Celebration of Fine Art

If you have had the opportunity to visit the Celebration of Fine Art, you’ve undoubtedly seen the work of Marty Le Messurier. Marty, one of our “original” celebration artists, has been participating in Celebration since it’s inception in 1991.

Marty Le Messurier has a master of realism. Attention to detail, and the use of color and light are a signature of her work. A limited palette of blues, reds and yellows, along with a glazing technique of thin washes of one color over another, enables Marty to produce paintings which seem to glow and change colors with different lighting conditions. She is often asked if the beadwork, in her paintings, is real beads. It is, in fact, a build up of layers of paint to achieve the realism she desires. Although many of Marty’s paintings are of Native American artifacts, she also enjoys painting an old gate, a Spanish Mission or an English cottage from her travels here and abroad.

“Historical accuracy of the subjects in my work is important to me. Whether I am painting an Apache basket, children’s moccasins, a chief’s war shirt, or even an old adobe hacienda, I want the viewer moved to appreciate the historical significance of the subject depicted.”

Marty often paints on the furniture created by her husband, Don Le Messurier. His furniture is made from hand selected knotty alder wood and made the old fashioned way with mortise and tenon joints, therefore, without using nails.