Beverly Anderson. Courtesy image.
Payne is a renowned painter, creating watercolors of the natural environment, and Anderson is a photographer, who documents the couple’s travels across the globe to places like South Africa, Italy, Australia and Mexico. The walls of their home off Panoramic Hwy. are adorned with their respective work, and Anderson will be showing her latest collection of travel photos, “Away,” at the at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (85 Throckmorton, with a wine reception on February 2 (6–8pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission‘s First Tuesday Artwalk.
The monthly celebration of local art includes a host of venues, including the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Seager Gray Gallery, the Mill Valley Public Library, Zener Schon Contemporary Art, Gelateria Noci, Julie Tuton Boutique, Terrestra, the Depot Bookstore & Café, City Hall, Famous4 and the Mill Valley Community Center, Seager Gray Gallery and the Throckmorton Theatre. Receptions at each venue are Tuesday from 6–8pm. First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.
Payne and Anderson have been together for 30 years, and Anderson has an entire career as a teacher behind her. She was a home economics teacher at both San Rafael and Terra Linda high schools.
“I’m responsible for 22 years of young people having nutrition,” she says with a laugh.
That background played a role in how Anderson first met more than three decades ago. Anderson was also teaching at the Culinary Academy of San Francisco at the time, and she had designed a benefit event for Meals on Wheels. The theme of the event was edible costumes, and when Payne and Anderson first met, she was wearing a costume made entirely of herbs and flowers.
“I was an herbal feast,” she says.
Payne is also an accomplished and prolific photographer, and when he told Anderson many years ago to frame her “Tuscan Carts” photo, she was hooked.
“Once you frame your first photograph, you’re gone – I was very encouraged after that,” he said.
The 411: Beverly Anderson exhibits her photography at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, 85 Throckmorton Avenue, throughout February. The First Tuesday Artwalk receptions are Tuesday, February 2, 6–8pm. First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.