Meiser Brings Passion for Preservation to Temple Gallery Exhibit

Church Member Margaret Meiser’s first family vacation was to Hayward, Wisconsin. She remembers the toy shop in the center of the little town in northwestern Wisconsin and the “World’s Largest Muskie”—a 143-foot fiberglass tribute to the fishing town’s most famous game. Most of all, however, she remembers the” mystery and mystique” of the Native American people she encountered there.

Now, nearly 50 years later, she’s back in Hayward, but in her words, “on the other side”. She’s working closely with the Anishinaabe tribe and the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation to help realize the four-year vision of the Women &Water Symposium. It’s mission to “stand up for clean water laws for future life to come” is one near to her heart, and one she’s returned to share with The Chicago Temple in the form of the exhibit “Contemplating Water”, current on display in the Temple Gallery.

As a founding member of the church’s Environmental Justice Ministry, Margaret has been thinking about organizing a Temple event to address some of what she’s learned in her work in Wisconsin and similar efforts in Nebraska and Washington, D.C. Last spring, she spoke with Director of Music & Art Erik Nussbaum and Temple Curator Elsa Tullos about the possibility of putting together an exhibit.

The idea really came to life when she met artist Helen Dannelly at a local rally.

“I saw photos of her beautiful paintings,” says Margaret, “and we we decided to organize something around water and have important questions included as part of the exhibit”.

Working with the Temple’s Fine Arts Committee, Margaret and Helen selected a half-dozen paintings and sculptures reflecting the water concept. These were installed in the Temple Gallery in late July.

Summing up the philosophy behind the exhibit, Margaret says “if we want to live on this planet, we need to work together and preserve our water”.

She says that it’s one part of a bigger picture and that “wealth needs to be seen as the health of our natural resources so we can all live in a healthy way and with the love and respect of all earth and creation.”