Grand Champion?

How Margit became an award-winning painter

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Okay, so it was only the local county fair. But that’s something, isn’t it? Here is the painting that won the top ribbon for “Water Color Painting” at the Houston County Fair (Caledonia MN) in August of 1970.

  • ID: 71-01 “Fall creek trees Grand champ.”
  • Details: 18″ x 24″ / Orig price: $20 / Initial owner: E Kildahl

    Note: In Margit’s records, the painting is listed as the first picture of 1971, likely since that’s when Margit sold it.

Yes, this painting was done in gouache, even if it won the prize in watercolor, because gouache is… close enough.

According to Fair rules, you weren’t allowed to compete in a category after you’ve won the top prize. At least that’s the story. Some in the family say the judges wanted to keep Margit from competing in the future. It’s not known how much she had competed before this. Seeking out awards is not something Margit was known for. And she says elsewhere she’s busier than ever painting, so she probably didn’t “need” the publicity.

Anyway, after her award, similar paintings were often known as “Like Grand Champion”—though Margit never used that term in her records. For example, she sold several more “fall creek trees” later in 1971.

BTW, Margit may have won for her painting’s execution, but that’s not necessarily an award for originality. Check out a painting, done several years earlier, by an artist names Schulz. Margit’s is an almost exact copy.

  • ID: 71-40 “Fall colors stream”
  • Details: 18″ x 24″ / Orig price: $20 / Initial owner: G Bakken
  • Comment: Margit’s name sticks out in this one. Why white when the one before was in black and the one following was yellow?


    Please excuse the reflection of the flash off the frame’s glass. It’s not always possible to remove the painting from its frame to take a picture of it.

  • ID: UNK (maybe 73-12 “Fall scene creek” 20×30)
  • Details: 20″ x 32″ / Orig price: ? / Current owner: J Nowland
  • Comment: Note how the green tree that sticks out in the center left of the earlier painting now blends in with the other yellow trees.

The “civilization” of a stream? The following paintings can be considered in the same style as “fall colors stream” because they contain several important features. Note the similarity of the boulder (which has changed sides) and the white water flowing down the rocky stream. But some new elements appear too.

  • ID: TBD
  • Details: TBD
  • Comment: Here Margit has added a red barn and a farmhouse. Margit’s paintings usually contain some sign of man’s presence in the world (a fence, a road, a building). Only a fraction of her paintings show no evidence of man (so yes, “Grand Champion” is a rarity).

  • ID: 72-15 “Cottage stream evening orange yellow”
  • Details: 18″ x 20″ / Orig price: $20 / 1st owner: A Berg
  • Comment: In the continuing evolution of the stream, the rock has been replaced by what appears to be a small dam. Not only are the red barn and white house still there, even the primary trees retain their previous positions.
  • Does Margit discuss this painting anywhere? How big a deal was it to her? She does talk about taking paintings to the fair as early as 1959. See “Going to the fair“
  • From inspiration to evolution / How inspiration evolves?