January 17, 2001
Painter returns to colorful past after 70 years
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
For almost 70 years, Laura Avery did not put brush to canvas.
Now 93 years old, the Garfield Township resident has picked up a brush again and spends a portion of most days working at a rickety easel set up in her living room.
A prolific painter, during the past two years Avery has filled her assisted living facility with the bright colors of her outdoor scenes. The hallway outside her apartment is dubbed "Laura's Gallery" and features a dozen of her paintings. In addition, each resident's room sports at least one of her works, not to mention the ones she sends home with staff, the handyman or the musician who visits her facility weekly.
"I give paintings to everybody," Avery said. "That's my pleasure, I give something to somebody and they like it, then I like that."
For Avery, rediscovering after so many decades a pastime she began while pregnant with her first son is like coming home. One of 12 children, she had never painted until she was a young, married woman living with her in-laws in southern Illinois in 1928.
Accustomed to the hustle and bustle of a large family, she was lonesome in this quieter setting while her husband and father-in-law toiled in coal mines all day. She found solace in some friendly nuns who sparked her creative passion.
"I went across the street to a Catholic Academy and the nuns there got me started painting," Avery recalled. "I started painting again in the early 30s, painting some things for family, then I gave it up. I was so busy with work and family."
Back in the swing again in her 90s, Avery has a lot of fun painting.
"I like bright colors the best," Avery said. "I did knitting and crocheting for years, but I'm too old for that. Mainly I visit with my family and paint."
Avery wields her bright acrylics to reproduce scenes she finds anywhere: greeting cards, magazines, art books and promotional flyers. Outdoor scenes are her favorite, especially of northern Michigan. When she sees something she fancies, she clips the picture or photo and adds it to her future projects pile.
"I usually pick out a lot of things I see that takes my eye," she said. "I use anything I see that I can paint."
This summer, she plans to venture outdoors to do some painting, something she has never done before. She sees ample opportunity in the country setting surrounding her apartment.
Avery is a fast painter and can complete one of her small scenes in half a day. Given her rate of production, her apartment would be overflowing with her work if she did not give them away. She also sends paintings to members of her large family, which includes three children, 17 grandchildren, 49 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
Avery's Restaurant in Mancelona, which she founded and ran for 18 years, also features a number of her paintings. The restaurant passed from her son to her grandson, who currently runs it.
An inveterate optimist, Avery has been married three times and widowed three times. She met her third husband at 82 and they were married for seven years before he died two years ago. Her family insisted she move back to Michigan from Florida then to be near them.
With the major move and life change, Avery returned to painting to give herself something creative to do.
"If you love something it comes easy," she noted. "I've had a good life."