Artist To The End Kary Peters, Former Director Of Spokane’s Corbin Art Center, Retains Spirit Despite Cancer Fight

Dressed in a flannel nightgown, Kary Peters sits in her South Hill apartment, her legs restlessly fidgeting under a thin afghan. She has a perfect view from across the room of snow falling steadily past her sliding-glass door.

And clearly the wintry landscape makes for a pretty picture, not unlike something that Peters herself might once have portrayed with watercolors.

In fact, the view seems like a perfect complement to the two paintings of her own that now hang on separate walls near Peters’ armchair. One is of flowers, the other of a doorway to what might be a country home.

But Peters, 59, isn’t likely to paint this snow-covered scene. At this point in her life, it is an effort merely for her to cradle a cup. And even then she drinks from it with the aid of a straw.

No, Peters isn’t likely to paint anymore because she is fighting pancreatic cancer. Doctors have given her just a few months to live.

And she misses her art as she would the very air she breathes.

“Basically, it was my life,” Peters says.

It isn’t always easy for her to talk these days. Her voice frequently dips into a husky whisper, and long moments often stretch between one thought and the next.

“When I got back into it on a full-time basis it was..” (she pauses for several seconds) “…besides my husband and my family, it was everything to me.”

Imagine what that means: Everything.

And then imagine losing it.

We all do, eventually. Sooner or later, death is inevitable. But if we’ve managed to make a difference in life, to have had a positive effect on others, there’s always a chance that what we’ve accomplished will be acknowledged.

That kind of recognition is at hand for Peters. A retrospective of her work, represented by some 26 paintings, is on display at Colburn’s Gallery, 203 W. Riverside, through March 30.

A special opening is planned for 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, and Peters plans to attend.

“I’m sure going to be there,” she says. “I’ve built so many friends… If I can sit down, I’ll be OK.”

The exhibit is curated by two of Peters’ longtime friends and fellow artists, J. Vivian Pendell and Emma Randolph.

Randolph, who says she is “70ish,” met Peters some 15 years ago during Peters’ 13-year tenure (1979-91) as director of the Corbin Art Center.

A noted watercolor artist herself, who is represented by Colburn’s as well as galleries in Sandpoint, Missoula and Salt Lake, Randolph had just moved to Spokane from Bermuda. She saw the center as a way to readapt her talents to the Northwest, and Peters provided the key.

“I went and signed up for a class,” she says, “and we’ve been friends ever since.”

Pendell, 80, was one of Peters’ first teachers some three decades ago. Over the years, she’s watched as her former student’s talents grew even as she worked hard to build the Corbin Art Center into a thriving establishment.

“She called me one day not long ago just to talk because we had been friends for so long,” Pendell says. “She said, ‘One thing I would like to have had was one more show.’ And I said, ‘Well, Kary, we’ll have one.”’

Pendell and Randolph contacted Mary Cordes, owner of Colburn’s Gallery, and the various collectors of Peters’ work. Cordes shifted her schedule, the collectors agreed to lend their paintings, and the retrospective became a reality.

Peters, understandably, is appreciative.

“It makes me real pleased that they wanted to do this for me,” she says.

The regard in which Peters is held is remarkably high, both personally and professionally. But it’s especially remarkable when you consider how late a bloomer she was.

For one thing, Peters attended Pacific Lutheran University, where she took art classes, but she never earned enough required credits to graduate.

Then there was the simple act of making a life with her husband, Jerry, and their two children.

They arrived in Spokane in 1960 only to move shortly afterward to Seattle. After a couple of years, however, they returned. Looking for a career that would give him more time with his family, Jerry Peters hired on at Deaconess Medical Center, where he ended up working for 26 years.

In 1970, Kary began teaching at Corbin Art Center. By the end of the decade, she was directing it.

“I worked myself into that job,” she says. “I didn’t intend to. I didn’t want it… I didn’t think I was qualified to do it.”

Simple math proves her wrong. During her tenure, the center grew from a faculty of eight teachers to more than 30. The number of classes grew from 12 to 150.

Current director Lynn Mandyke says the center is doing better than ever. It now offers summer classes and earns double the revenue than when Mandyke assumed control in the fall of 1992.

She credits Peters with opening up the center’s class offerings and building a strong crafts program, with bringing in both the traveling exhibit of the American Watercolor Society (in 1991) and such nationally known artists as Carol Orr and Michael Schlicting.

Even so, Mandyke says she’ll most miss Peters’ own work.

“She’s very, very talented,” Mandyke says. “It’s going to be a tremendous loss to the community.”

Randolph concurs.

“She’s grown, like everybody,” Randolph says. “She was a mediocre oil-painter then, striving to decide whether she wanted to make it a career. And now I think she’s one of the best watercolorists in the Northwest… She’s gone from cutesy-pie teddy bears on a table to gorgeous abstracts, wonderful things.”

Gallery owner Cordes says, “I’d rate her as a serious artist.”

Still, maybe Peters’ greatest contribution was her love of art and the spirit with which she approached her work.

“She has probably contributed as much to the art community at every level as anybody I know,” Randoph says, adding, “She was just so enthusiastic about teaching her students to look at every kind of art. She just supported everybody, and along the way she developed into one of the best teachers I’ve ever encountered.”

“She was always so friendly,” echoes Parnell. “The one thing that we’ll miss most is Kary’s friendly smile.”

Peters was told in January of 1994 that she had cancer.

“They didn’t give us much hope then,” recalls Jerry. “They said three to six months.”

But a couple of operations, one by a pancreatic cancer specialist found at the University of Washington by Kary’s daughter, and subsequent radiation treatment bought her more time. It gave Jerry and her the chance to sell their house, move into an RV and travel up and down the West Coast.

They toured Arizona, Nevada and California. They visited friends and family. And, finally, they returned to Spokane.

Now Kary sits in her chair, tended by her husband, listened to by a reporter, as her friends take one last opportunity to shower her with their love and admiration.

Kary Peters sits in her chair, watching the snow fall, and her voice grows strong as she looks back on what her life has been.

“I loved it all,” she says. “I loved the teaching, I loved the directorship, I loved it all. It’s been a full life.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo