Friends remembered Ada Dawson last week as a matriarch of Annandale art, a prolific painter, a church volunteer and a kind, gentle woman. Dawson died at her home Feb. 28 at age 88. Born in central Iowa where she grew up on a farm, Dawson was inspired by her fourth-grade teacher to take up painting and became a largely self-taught artist as well as a poet and sculptor. She married W.E. "Babe" Dawson and moved to Lake Sylvia where they ran a store and gas station in the 1960s and raised three children. Dawson turned part of the store into an art gallery. She moved to Annandale in the ’70s. "She and Julia (Barkley) are two people that I always think of as matriarchs of the Annandale art scene," said Laura Hood Beckman of Snooty Fox Gallery and Gifts. "Those two ladies were very prominent in promoting artistic venues in our community." Jill Bishop added: "She was an icon in the community and just everyone knew her as an artist. "Like Elwyn (Nordberg) was the photographer, Ada was the artist." Dawson was one of the founding members of the Lake Country Creative Art Group, a number of local artists who got together in the ’70s to show and sell their works on Main Street, in the municipal park and the old library. The shows later evolved into the Heart of the Lakes Arts & Crafts Fair, which was held each August until last year. "I know she absolutely loved to paint," said Mary Barkley Brown, who recalled that her mother, the late Julia Barkley, and Dawson did a lot of painting together. Beckman said Dawson, who worked in oil, acrylic and watercolor, painted a wide range of subjects, but water, landscapes and flowers were typical. "I would describe Ada’s work as very peaceful," she said. A couple of her paintings that hang in the gallery are "very peaceful works – also very beautiful." Dawson did many commissioned paintings over the years, and they’re said to hang in private collections throughout the United States. One of them was for Beckman’s family. "She just did a beautiful job," Beckman said. "I think Ada was really good at that," she said, referring to the process of talking to people and finding out what they wanted. Amish scene Another of her commissioned paintings, an Amish scene, hangs in the living room of Sally Froemming, a 40-year friend of Dawson through Annandale United Methodist Church. Dawson did a lot of research for the piece, she said. "I think she put a lot into that type of thing." Murals painted by Dawson cover the walls of classrooms in the basement of the church, Froemming said. "They are fabulous." She also painted signs for area businesses, and in the ’60s her work could be seen on the sides of trucks, fire engines and buses. "She was a teacher too," Beckman said. "She was a mentor to so many people." Donna Kroeger, a longtime friend and painting student of Dawson, called her a "very talented lady." "She did so many things and she had so many classes that she taught." According to painter Betty Anderson, who knew Dawson since the days of the Lake Sylvia store and taught her in a couple of painting classes years ago, "there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t try." Helpful, patient "She’d help anyone who wanted help and she was very patient." Dawson was active in the Methodist Church until a few years ago, Froemming said. Besides the murals, she made banners for the choir, illustrated the choir book and designed covers for the weekly bulletin. She headed the sewing group, which turned out quilts and bags for the care centers and women’s home in St. Cloud. Beckman, who knew Dawson since childhood, described her as "always a very gentle lady." "She always acknowledged everybody," Beckman said, referring to children, who others might ignore. "The one thing about Ada," Brown said, "is she was one of the kindest people …. just the warmest person." "She was always smiling," Froemming said, "always had a good sense of humor. You never saw her down. She liked being with people."
