Minerva Bernetta Kohlhepp Teichert was born in North Ogden, Utah in 1888.  Throughout her life she captured the great Mormon pioneer story and the story of the American West in murals and easel paintings.  She died in 1976 in Provo, Utah.

Teichert demonstrated an early talent for drawing.  When her mother gave her a box of watercolors at age four, Teichert declared herself an artist and began painting what she saw.  At age fourteen, she worked as nursemaid for a family in San Francisco where she was able to see paintings at the Mark Hopkins Art School.  After graduating from high school, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago under John Vanderpoel, a master of the academic school of painting.  She received a scholarship to study at the Art Students League in New York where she studied with art realist instructors Robert Henri and George Bridgeman.  Noting her talent, Henri told her to go and paint the story of the Mormon people.

Upon completion of her artistic training, she returned to the west, married Herman Teichert, raised five children, helped manage their farm, and continued to paint.  Using themes from the American West and Mormon pioneer stories, Teichert created more than 60 murals that adorn public places in Utah.  Hcandart Pioneers (1930), Covered Wagon Pioneers, Madonna at Dawn (1936), Joseph Smith Receives the Plates (1947), and Night Raid (1935) are some of her significant easel works. She completed many smaller floral paintings that were given as gifts.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from the Springville Museum of Art.