Exhibition represents lifetime of work by acclaimed artist

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — For almost as long as she can remember, Grosse Pointe Farms resident Carol LaChiusa has been making art. And for someone who’ll celebrate her 95th birthday this week, that’s more than eight decades.

“Carol LaChiusa: A Journey in Art” is now on display in the Grosse Pointe Congregational Church Arts Ministry Gallery and includes works by the artist from age 15 to only months ago. A public reception with the artist will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Aug. 7. Light refreshments will be served and there will be jazz performed by the Matthew Daher Trio.

On view through Sept. 7, “A Journey in Art” features about 28 works. While LaChiusa doesn’t have samples from every painting series she’s done — most have been sold — she does have broad representation of her work over the years. That include pieces she created while she did a watercolor workshop demonstration program for The War Memorial’s now-defunct Grosse Pointe cable channel from 1987 until 2001 — work that introduced many in the community to the artist.

“Carol is an inspiration to all of us — that creativity, artistic ability can be carried on well into your 90s,” said Lori Zurvalec, of Grosse Pointe City, chair of the Grosse Pointe Congregational Church Arts Ministry.

Zurvalec said LaChiusa brought work to a recent session of the Pointe Studio Ten art critique group to which both belong.

“Those pieces blew us all away,” Zurvalec said of the gorgeous landscapes, which are part of “A Journey in Art.” “They’re exquisite. They’re quintessential watercolors.”

Growing up in the Cleveland area, LaChiusa was drawn to art as a child. When she was 9, her beloved aunt, Pauline, enrolled her in an art program at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

At age 8, LaChiusa said she was reading a book about a group of children who ascend a hill to watch a painter work. One of the boys in the story asked the painter why he moved a tree, and the painter said that if you’re an artist, you can move trees.

“That’s when I decided I wanted to be an artist,” LaChiusa said. “I’ve been moving trees ever since.”

For her 10th birthday, her aunt gave LaChiusa a set of oil paints and took her to a pops concert at the symphony. It was a thrilling experience for the aspiring artist, who remembers seeing the attendees dressed elegantly, with the men in tuxedoes. Pauline “supported me all my life,” LaChiusa said, even offering to pay for her college art school tuition if her father wouldn’t.

Among the early works in the show is a nude LaChiusa did at 18, for which she won an award from the Cleveland School of Art.

“I had put all of my nudes on the floor of the living room because I was proud of them and I had won awards (for them),” she recalled. “My dad came in and said, ‘Get this crap out of here.’”

To her father, nudes “were pornographic,” LaChiusa said.

Another early work, “Down by the Tracks,” dates to 1947, when LaChiusa was 17. It’s the National Scholastic Art Exhibit entry that got her into the Cleveland School of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she majored in sculpture and met her first husband, Sy LaChiusa, an abstract artist.

“I was so excited,” LaChiusa said after getting her college acceptance and scholarship letter. “I told my dad I got accepted at the Cleveland School of Art. He was furious. He wanted me to go to Ohio State and become a mathematician or (go into) business. (But) I hated math.”

Instead, LaChiusa found success in her true calling. While she continued to paint while raising her four children, her art career began to soar in the 1980s as she started to show her work, landing her first solo show in 1983 at the Carriage House Club in Detroit.

She’s won many awards along the way, including the especially prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award she received in June 2023 from the Michigan Water Color Society.

LaChiusa said she likes to meditate before she paints.

“I need quiet time and inspiration,” she said.

Her strong Christian faith is also crucial to her work, saying that she needs to feel God’s spirit in the morning to work.

LaChiusa prefers big brushes to smaller ones, adding fine details at the end.

“I don’t work from photos,” LaChiusa said. “I like to work from sketchbooks. Since most of the work is landscapes … my sketchbooks come in handy. They remind me of what I saw.”

She also continues to paint on the scene, in plein air.

LaChiusa’s methods of painting have evolved over time. She said she used to sketch out the painting in pencil first, but not anymore.

“Lately, I don’t do any prep — I just start with the paint,” LaChiusa said.

She doesn’t use white paint — any spaces that need to be white are bare canvas — and she doesn’t use black paint, creating her own dark shades where black is needed by mixing other colors together.

“Black paint is dull,” LaChiusa said. “It kills the painting.”

She also doesn’t use green paint, making her own greens by combining blues and yellows.

Ruth Harvey, of Grosse Pointe Park, now a member of Pointe Studio Ten, is one of LaChiusa’s former students. After Harvey retired, she started studying painting with LaChiusa in 2014, after not having painted since high school.

“She shares her knowledge with people,” Harvey said. “That’s what makes her such a great teacher. Nobody teaches like her.”

While LaChiusa stopped teaching in 2019, she continues to do plein air painting sessions and attend workshops with fellow artists, many of them her former students. Harvey said she and LaChiusa went to Hastings, Michigan, in April for a plein air workshop, and the other artists — including the instructors — “were just in awe” of LaChiusa.

“She’s very emotional and free with her painting,” Harvey said. “I think they (had) never seen anything like her. She’s still got it.”

Like Harvey, many of LaChiusa’s former students are now close friends.

“She’s just an amazing person,” Harvey said. “She is kind, respectful, a loyal friend. … She’s my idol. And she’s just a dear.”

LaChiusa’s work radiates beauty and peace. She hopes people who come to the exhibit emerge refreshed.

“I want them to feel joy,” LaChiusa said. “I have never done any painting … that makes a political point (or) statement. I want people to feel like they’ve been in the place I’ve been.”

Zurvalec said LaChiusa’s work is inspiring and uplifting — like the artist herself.

“This is an important exhibition,” said Zurvalec, calling LaChiusa a “light in the darkness” as the world goes through turbulent times. “That vibrancy, that vitality is absolutely worth celebrating.”

Grosse Pointe Congregational Church is located at 240 Chalfonte Ave. in Grosse Pointe Farms. Besides the opening reception, the gallery is open to the public on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., or by appointment. For an appointment or more information, call the church at (313) 884-3075.