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Stillwater artist uses oils to save historic buildings

One of Kami Polzin's treasures, a portrait of the Washington County Courthouse in a gilded frame, will be auctioned at the preview gala for the annual Victorian Christmas at the Historic Courthouse event.

By Allie Shah, Star Tribune

Last update: November 9, 2007 - 7:18 PM

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Victorian Christmas at the Courthouse Preview

What: Live music, vendors dressed in Victorian costumes selling fine arts and crafts, plus desserts, appetizers and champagne donated by local caterers. Silent auction. Proceeds help fund courthouse restoration projects.

When: 6:30 p.m. Nov. 16

Where: Washington County Historic Courthouse, 101 W. Pine St., Stillwater

Cost: Tickets for the preview event are $25.

Info: Call 651-275-7075 or go to www.co.washington.mn.us

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Beauty takes a backseat to history for Kami Polzin, a Stillwater artist who creates paintings of historical buildings and landscapes as a way to help preserve them.

She's one of a breed of painters who share this philosophy. "We don't paint to make a picture look good over a couch," said Polzin. "We are really trying to save what is here today."

Recently, she was commissioned to paint the Washington County Historic Courthouse in honor of the 15th anniversary of the annual Victorian Christmas at the Historic Courthouse event.

Her oil painting and a gilded frame will be auctioned off at a preview gala Friday night. And an image of her painting will appear on ornaments sold at the gala, with proceeds going towards courthouse restoration projects.

For the uninitiated, the Victorian Christmas at the Historic Courthouse is a community celebration of the holidays and a fundraiser for the courthouse.

The building is decorated, inside and out, in garlands, ribbons and other holiday decorations. Volunteers and vendors wear Victorian costumes and local artists set up booths and sell fine arts and crafts.

Polzin, 34, who grew up on her family's century-old farm just north of Stillwater, said she's always painted and always cherished the old, majestic buildings in her hometown.

When she was 19, she started her art career. She rented space in downtown Stillwater and her art "just happened." She would sit and study architecture and make renderings, not paintings, at first.

"I just did what I loved and I did it as well as I could," Polzin said. "It was a risk and everyone told me I was crazy and that you can't do it as an artist. But I knew I couldn't do anything else."

Her goal, even back then, she said, was to bring attention to the value of preserving historic architecture.

She was painting and getting recognized for her work. Then she started studying with a couple of master painters and got interested in painting outside, in the open air, instead of in the studio.

"That's what the great masters do," Polzin said. "They record history. There's no question that this is history for tomorrow. That's why a lot of us painters think we're here."

Last year, when she was at an art show in Charleston, S.C., a town steeped in history and splendid architecture, a man bought one of her paintings. He then made a statement that she treasures more than the sale. "He said, 'Dear, I'm doing this to support history,'" Polzin recalled.

For the oil painting of the Historic Courthouse, she stood outside the building for three mornings in late September and worked.

She said she chose mornings because she wanted the painting to show the dome glowing, as it does for about an hour and a half in the morning when the sunlight hits it at just the right angle.

The courthouse building will always have special meaning for Polzin, who said she painted it 14 years ago; it was the second limited-edition print she ever sold. She now has a studio on Main Street in downtown Stillwater and teaches painting classes, too.

Other familiar buildings and scenes from Stillwater that she's painted include the lift bridge, Third Street on a rainy day and various residential street scenes.

Preserving architecture through art remains her passion.

Said Polzin: "It has run through my blood since I was little."

Allie Shah • 651-298-1550

Allie Shah • ashah@startribune.com

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