. "I've always been sensitive to smells. I can't tolerate perfumes or fingernail polish. They affect my nervous system." Oil, acrylic, and watercolor paints affect him the same way. After someone suggested trying egg tempera, he fell in love with the medium, which dominated European art up to the 15th century. "It preceded oil painting," he continued. "The thought that something could last that long intrigued me."

Egg tempura is exactly what it sounds like: a fast-drying medium that is mixed with a binder such as egg yolks. The precision possible with egg tempera also appealed to him, but in keeping with his interest in experimentation, he has worked to create impressionistic effects not usually associated with that medium. Mr. Seymour cut off the tops of his brushes to make a ball, so he could pat on the medium instead of stroking it on, for a less linear effect. In a small image of a dinghy, "Ready to Go," Mr. Seymour used a palette knife, not usually considered possible with egg tempera. By protecting himself with a mask and gloves, Mr. Seymour is able to work in egg tempera, scratch painting, and pastels without developing allergic reactions.

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