“Mac Schweitzer and Her Art” is the February featured exhibition in Silver City’s Light Art Space Flash Gallery. Curated by Ann Hedlund the exhibition features a selection of prints and drawings by Mac Schweitzer and photos by Silver City photographer Larry Ollivier.
The exhibit opens on Feb. 5 with a First Friday reception on Feb. 6. On Sunday, Feb. 8, author/curator Ann Hedlund will present her illustrated talk about her award-winning book “Mac Schweitzer: A Southwest Maverick and Her Art.”
Schweitzer was a well-known member of the Early Tucson Moderns in the 1950s. After her untimely death in 1962 her artistic legacy soon faded from view for 60 years. Through Hedland’s extensive research Mac’s life and artwork has been revived and is no longer unrecognized.
“Mac Schweitzer, a mid-20th century painter of wildlife and other scenes, earned the reputation as ‘the feminists answer to Charlie Russell,’” Karen Hymer, owner of Light Art Space, said. “Enter Mac’s world through the southwestern photographs of Larry Ollivier. Celebrate Mac’s illustrated biography by Ann Hedlund and get your copy signed by the author.”
Mary Alice Cox was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1921, and grew up as a tomboy who loved horses, cowboys and art. She trained at the Cleveland School of Art where she met her husband, John Schweitzer. She chose her maiden name initials MAC, as her artistic name.
The couple moved to Tucson in 1946 joining a circle which included anthropologists, designer-craftsmen, and Native American artists.
“In Tucson during the 1950s, nearly everyone knew, or wanted to know, the southwestern artist Mac Schweitzer,” the University of Arizona Press stated.
As a member of Tucson’s “Early Moderns” in the 1940s and 1950s Tucson arts colony she exhibited in several galleries. Her diverse artwork included watercolors, oils, prints and sculptures which ranged from naturalistic to impressionistic to abstract modernism.
Schweitzer was a lover of nature, studying it with her pen and paintbrush throughout the deserts of Arizona. She explored and camped in the Four Corners area. Mac became intimately acquainted with families and the Navajo (Diné), Hopi, O’odham, and Yaqui people and their lifestyles. She made friendships, shared everyday living and attended ceremonial events.
A year-long retrospective, “Mac Schweitzer: A Southwest Maverick Rediscovered” opened at Scottsdale Arizona’s Western Spirit Museum on Oct. 18, 2025, and can be viewed through Sept. 29.
This exhibit includes a large variety of paintings, sketches, and prints which were donated by Ann Hedlund to the museum in memory of her late husband and Mac’s son, Kit Schweitzer. The exhibit is from the family archives. Most of Mac’s work had sold before her death due to her popularity and is in private collections.
Ann Hedlund’s book is a gorgeously illustrated volume of Mac’s artwork. Drawn from the artist’s letters, photo albums, and reviews of her life Ann has rediscovered this amazing art pioneer of the 1950s. Mac’s long forgotten artwork, creative and adventuresome life are revived.
“What an exhilarating book. Mac Schweitzer’s artwork is powerfully energetic and infused with the singular beauty of the Southwest,” said Sharman Apt Russell, author of “What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs.” “The horses alone will knock you out. Importantly, Ann Hedlund’s eloquent rediscovery of this fiercely dedicated and original artist is pertinent to today, a story that can inspire us still.”
Hedlund is a cultural anthropologist who collaborates with Indigenous weavers and other visual artists to understand creative processes in social contexts. From 1997 to 2013 she served as a curator at Arizona State Museum and professor at University of Arizona, Tucson, where she also directed the nonprofit Center for Tapestry Studies.
Pick up your signed copy of Ann’s book at Light Art Space. Silver City has four independent bookstores at which the book is offered at the same discounted price. They are Michael Lacey’s Silver City Bookshop, O’Keefe’s Book Shop, SWAG Books, and Avalon Books and Music.
In the main gallery, Light Art Space will host regional photographers. Answering to the theme “Abstraction in Nature” the photography community will wow onlookers once again in this annual show of Southwest images.
The photo exhibition also runs from Feb. 5-28. Light Art Space hours are Thursdays 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sundays 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Light Art Space is located at 209 West Broadway. For more information, see Lightartspace.com or Light Art Space on Facebook.
