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Artist Beverly Hart Branson Discusses Lifelong Love of Art

Beverly Hart Branson sits among many pieces of her artwork. Photo by Len Villano.

Since Beverly Hart Branson was a little girl, she created art. “I just took crayons and typing paper and drew things, real and imaginary,” smiles the artist who now sits amongst a plethora of her completed, framed and matted artwork – watercolors, ink drawings, photographs.

“Dad was a rural mailman,” recalls Branson, who was raised in Greenville, Wisconsin, “he delivered mail six days a week. On Sunday, mom would pack up dad, dog, and Beverly’s art stuff and we would spend the day near Lake Michigan, Lake Winnebago, or the Fox Rivers.”

Her family encouraged her impulse to create, sending her to Lawrence University in Appleton where she took art classes from the late Tom Dietrich. Though she continued to create art, retiring to Door County provided her “more time to paint” and a greater opportunity to hone her skills and show off her work.

Watercolor by Beverly Hart Branson.

“Many people go through life and create in many different ways and don’t have the opportunity to share with others,” says Hart. “There is a good feeling you get from knowing your work is being shown. In Door County, you have that opportunity in many ways in the arts – with an ‘s.’”

Over the years Branson has attended and appreciated the work of many local arts organizations – Third Avenue Playhouse, Birch Creek, American Folklore Theatre (to name a few). “Some people think that when you retire you sit in a chair and knit.” That couldn’t be further from the truth for Branson, who serves (or has served) the following Door County organizations in one capacity or another: Miller Art Museum, Peninsula School of Art, Maritime Museum, Ministry Medical Center, The Hardy Gallery, Door County Art League, and more. “If you can sit on a chair and hold a cup of coffee and a pencil, you can be a part of anything,” she smiles.

Branson has also established her own art gallery in her lakeside home on Glidden Drive, Treetop Studio, which also features the work of Isabelle Beaudoin. “It’s Treebottom Studio now,” she laughs. During the winter months, Branson moves a variety of the artwork from the unheated gallery space to her living room. “It’s a house of art,” she smiles. A watercolor of brilliant spring flowers rests on an armchair, sparse ink drawings of tree branches lay on a tabletop, and a photograph of a birdhouse leans against a piano. Scooter, a fluffy white mixed-breed dog follows Branson closely.

“Good god, it’s busy here!” she smiles, gesturing to artwork inspired by the scenery right outside her window. “Trees are my favorite,” she admits. “Trees have a beauty whether they are old or young; I’ve always loved trees.” As often as possible, Branson paints plein air: “I love experiencing the moods of the season. The weather, the bugs, the leaves that fall on you, the mist – it influences what you do.”

A watercolor and ink piece featuring one of Branson’s favorite subjects, trees.

Though Branson dabbles in a variety of mediums, watercolor and ink remain her favorites. “Transparent watercolor is wrought with danger,” she smiles. “If you do something wrong, it’s there. If you drop a blob of ink – there it is! I love it.”

When she sits down to create, “I don’t start with a plan,” she explains. “I go out until I see something. It’s 360 degrees of beauty to me here. I feel a reverence for those that have been here before – the trees, animals, sand, rainbows, storms – I feel their presence.”

When Peninsula State Park issued a call to artists to paint representations of the park for their 100th anniversary, “I got in the car, opened the door, took out my art survival kit – water, paints, and folding stool – and painted,” recalls Branson.

Though that painting, which is currently on display in Scandia Village’s Meadow Gallery, was created from life, “there is still imagination,” Branson says, adding, “There is a visible and invisible to my work.”

Beverly Hart Branson’s work is currently on display at Meadows Art Gallery, open daily, located just inside the entrance to The Meadows at Scandia Village in Sister Bay.

To view Branson’s artwork at her Treetop Studio near Sturgeon Bay, call 920.743.1737.

Branson’s work will also be on display, May – October, at the Gallery of the Door County Art League in Fish Creek.