28 Nebraskaland • June 2024
y joke is that if you paint a
leaf too big or a petal too big,
nobody really notices. But if
you get the nose too big on a dog or
the beak too big on a chicken, people
notice," said Peg Pelter of Lincoln,
explaining the diff erence between
painting traditional subjects such
as fl orals and fruit to animals. Some
of her most recent work highlights
Nebraska wildlife.
In fall 2022, Pelter began painting a
series of plates that would be unveiled
at The Landing retirement community
center in south Lincoln. The porcelain
painter produced a total of 39 pieces
for her exhibit: 16 plates of native
wildfl owers; six pheasants; nine black-
footed ferrets, a Nebraska endangered
species; six meadowlarks, our state
bird; and a couple of landscapes.
She called the collection "Nebraska
Treasure."
Painting History
Past visitors at Arbor Lodge State
Historical Park and Arboretum near
Nebraska City might've caught the
artist at work in the Morton Mansion.
During living history weekends fall
2022 and spring 2023, they might've
spotted Pelter working on pieces for
her "Nebraska Treasure" exhibit. She
paints in the sunroom where the light
is best and has been doing so for about
12 years. Pelter's presence is a tie-in
to the mansion's history — Caroline
Joy Morton, wife of J. Sterling Morton,
was a porcelain painter, as were many
upper-middle class women in the
1890s to 1920s.
China painting came to the United
Wildlife
Porcelain
Painter
Story and photos by Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley
'M
Pigments that Peg Pelter of Lincoln uses to paint on porcelain. She describes
porcelain painting like "painting on glass."
