East Lansing resident Rosemarie Turke admires the work of Peggy Lovejoy at her gallery’s opening on Sunday at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center located at 819 Abbot Rd. “My retirement period inspired me to begin art lessons on a whim, and I quickly found not only a passion for it, but an easy way to lose myself and cure all kinds of moods and ills of the heart,” Lovejoy said of her art. Mo Hnatiuk/The State News
When Peggy Lovejoy retired after 32 years of working as a litigation paralegal in Indiana, she turned to art to occupy her time.
Since taking up painting in 2000, Lovejoy has looked to provide joy in her work, seen through her extensive use of colors and details.
Lovejoy saw the culmination of her artistic ability come together as her exhibit, Close Observation of Everyday Beauty, opened Sunday at Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road.
“The curator of the gallery just makes it so easy for people who are starting or intermediate, such as I am, to show here,” Lovejoy said. “I just see a color scheme, and I go, ‘Oh, I’ve got to get that down and work with it.’ … That’s sort of my personality.”
After having several exhibits since she started painting, Lovejoy moved to Michigan in 2006 and joined several artist organizations, including the Mid-Michigan Art Guild, the MSU Community Club Art Group and the Great Lakes Pastel Society. Lovejoy’s work consists primarily of pastel and acrylic painting schemes of flowers and other images from her daily life.
The paintings hanging in the gallery are all for sale through the end of June and vary in style and in price. The proceeds from the paintings sold will be divided, with the majority going to Lovejoy and a small cut reserved for the gallery.
Yvette Robinson, director of the East Lansing Public Arts Gallery, started the gallery in 2004 in an effort to provide a place for artists in the area to display their work. Since then, the gallery has expanded to feature a different artist for each month of the year, with the gallery being booked full through 2013.
“Most of the artists are community people,” Robinson said. “(Lovejoy) got together with some other people in her neighborhood, and some of them were artists.
“And they got her involved in taking classes.”
Several people attended the opening ceremony and expressed their gratitude for both Lovejoy’s work and art in general.
Earl Robinson, an East Lansing resident and husband to Yvette Robinson, said attending the opening gave him a chance to support what his wife has spent so much time working toward.
Although Earl Robinson said his interest in art is only casual, he enjoys and appreciates the finer points of Lovejoy’s work.
“(Lovejoy is) very good at details,” he said. “You look at art, and you look at the details. It’s very impressive, the details she used.”
Lovejoy’s paintings will remain on display at the gallery until June 28 before the work of Okemos watercolor artist Barbara Stevens goes up.
Lovejoy said she is grateful for the opportunity to display her work in a community forum, and she hopes to continue to do more painting in the future.
“It’s very gratifying,” Lovejoy said. “I never dreamed when I started doing it that I would be able to show work and have people buy it, which is what has happened.
“It’s been a lot of fun.”
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