VILONIA — Marvin “Marv” Crummer began drawing as a child and has never stopped.
“I’m still drawing,” said the 90-year-old artist, who lives in Vilonia with his wife, Janice “Jan” Crummer, who is also an artist.
“I try to draw every day. I’m still creating problems,” he said, laughing, as he looked at his wife of 46 years. Jan Crummer just smiled and nodded her head.
“For me, art is an itch that has to be scratched,” Marv Crummer said. “I like telling a story through my art.”
The Crummers met recently at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Conway with members of the church’s art ministry. The art ministry, coordinated by Marilyn Rishkofski, will host a retrospective exhibit of Marv Crummer’s artwork at The Gallery at St. Peter’s through April 26. An artist’s reception, which is free and open to the public, is planned from 2-4 p.m. March 24 at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 925 Mitchell St. Rishkofski, who recently received docent training at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, will serve as docent for the exhibit. The Crummers will attend the opening reception, along with family and friends.
Marv Crummer was born and raised in Southern California.
“I spent the first 50 years of my life there,” he said. “I started drawing cartoons in about third grade. I read a book on how to draw cartoons, how to show expressions on their faces. I did that for a while.
“One day my grandmother and mother said they wanted to make a quilt for me,” he said. “I said ‘OK, but no girls or flowers on the quilt.’ They said, ‘OK, you design it.’
“We had been making puppets in school, so I used scrap paper and drew a bunch of puppets,” he said. “They were all male figures … pirates, tramps. … I still have that quilt and some of the original drawings. I had enough drawings for them to use as patterns for two quilts, but only one got made.”
Some of the original quilt blocks, as well as some of the original drawings, are on display in the exhibit, Drawing, Painting and Contemplating With Marv Crummer: An Artist’s Journey Through the Decades.
The quilt itself will be on display at the opening reception.
“I kept drawing through high school,” Crummer said. “I sold my first piece to Outdoor World magazine when I was 15 and a junior in high school. It was of a mountain climber holding a walkie-talkie. This was during World War II. It sold for $10.”
Crummer said he graduated from high school when he was 16 and went to art school. He studied at the Otis Art Institute and the Chouinard Art Institute, both in Los Angeles. During this time, he worked as a freelance cartoonist and was a contributing artist to his hometown newspaper, the San Clemente Sun.
Over the years, his interest in art turned from cartooning to painting landscapes and seascapes, frequently on-site. He said his favorite subject matter is water, which reflects the years he spent on Southern California beaches, including seven years as a lifeguard in San Clemente.
Crummer put away his paints for several years and turned his attention to pursuing a career with FMC (now John Deere), first in California, then in Arkansas. The Crummers moved to Arkansas in 1983, when he was transferred as an engineer with FMC. He returned to his art after retiring from his 30-year career with FMC in 1993.
Crummer’s art can be found in private collections throughout the United States. He has shown his work in many one-man shows and has won awards for his artwork, including Best in Show at the 2006 Tri-County art competition in Conway. He is a member of the Arkansas Artists Registry and is a past president of the Conway League of Artists.
Rishkofski, who served as co-president of the Conway League of Artists from 2016 to 2018, said the Crummer exhibit
is the first planned by the art ministry at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.
“We hope to have four a year,” she said. “Over the past few months, local artists have also been invited to display their art in the church lobby and parish hall. And many local artists have been featured at our annual Art Pray Love event to help fund a medical mission to Guatemala.
“Other opportunities have been offered to local artists as well,” said Rishkofski, owner of Art Experience Inc. Art and Framing Gallery and coordinator of Art Pray Love in 2019. “Future plans include an Art in Bloom competition, where florists will interpret paintings through floral arrangements. We are also planning an edible food sculpture event and a miniature art show, in which the art must be painted into a postage-stamp-size frame.
“We offer art classes, as well, at St. Peter’s,” she said.
“This is all an attempt to show the relationship between spirituality and art,” she said. “Art feeds the spirit … not only for the artist, but for the viewer. We believe St. Peter’s is a place where art and faith can meet and be shared.”
In explaining the goal of St. Peter’s art ministry, Rishkofski shares this quote by Kenyon Adams, a singer, songwriter, actor and professional artist, who, she said, is an advocate for artists who connect their artwork with their faith: “Art creates a space where one can encounter God … which opens a door to transformation.” She also shares this quote by Michelangelo: “Lord, make me see your glory in every place.”
Other church members who support the art ministry include Chris Odom and Carolyn Scott, members of the church vestry. The Rev. Greg Warren is the priest-in-charge at St. Peter’s and serves as an adviser to the art ministry.
Odom, senior warden of the church vestry, said the art ministry “is just another way the church is trying to connect with the community.”
Rishkofski calls Odom and Scott “faithful friends.”
“Chris, as head of the vestry, and Carolyn, as a vestry member, support the art ministry by word and deed,” Rishkofski said. “Chris hangs art and handles the ministry finances, and Carolyn takes care of hospitality for events, … and both do so much more that is not in the job description for the vestry.”
For more information on St. Peter’s art ministry and the upcoming artist’s reception, contact Rishkofski at (603) 918-9237 or marilyn@artexperienceinc.com.