Mary E. J. Colter, Lecturer in the Arts

Before she became a decorator and architect, Mary E. J. Colter (1869 – 1958) taught art, created art, and gave lectures for the Civic League, New Century Club, National League for Civic Improvement, and other organizations.

Women’s clubs such as the New Century Club, where Colter was a member, provided women—at least, middle- and upper-class women—with an opportunity to find their voices. Whether in the discussions following talks by outside lecturers or by researching and presenting their own papers at club meetings, members gained valuable public speaking practice. Their skills and confidence opened doors for themselves and other women.

Judging by newspaper reports and other publications, Colter’s public speaking career in St. Paul peaked between 1900 and 1907. Her lectures were almost always related to art or art education, and she sometimes illustrated her talks with pottery and baskets made by Native American and Japanese artisans. For her 1901 talk “Color in Our City Streets,” she decorated the walls of the room with posters like those found on billboards. “It’s better to have a good poster advertise a bad article than a good article advertised by a bad poster,” Colter is reported to have said.

In a 1904 speech about industrial or manual arts education, the St. Paul Globe paraphrased Colter as saying “[T]here is a higher art than the making of pictures—the art of making everything that one comes in contact with beautiful.” The Minneapolis Journal reported Colter saying, “Art is economy. It is economy of decoration and the putting aside of unnecessary things. Necessity is the greatest teacher of art sense.” These comments reflect her engagement in the Arts and Crafts movement.

Colter would later exhibit utility, economy, and beauty in her decorating and building design work. She also demonstrated it in her appreciation for baskets, pottery, jewelry, buildings, and other objects made by different Indigenous peoples.

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Hopi House retail store, c. 1905 (Grand Canyon Museum Collection 11426)