Anita Meyland, probably during the 1949 Marquette Centennial celebration. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

Although other people called her “the grande dame of culture” in Marquette, along with “patroness of the arts” and even “bohemian,” the words she most often used to describe herself were “teacher” and “dilettante.”

Anita Elke Meyland, born on March 5, 1897, grew up in an artistic family in Milwaukee. Her father, Fredrick Elke, learned how to paint frescoes on wet plaster, just like Michelangelo, and his work decorated many churches in Milwaukee. She loved art class when she was in school. She also loved her annual class trips to the Milwaukee public museum and art gallery.

Anita graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1917 and became an art teacher in Milwaukee. In 1924 she married Gunther Meyland, an English teacher, and they moved to Marquette where he had been hired by the normal school (now NMU). Their honeymoon car had a “Cloverland” pennant on it, representing the Upper Peninsula.

Anita loved to teach. She taught in the Marquette and Ishpeming schools. She brought a group of women painters together who met every week for eleven years, studying a new painter each week and then learning to paint in that style. She created a children’s program called “The Paintbox,” held on Saturday mornings for any child who wanted to come and paint. She taught adult education art classes for the Marquette school system and worked with elderly artists at Pineridge.

This oil on board painting, “Dish Pan,” is from 1954. It is a direct study, painted from life, not memory. Referencing the work of Paul Gaugin and other French classical painters, it is a very “art class” style of work.

She’s most famous for organizing and naming Marquette’s first “Art on the Rocks” show in 1950, showing the work of ten local artists, most of whom she had trained. There were people who thought the name “Art on the Rocks” was inappropriate because it suggested drinking. Anita’s work with the Marquette Arts Council in general and the Art on the Rocks show in particular earned her countless awards.

She learned to weave and organized an Upper Peninsula weavers’ group. She wrote a play for Marquette’s Centennial in 1949, and taught craft classes in scrimshaw, quilting, spinning, pewter, ironwork, beading, candle making, decoupage, and woodcarving. She was a charter member of the Marquette Community Concert Association and was active in the Saturday Music Club. She studied pottery, and 200 pots from her own collection formed the basis of a pottery exhibit at NMU in 1980. She worked on the 1984 U.P. Young Authors conference, planning a theme based on cats–ranging from T.S. Elliott to Garfield.

The scrapbooks from the early years of the Lake Superior Art Association include a 1963 invitation to “Vida’s Vignettes–An Evening with Vida Lautner, Artist.” The Tuesday evening event at the Meylands’ home began with a reception at 8:30, followed by a talk at 9, “art and punch on the rocks” at 10:30, “the vernissage” at 11 p.m., and then at 3 a.m. “Comes the Dawn.”

Anita kept going right up until her death on March 7, 1995, just two days after her 98th birthday. By that time, she had survived not only her husband, who died in 1966, by almost thirty years, but also their only child, Charlotte Meyland Hess, who died in 1982. She was survived by Charlotte’s three children.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that the person who summarized Anita Meyland’s life best was Blaine Betts, who always has such a way with words. He described her as a woman “who made things happen.” She did indeed.

Join the Marquette Regional History Center and Lake Superior Art Association in celebrating the arts in Marquette County on Wednesday, May 13, from 6-8 p.m. At 75 years old, LSAA will showcase the people and artwork that started it all. View slides from the past seven decades. Enjoy refreshments and memories. Free, donations appreciated. Special pieces will be on display May 11-14 from the museum collection, highlighting the works of those who contributed to the LSAA’s roots, including Anita. For more info visit marquettehistory.org or call 906-226-3571.