Minerva!: The Story of an Artist with a Mission By Elaine Cannon Bookcraft, 1997. 156 pages. ISBN: 1-57008-377-0 Suggested retail price: $19.95 (US) Audience: Mormon women (or Mormon artists of either gender)
Reviewed by: Jana Bouck Remy

The preface of Minerva! states that Minerva Bernetta Kohlepp Teichert was the "epitome of 'truth is stranger than fiction', with Minerva as the eye of the storm and the brightest sunbeam on a clear day" (p. xi). The amazing and interesting stories of Teichert's life are the highlight of this biographical book.

Cannon writes this book as a first person narrative. The book jacket explains that this style gives the reader the feeling that Minerva is "telling the story herself". The preface includes a statement from Robert Teichert (Minerva's son), claiming that reading this book made him feel that his mother was speaking to him again (p. xiv). I found the first-person style uncomfortable. Perhaps Cannon used this point-of-view to increase the entertainment value of the book, but to me it felt forced and unnatural.

Each chapter begins with a small photo of Minerva, and a few lines copied from her journal in her own handwriting. While I liked this effect, I wished that there were more of Minerva's own words in the text. The chapter titles were a little unusual, as they each completed a sentence fragment from the previous chapter. For example, chapter one ("I Sing My Song") ends with, "I am restless now, knowing the end from the beginning. In the beginning there was . . .", then the sentence continues when the reader turns the page to the next chapter title, "The Paint Box". While this is a clever way to transition from chapter to chapter, I didn't like the way it left each section of the book unfinished.

However, the above-mentioned issues of textual awkwardness didn't diminish the pleasure of reading this book. The remarkable, "larger-than-life" stories of Minerva Teichert are completely fascinating. It's a remarkable thing, I think, in LDS women's culture to find someone with so much enthusiasm and love for life.

In chapter Two, we learn about Minerva's fascination with the color red. As a young child, she and her sister were getting their picture taken when Minerva threw a fit of jealousy over her sister's necklace. The photographer, in an effort to calm Minerva, allowed her to wear a string of red glass beads from his prop box. Minerva's analysis of the incident follows:

The function of photography, according to the experts, is to correctly reproduce on film the differences in tone and brightness of the subject matter. Shades of black and white or color produce an end result intended to give the observer the same impression as actually looking at the original subject would give. But over the years, I have learned that art is master. In art, I could have painted in those beads or painted them off to tell the story I wanted to tell -- that makes the difference to me. Anyway, "The Picture" incident was a life-determining moment. Ever after I wanted to be fixed up, not because I was so adorable in the photograph -- it was laughable, actually -- but because of how I felt, adorned with just a touch of elegance. Further, I decided that my paintings would be things of beauty. Even harsh stories would be illustrated with soft shades. Always there would be just a touch of red" (pp.13-14).

Minerva's life passions included family history and the scriptures. She writes of her love for genealogy:

All of these people, all through the centuries, falling in love, getting married, sticking it out and rearing their families right on down to Herman and me bringing our lines together -- it is impressive! My parents were dreamers. They were congenital, rooted in marriage covenants. I am the fruit of my family tree, and as my twig was bent so I went. What characters we all are! How colorful is my family canvas! The palette of my ancestors includes all the shades of the human race, some were special and served God, and some of them did not. I have learned a lot from my research. It has broadened my imagination about the variety of the human race, and I have tried to give this to the people in my murals (pp. 35-36).

Included in this book are eight full-color reproductions of Minerva's paintings. There are also numerous photographs -- almost one on every page -- that illustrate her life history. One of my favorite pictures is Minerva dressed as a Native American dancer. To fund her art studies, she often dressed as an "Indian" and performed rope tricks and rain dances. It was after this experience that she began wearing a headband "low on my forehead, knotted in the back, Indian- style" (p. 43).

Minerva! is a book that I recommend to all LDS women (even teens). I believe that there are too few female role models in our church, and Minerva gives a great example of someone who achieves balance between her dreams and her responsibilities as a mother and Saint. Her life's values -- her family, her faith, and her art, are those that we can all strive to emulate.

Jana Bouck Remy