Kathleen's sister Mary Lou (left) and her stepdaughter Deb are back on the road again after an unexpected three-day layover in Pierre, South Dakota. The pair, along with a friend of Deb's, were motoring back home to Colorado and New Mexico by way of the Black Hills when a balky Toyota Prius refused to go further than Chamberlain, So Dak.
A tow to Pierre resulted in a long wait for the proper part to arrive in this isolated state capital on the Great Plains.The trio made the best of it, however, and did some sight-seeing and visited the capitol building. Deb's grandfather (Mary Lou's father-in-law Edward Brewer) is a famous artist (see note below) so they checked around there and at a nearby museum. Sure enough, they discovered three Brewer paintings: portraits of a governor and two supreme court justices.
Mary Lou said it was all a delightful experience and now the weather is gorgeous and the three have continued on. Pray for the Prius.
EDWARD BREWER of St. Paul was Minnesota's answer to famed illustrator Norman Rockwell. From 1911 until 1926 Brewer created the enormously popular full page Cream of Wheat advertisements that appeared monthly in dozens of national magazines. The folksy ads for the Minneapolis company have become collector's items. And Brewer's reputation as an illustrator has been given a fresh coat of polish. The son of one of this country's finest portrait painters (and the father of a talented portraitist), Edward Brewer was also a gifted muralist and portrait painter. His paintings of business, academic, and political leaders in Minnesota are included in numerous public and private collections. Several other examples of his work — portraits of governors and one of Abraham Lincoln — are in the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.
