Dot Gruell celebrates her 100th birthday during an April 29 party.
Photos #2 and #3, is the latest painting that Dorothy "Dot" or "Miss Dot" Guell had been working on at M' Lou Stain Glass and Art Gallery in Antique District in Denham Springs. A New Orleans shotgun house.
Photos #4 and #5 Just some of the paintings done by 100-year-old Denham Springs artist Dorothy "Dot" or "Miss Dot" Guell that are hanging in M' Lou Stain Glass and Art Gallery in Antique District in Denham Springs.
This Dot Guell painting hangs in a Denham Spring gallery.
Dot Gruell celebrates her 100th birthday during an April 29 party.
Photos #2 and #3, is the latest painting that Dorothy "Dot" or "Miss Dot" Guell had been working on at M' Lou Stain Glass and Art Gallery in Antique District in Denham Springs. A New Orleans shotgun house.
Photos #4 and #5 Just some of the paintings done by 100-year-old Denham Springs artist Dorothy "Dot" or "Miss Dot" Guell that are hanging in M' Lou Stain Glass and Art Gallery in Antique District in Denham Springs.
This Dot Guell painting hangs in a Denham Spring gallery.
Patrons of the arts who visit the Antique Village in Historic Downtown Denham Springs are frequently drawn to M’Lou Stain Glass and Art Gallery on weekdays to meet the senior artist who, until recently, was always found busily painting, Dorothy Guell, affectionately known as “Miss Dot.”
Guell celebrated her 100th birthday on April 30.
Despite her age, Guell, an accomplished artist whose works find a ready market, just keeps on painting. Ellen Feehan, the proprietor of M’Lou Stain Glass and Art Gallery, said Miss Dot has been a regular at painting sessions conducted at her gallery on Tuesdays through Fridays for many years.
Recent medical issues have resulted in Guell's inability to visit the art gallery and she's missed. A painting she was working on still sits on an easel in the gallery, just as she left it days before her 100th birthday party.
“We have a group of ladies who come in here to paint, and Miss Dot is always the center of attention, Feehan said. "Her age has not been a factor in her desire to continue to be creative. She just loves to paint, and the ladies who paint with her, and the visitors who come into the gallery, love her company and admire her creativity.”
Guell has been painting for most of her life. Feehan said that in explaining her love of art, Miss Dot once related to her that as a little girl growing up in New Orleans, her father saw her drawing so he bought her a set of pastels and watercolors. “She said she started drawing and painting then, and she just hasn’t stopped. She’s amazing,” Feehan said.
During her long career, Guell took classes with various artists and began to display her art in several galleries in New Orleans. She joined other artists who spent time painting on the streets of New Orleans where her talents continued to draw attention and helped launch a career that has now stretched into her 100th year.
The ravages of Hurricane Katrina blew Miss Dot to Denham Springs where she has made her home since. A friend, Carol Blanchard, said of Guell’s move to Denham Springs, “her friends joked that they wouldn’t let her return to her native New Orleans because they liked her and her work too much.”
When Guell moved to Denham Springs, she took lessons from local artist Michelle Conques and this is where she met most of her local artist friends.
Feehan said of the artist, “she just so enjoys painting. She paints everything that comes to her mind. She paints flowers, swamp scenes, vegetables, and she loves painting roosters. She is just a very special lady and a very talented artist.”
Feehan explained that Guell married during World War II and that those early years were some trying years for her. “She has told us stories about those times when common things we take for granted were rationed for the war effort. She would laugh when she would tell us that the neighbors would get enough ration stamps together to buy the ingredients for such simple things as punch and cookies.” Her husband passed away in the 1980s and Feehan said Guell described her husband as "an angel for putting up with me.”
Feehan said Guell frequently says that she doesn’t care if her paintings sell or not, she just loves to paint and doesn’t want to stop. However, her paintings do sell well and the profits she makes allows her to continue the pursuit that is so special to her, painting.
Donna Jennings, executive director of Main Street Denham Springs and a promoter and frequent visitor to the Antique Village, said Guell is “just absolutely amazing. She is just so full of life, you would never think that she is 100 years old. She is a real treasure in our community and there are just not enough words to say about her. Everyone who is associated with Miss Dot is the richer for the experience.”
Jennings said that Miss Dot has quite a following of devoted art lovers.
According to Blanchard, following her birthday celebration Guell had trouble breathing so her granddaughter took her to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and other medical issues. She is now under hospice care and her many fans are hoping that she will soon be able to return to her painting.
Her paintings are on display at the M’Lou Glass and Art Gallery located at 125 N. Range Road, Denham Springs.
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