Teichert, Minerva Kohlhepp, 1888-1976

Minerva Kohlhepp Teichert (1888-1976) was a Mormon painter and homesteader in Idaho.

Minerva Bernetta Kohlhepp was born August 28, 1888, in Ogden, Utah, to Frederick John Kohlhepp and Mary Ella Hickman. She was the second of ten children. Minerva grew up in Idaho, until she left at the age of fourteen to work as a nursemaid in San Francisco. After this, she graduated from high school and taught school in Idaho to earn money to attend school in the east. By the time Minerva was nineteen, she had saved enough money to attend the Chicago Art Institute. In 1915, Minerva began studying at Art Students' League in New York. Here she took classes from George Bridgman, Dimitri Romanoffski, and Robert Henri, who all recognized her immense amount of talent and encouraged her to pursue art.

In 1917, Minerva returned to Idaho. On September 15, 1917, she married Herman Adolph Teichert, right before he left to fight in World War I. Together, they had five children: Herman, Hamilton, Robert, Laurie, and John. Minerva spent much of her life on a ranch in Cokeville, Wyoming. As she raised her family and ran the ranch, she continued to paint, focusing on the American West and topics relating to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as her principle subjects. She painted the murals in the World Room in the Manti Utah Temple, and painted an entire series on the stories of the Book of Mormon. Teichert died on May 3, 1976, in Provo, Utah.