Lavern Kammerude loved the land and rural lifestyle he lived, growing up in Blanchardville on his family farm milking cows and doing daily chores. He started painting in his mid-50s. His paintings depicted the scene he saw in everyday life in America’s rural Midwest circa 1910 to 1945.
His paintings gained local popularity with farmers and small businesses. His painting caught the eye of Gerry Regan in 1976 while visiting the Production Credit Office of the Surge Dairy Equipment Company where he worked. Regan asked Kammerude to commission a few paintings for him and ended up with 17 different commissioned paintings. They came up with an agreement that would allow Regan to reproduce and market Kammerude’s work. Regan knew this artwork was art that many people would appreciate.
It has been 27 years since Lavern Kammerude died in 1989, the day after finishing a painting of a one-room schoolhouse that Regan went to school in, in the sixth grade outside of Mineral Point.
Regan will be at Town Bank at 1:30 on August 13 where he will talk about their 13-year relationship, where Kammerude and Regan traveled together to sell his paintings and prints. Regan loves to reminisce about those times. If you have never seen a Kammerude painting, you are in for a visual experience.
Twelve of Kammerude’s original artwork commissioned by Regan can be found at the Lafayette County Historical Society. The Lafayette County Historical Society has several Kammerude prints that are for sale. They will have them for sale at the Historical Society building and other various events throughout the summer. For more information, contact the Lafayette County Historical Society at 776-8340 or visit their building at 525 Main Street in Darlington.