Local Artist's Work On Display At Ulysses Historic Adobe Museum

Managing Editor/Publisher

French visual artist Henri Matisse once said, "creativity takes courage." But for one local resident and her sister, it took having a mother who was, as they say, "very creative."

"Our mother was very eclectic and a creative person," explained one of the sisters, Judy Scott, Ulysses. "She would put things together from the time we can remember. We were always looking for ways to make things more interesting or pretty. To make do with things we had for something we needed. I wasn't exposed to more formal art until I went to college."

When she first went to college, Scott said her plans were to work in the field of psychology and sociology perhaps becoming a guidance counselor.

"I switched to an art major," Scott said. "My original plans were to become an elementary teacher. If you had art in your resume you had a better chance at that time of getting a job. So, I took art/music and switched it to my major."

After college, Scott secured a position in Ulysses.

"I became a high school art teacher and did that for 40 years and very happily so," she said. "I always figured I could do any counseling I wanted too, through my art class. It was a really good segue for me."

Scott wasn't the only one to pursue art. Her sister, Amy Pilger, did that as well.

"We were never exposed to formal art as young people," Scott reiterated. "It just wasn't in our realm of things. We didn't have art museums or galleries close by and my parents weren't involved in that, so we didn't have any exposure other than the big names Picasso and Michelangelo until we went to college."

The sisters, who were only a couple of years apart in school, both decided to attend Western State College in Gunnison, Colo.

Both girls initially put art down as their minor and both ultimately changed it to their major.

"At Gunnison the instructors in the art department were very interested and we just both went that direction," Scott said. "We are only like two years apart in school, so we are almost interchangeable. Amy tried elementary art for a couple of years on a military base, but she decided she could use her creativity in a much better place than a classroom."

That is where the sisters took paths that were just a bit different. Scott continued with education in the classroom for four decades. Pilger went on to work as an interior designer and ultimately began to show her artwork.

"She started painting for exhibition years before I did," Scott said. "Amy started that around the year 2000 and I started around 2010."

In 2023, the sisters began working on their first exhibit together.

"Amy came and stayed with me for two weeks and created her half of the show," Scott said. "It was amazing. She just worked constantly and I was her gopher for awhile for when she needed something. I worked on my part the next six months. Our first opening was in April of 2024 at a Garden City art gallery."

After Garden City, the sisters' exhibit went to Greensburg, the Stauth Museum in Montezuma, Baker Arts in Liberal, Garden City Community College, and a gallery in Hutchinson.  The larger pieces in the exhibit were 30x40 and some of the smaller ones were 6x6, so, "some things went faster to create than others", according to Scott, who said the two of them help each other with their pieces.

"We feed off of each other," she said. "We send each other photos and ask, 'what do you think?' We interact almost weekly in that way for the last five years."

What does Scott get out of working with art?

"Personally it's the enjoyment of seeing if I can do what I preached for all of those years (while teaching)," she said. "My first completion that I felt was quality enough that I could display it publicly was for the 2005 all school art reunion."

The all-school reunion takes place every five years, according to Scott.

"I retired from teaching in 2003, and  the 2005 all school reunion was coming up," she said. "I said, 'hey I would like to do an art alumni reunion show along with that.' (Reunion organizers) okay-ed that and the gallery on Main Street (MainARTery) had enough space at the time for us."

Scott said she personally contacted somewhere between 85 to 100 of her former students about the reunion show.

"I contacted my former students by old fashioned snail mail and 40 some of them brought current work," she said. "It was a big success. I had a couple of them that graduated in the 1940s - a long time before my time - who were still in town and they brought some pieces. It's been wonderful."

The all-school reunion is set to happen again in May.

"This will probably be the last time we will do (an art show for it)," Scott said. "We had one in 2010 and it was successful. We couldn't have one during Covid. This will probably be the last one we will do."

So far, Scott said she has had good response from those who want to participate this year.

"I have had a good number of alumni who will  be bringing work done within the last 10 years," she said.

This year's reunion will take place during Memorial Day weekend and the art show reunion will be displayed at the Historic Adobe Museum.

"I will be there to visit with all the alumni on Saturday of that weekend," Scott said.

As for her former students, Scott said she hopes they have taken something away from her teaching.

"I hope former students got an appreciation and enjoyment out of it even if they didn't continue themselves in art," she said. "That was the main goal - to develop an appreciation and enjoyment of art no matter who did it or what type or style it was. It's the most enjoyable way to spend my time."

Scott said her inspiration is taken mostly from landscapes.

"When I see something I take lots and lots of photographs first," she said. "When I used to tell my husband I wanted to study clouds in more depth, we would be driving along and he would stop and say look at that - get a photograph. I have been encouraged a long the way by many people and given the opportunity and space for my art."

Scott said the pieces she will do in the future will most likely be smaller.

"Because I can no longer handle big pieces," she said adding that since she is 83, she figures she has 10 more years to work with her art.

Her pieces are for sale, she said, "If anyone is willing to buy it,"

"But I don't work for that purpose," she said. "I don't advertise and I don't belong to a gallery or a broker. I won't do that. I am doing this for my own pleasure."

Scott is proud of her students she has had over the years.

"I have professional level artists and nationally recognized art teachers," she said. "I am very proud of those who not only do it for their own enjoyment, but who have gone on and had careers in either art education or professional art. One is a nationally professional grade pastel artist. There is a painter, a photographer an art teacher.... I am proud of the ones in Ulysses who are just doing it for themselves."

Scott said there is a great deal of local people who are still doing creative things and she hopes they will participate in the reunion show.

"We do have a young woman coming from Redwood, Calif., as well," she added. My whole purpose of doing this is I want to see people. I want people to come by and say hi."

Many may have already seen some of Scott's work especially if they have attended a musical at Ulysses High School.

"Along the way I have helped create backdrops for 35 musicals put on by Ulysses High School," she said. "Those pieces are 30 foot by 15 foot, which is one of the reasons I tend to work a large piece. I always say my arm doesn't know how to make small movements. Many of these alumni students helped with those."

Scott said her art pieces can vary in how long it takes her to complete them.

"I might work on the same painting for a month or two," she said. "Once in awhile it's within a week but not very often."

Scott said there is just "something about" artists.

"There is something special about them," she said. "If you are in the art field you have to be welcoming to everyone and that is part of the fun of it."

Scott's art is on display at the Historic Adobe Museum from March 6-25. She will be at the museum all day today from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.