| In researching and writing the artist’s biography, Mac Schweitzer: A Southwest Maverick and Her Art, Ann Hedlund rediscovered a legacy full of intriguing stories, successful shows and honors, and diverse work, much of which the public had never seen. In this richly illustrated talk, Ann will draw from the artist’s letters, photo albums, and published reviews to tell the story of Mac’s creative and adventurous life in the Southwest, along with some of the Tucson anthropologists and artists she knew from the 1940s into the early 1960s. Summary of the talk: Artist Mac (Mary Alice Cox) Schweitzer (1921-1962) was well known in the Tucson and Scottsdale art colonies of the mid-twentieth century. Mac’s close friends, mentors and patrons– many of whom were associated with the University of Arizona and anthropology or art–included Tom Bahti, David and Barbara Breternitz, Alice Carpenter, Ed and Marianne Dozier, Maurice Grossman, Emil Haury, Fred and Alice Kabotie, Lex and Jane Lindsay, Charles and Otellie Loloma, Charles Di Peso, Ned and Ros Spicer, and Joe Ben Wheat. Mac’s prize-winning watercolors, oil paintings, prints, and sculptures ranged from naturalistic and stylized studies of Sonoran Desert animals to impressionistic landscapes to moody abstractions. A keen observer of Indigenous life, she sketched and painted scenes of the Navajo (Diné), Hopi, Zuni, O’odham, and Yaqui (Yoeme) peoples and events. She depicted Ancestral Puebloan sites at Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, and Navajo National Monument, and illustrated several books. At least one archaeological monograph contains many humorous as well as informative vignettes. Thanks to the Arizona Archaeological & Historical Society And to Eric Klucas, Sebastian Chamorro, Rich Lange, Mattie Tigges, Bill Gillespie and to all others who make these talks possible. |