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1978 PEO coloring book makes a lasting mark on the area
Inspiration can come from anywhere; and in 1978, the inspiration for a coloring book distributed as a fundraiser for the PEO Chapter KK in Nevada came from all around them.
Beverly Denman, Nevada, said that her mother had suggested that Kansas City had a coloring book around that same time, so why couldn't Nevada? The book was popular by all accounts, and included 27 pages of local structures and sights to be colored. Made of heavy paper, with a still heavier cover, the volume also includes brief section of historical information about each of the sketches, current as of publication in 1978.
"A lot of women from out of town sent for the book," the only one of its kind that has been produced by the PEO chapter, said Dodi Chew.
Denman pointed to names on the first page, where artists and others are credited with the work -- some of them well-known local artists. "Nancy Denman, that's my daughter. Then this one, of course (Pam Chew Duckwall) is Dodi's (Chew) daughter."
Sketches were by Dodi Chew, Nancy Denman, Pam Chew Duckwall, Terry Patterson and Susan Vickers. Harry Chew -- decease some 30 years, now is credited with the cover design and Betty Sterett is credited with historical design. Guy Krause and Kendall Vickers worked on the project as consultants, and Bill Pugh was the typist.
Later, the coloring book was the inspiration for yet another project, an embroidered quilt created by the United Methodist Women that now hangs in the Vernon County Arts Council's gallery -- fittingly, located on the lower level of the Carnegie Building, one of the structures featured in the coloring book. The quilt project used a dozen drawings, several of which were from the book.
"They didn't use all of the designs for the quilt," said Dodi Chew, who recalled that artists had simply chosen some of the historical structures around the city to sketch -- more than could be included in one quilt project, and only some of the designs featured on the quilt were from the book.
Other drawings featured on that quilt were by Gwen Dryer, Mary Ann Lovekamp, O.T. Simmons and Jason Testman.
The United Methodist Women have produced other quilts as well, some featuring additional historical structures and themes.
"That one was last year's," Chew said.
The 1978 effort was the only such coloring book the PEO chapter has produced; but, Beverly Denman said, reflectively, "Maybe we could do another one."