Longtime Chippewa Valley artist Tiit Raid, left, passed away in 2022. A new retrospective of his work at the Pablo Center includes works including “Tagahoov Mustrid II” (2021), above.

Eau Claire artist Tiit Raid was planning a show long before his death last summer at age 81. “Tiit Raid: A Retrospective,” which opens at the Pablo Center at the Confluence on Jan. 27, features around 50 of his paintings and drawings from 1956 to 2022. Most artists won’t share their childhood or even young adult work, but Tiit saw a lesson in the progression of his art.

He first considered becoming an artist back in fifth grade, which means Tiit “made images” – his phrase – for over 70 years. He earned a BFA and an MFA at the University of Minnesota. Tiit was a much-loved and respected art professor at UW-Eau Claire, where he mentored countless students from 1967 to 2002.

 Retired educator and Tribal Judge Ernie St. Germaine enrolled in Professor Raid’s oil painting class, Tiit’s first year at UWEC. Ernie says, “Tiit continued to mentor and advise me for the remainder of his life.” Ernie graduated in 1973.“Even now, when I am painting a mural or carving a pipe stem,” he shares, “I am thinking of conversations we had, and it was never about the final outcome but always about the journey.”

Tiit admired artist Winslow Homer and his quote, “The sun will not rise, or set, without my notice and thanks.” He insisted it be incorporated into his last show. The full Homer quote includes this: “The life that I have chosen gives me my full hours of enjoyment for the balance of my life.” That could easily have been said by Tiit Raid.

One of Tiit’s last students, 2001 alum Ben Garthus, calls him a generous and devoted teacher who pushed anyone he mentored.“He taught me how to be critical of my own work and that the practice of seeing is something you continue to develop and work at throughout your life,” Ben says. “I have taken his lessons with me and applied them to not only my art practice but to how I see the world.”

 Ben claims that throughout his six years at UWEC, he may have taken every class Tiit taught as well as a few independent studies. He is now designer/principal at a food packaging design and branding firm, as well as co-owner and creative director of the Indian food brand Brooklyn Delhi.

 I can’t tell the story of Tiit Raid without including his beloved, Ann. They’d been together since she was 20; just before he died, they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. For 43 years Tiit and Ann’s home base was Fall Creek where they hosted many friends, family members, artists, and students. Their bonfire parties were legendary. The fire department only had to come once, surprisingly not because of a fire Tiit started. The couple moved to Eau Claire in 2015. Their basement still holds hundreds of Tiit’s paintings and prints.

“Esti Tula” by Tiit Raid (2002)

Ann recently talked with me about preparing for her husband’s retrospective. It had been originally scheduled to open years ago, but then COVID-19 hit. Much of the show was arranged before Tiit got sick, and he gave her explicit instructions for the rest.

 Since Tiit died during preparations, the risk is that it becomes a memorial. Ann reminds me, “This is an art show.” Still, Tiit’s wish was that some of his ashes get taped to the back of one of his paintings.

Ann says his newest work was based on three images he sketched out on printing paper. They replicate photos Tiit took of the underside of trees. Though not part of the show, she says, “They are precious to me.” Ann had those sketches framed in a tryptic and hung in her TV room, where she’ll see them daily.

Tiit admired artist Winslow Homer and his quote, “The sun will not rise, or set, without my notice and thanks.” He insisted it be incorporated into his last show. The full Homer quote includes this: “The life that I have chosen gives me my full hours of enjoyment for the balance of my life.” That could easily have been said by Tiit Raid.

Tiit Raid and his wife, Ann. (Photo courtesy Patti See)

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“Perhaps you never get centered … when you think you have found it … there is always something that eventually smacks you alongside the head that tells you that you’ve been a fool.”

TIIT RAID

visual artist

In August, he returned home by ambulance to die in his studio. His first night back, my husband, Bruce, and I visited. Tiit described a recurring dream he’d been having: He walks up to a long table where men in suits sit with clipboards in front of them. He’s not sure what he’s supposed to be doing or what they expect; they just glare at him.

“Sounds like hell,” Bruce said. Tiit laughed. Though he told us he’d accepted his death, his subconscious might have still been getting used to the idea, just like the clusters of friends and family who came to say goodbye.

As I mourned Tiit, I reread some of our two decades of email correspondence about painting and writing. One line stood out to me: “It often seems the thing you need comes along.” Tiit was talking about completing a piece, but of course this could have been his life’s motto.

He once said about being an artist, “Perhaps you never get centered … when you think you have found it … there is always something that eventually smacks you alongside the head that tells you that you’ve been a fool.”

Tiit painted in his home studio every day, often to the lull of the Golf Channel. During the past two years his paintings were influenced by perfect designs found in the natural world. Former student Christine Kronthaler wrote me, “I loved the way Tiit looked at things in nature. He was always pointing out complex patterns. … It affects me to this day, the way I look at nature and design.” She graduated from UWEC in 1991 and stayed in contact with her mentor.“He had a very keen eye, and I was astounded how in-depth he viewed things,” she added. “He could zero in on a small problem in my painting and be absolutely correct about it.”

"Lion's Den #1" by Tiit Raid (2006)

This reinforced what Tiit once told me, “The only way I know to do things is to rely on my gut … to pay attention the best I know how to my ‘inward voice’ and go with it.”

The child who repurposed his mom’s paint-by-number kits grew up to be a well-known artist who sold his paintings for thousands of dollars. They were also commissioned around the United States. You can still see his permanent pieces hanging in Jamf, Mayo, UWEC’s McIntyre Library, and other local venues.

Tiit showed work in galleries in Fall Creek, Eau Claire, and Minneapolis and as far away as Boston, New York, Toronto, Stockholm, and Talinn, Estonia. The boy who fled Russian soldiers with his parents and brother returned to Estonia 60 years later for a celebrated show with other ex-pats, “Estonian Art in Exile,” and he met the president of his home country. Though Tiit came to be an expert in his field, he always remembered what it was like to be that immigrant second-grader who was given valentines from his new American classmates, but had no idea what they meant.

 As a twenty-something, Tiit became interested in the relationship between art and music and discovered what he called his “natural sense of rhythm.” He could turn just about any surface into a drum. Former student Ernie recalls how Tiit once held an evening symphony at an Up North youth camp played entirely on found objects. He also used actual instruments as a percussionist with local bands.

Raid was also a musician; his home contained scores of instruments in addition to works of art. (Photo courtesy Patti See)

I’d known Tiit since I took his two-dimensional design course as an elective my final term at UWEC. We reconnected years later when I married his friend. For over 15 years, we enjoyed yearly couples’ trips where I appreciated that Tiit was a lifelong firebug, like me. He and I developed a delicate dance around the campfire, which is to say we took turns poking into flames.

At some point I told him I still had my sketchpad from his 1990 class. Of course, he asked to take a look. I was embarrassed at how bad my drawings were. “Hmm,” he said at each page. Then, ever the teacher, “I like what you tried to do here.” I reminded him that I’m a writer, not an artist. He handed the sketchpad back to me and said, “Now you can burn it.”

Part memorial, part art show, “Tiit Raid: A Retrospective” offers closure to fans who appreciated his art and exposure to some who will soon discover it. Those of us who loved the artist get one last look at a spectacular life.

“Tiit Raid: A Retrospective” will run Jan. 27 through March 12 at the James W. Hansen Gallery at the Pablo Center. An artists reception celebrating the legacy and impact of Tiit’s work will be 5-8pm Friday, March 3.