Memories of May Francis Heath- A Series

May Heath - Artist

May and Her Art

Photo Taken By Nat Steinberg Several days Before Her Death

Doc Heath did not think much of May's interest in Art. According to great-grandson Bill Bleeker, it was only after he had passed on that she was able to take lessons and start to paint. His cousin Lisa Nash write: " We heard this story from our mother, Bette Barron Diaz. She would say Nanan told her " I loved the idea of painting so much, I was happy to wait for a time when I could enjoy it without interruption." That sounded like Nanan to me --- happy to find a solution that worked for others, but making sure she got what she wanted! "

This is not to say that May was completely idle during the previous years. It's impossible to be disconnected from the arts in a community like Saugatuck. When the Commercial Record of Jul. 24, 1931 announced the opening of "the first art gallery established in the village of Saugatuck", Mrs. D. A. Heath "presided over the punch bowl". May was involved in the Arts Balls of 1934 onward, and was a hostess at receptions for the Cora Bliss Taylor Art School in 1935. In the "Living Art" program of the Student Art Show in 1936, May won Third Prize for her pose as a Godey print.

But her life as a painter did not begin until she was 78 years old. She joined an art class at Lake Worth, Florida, where she had spent the winters for many years. Her diary records her first lesson on Jan. 9, 1951 and that the first study was poinsettias. Once started, she tackled it with a passion. On the 10^th she painted 3 hours in the morning, on the 12^th from 9 to 12, another lesson on the 17^th, paints again the 18^th, 19^th (finished poppy), another lesson the 23^rd (doing red birds and roses), paints more the 25^th, 29^th, the 31st. And on she went---

On her 80th birthday, May 13, 1953, May held a "one man show" of the 27 paintings she had completed over the previous two years. In an article which appeared in the Grand Rapids newspaper, it referred to her as "somewhat of a Grandma Moses of Saugatuck" (an interesting comparison as in her family papers is a letter she wrote to the real "Grandma Moses"- but no reply). She is quoted "Every artist and would-be artist dreams of someday having a one-man show, I've had mine." She greeted 275 guests at the Saugatuck Woman's Club building. May's diary records that "people came from Douglas, Allegan, Muskegon, and Holland, etc. Such a happy crowd."

Mrs. Heath was a realist when it came to art and said "When I paint something I want people to recognize the subject" We have collected copies of several of her works during this memorial project:

Unsigned but Labeled

"First lesson with Lona"

Pansies

Fishing Dock

Heathcote in Snow

Fishing Shack

Woodland Path

Poppies

The Ferry

Thank you to those who have shared photos of their May Heath paintings. If you have or know of the locations of other of her works, please contact Chris Yoder, cyoder@tds.net of call 857-4327.

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