Louise Tester, with her husband Floyd and their son, Hank, moved to Yuma in 1949.  They purchased a ranch located on Avenue B.  Moving from a beach house in Southern California to a ranch house in Yuma Valley would seem to be quite a change, but Louise  recognized the move as a challenge, especially in the development of her own painting.  She had been well trained in watercolor and oil painting techniques while in California, and had an awareness of the natural beauty of this desert area.  She began to incorporate these influences into her paintings.

In the 1950’s, Louise began to develop her painting abilities even further.  Yuma High School had an outstanding Arts Administrator, Robert Sentz, who, in addition to his regular schedule, was teaching adult art classes through Arizona State University Extension program.  Louise began attending these classes in the evenings.  Mr. Sentz, recognizing her former training and outstanding painting, began encouraging the progression of her work.  His students were encouraged to enter statewide art exhibitions.  As part of his classes, Mr. Sentz also trained his students in exhibition preparation, design, packaging, and critique.  This knowledge fueled the interests of this art-minded group of students, and they formed an informal association to become more active in the arts.  Louise was invited by Mildred Ludake and Rosemarie Gwynn to head these efforts.  Her first activity was exhibition at the Yuma City Library.  This developed into a traveling exhibition that became very popular statewide.

The growing interest of this group brought forth proposals to open a local facility for the visual arts.  In 1962, the Yuma Art Center opened at the Sanguinetti complex at 248 Madison Avenue, and in the next year, the Yuma Fine Arts Association filed incorporation papers.  Louis Tester became the Association’s first director.  She filled this position for ten years, bringing access to quality contemporary visual arts to Yuma citizens.  She also served on the Fort Yuma Museum Committee for Quenchen Projects, the Arizona Western College Advisory Committee on the Arts, and developed an exhibition program for the Yuma City-County Library.

In July of 1969, Louise was asked to direct the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities.  She remained at the Commission until her retirement in 1981.  In her years with the Commission, she inaugurated many programs for the citizens of Arizona, and traveled extensively in North America.  Her accomplishments at the state level included establishing a Statewide Traveling Exhibition Program, initiating an agreement between Arizona and Mexico for cultural exchanges, and working to establish the Hopi-Navajo Exhibition which toured the United States. In conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she assembled an exhibition of Hopi Indian children’s art that was shown throughout the United States.  Louise also greatly expanded the Commission on the Arts and established program funding for projects throughout Arizona.  She encouraged Indians and Hispanics to organize and promote their cultural activities. She substantially increased funding for the Arizona Commission on the Arts by the National Endowment for the Arts, and obtained one of the first major challenge grants in the U.S.  Under her leadership, the Commission grew from fledgling agency that supported programs in the visual and performing arts, to an agency nationally recognized for its services and technical assistance, now supporting activities in all disciplines of the arts in communities throughout Arizona.

Louise was also been a member of the Arizona State Capital Restorations; she became one of the founding members of the Arizona Humanities Council serving from 1973 to 1977; and she was a member of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, Arts and Cultural Committee, since 1973.  In addition to these many activities, Louise also represented Arizona on numerous national arts boards and panels.  As a founding member of Western States Arts Foundation, she served as chairman of the organization from 1974 to 1977.  She was a member of the Board of the National Assembly of the State Art Agencies. She served on museum, city spirit, and design arts panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and is a past board member and President for the Western Association of Art Museums.

In Her Words

“I like the feel of the paint going on canvas.  I like what I see when I’m painting on a well-sized canvas.  Paintings begin when the painter sets the stretcher bars and stretches the canvas.  I learned to paint and draw at the same time and my paintings show this.  You don’t see the fine lines of the pencil on the canvas—you only see the wide, bold stroke of the paint.  I like to paint with oils.  I was afraid many times I would not be able to paint again.

I tested myself to be sure I could maintain a certain level of activity in my work.  The first time I tested myself was when Hank Tester was born.  I thought I would not be able to paint again.  One Wednesday I went to the Barnsdale Art Center in Los Angeles with my box, which was new, and my oil paints and a canvas.  I sat down and put some paint on the palette.  I looked up on the stage and there was an alabaster vase on a small round table.  I don’t remember if there were any flowers; all I remember was the alabaster; I sat there and I used the paint on my palette, which interestingly enough, became alabaster colors.  I painted the vase and with at I packed up the oil paints, the palette, the brush and started to leave.  The instructor came by and asked, “Are you leaving?”  I said, “Yes.”  He said, “Aren’t you coming back?” And I said I hadn’t decided.  He said, “Well, you paint so well.”  So I said, “Good-bye,” took my paints and left.  I went there to see if I could still paint and that’s all I needed to do.  I did not go back.”

Louise received numerous awards and citations for her arts advocacy, most notably the Arizona Governor’s Arts Awards in 1982.  She was also the first woman to receive the Citrus College Alumni Achievement Award in 1965.  She was honored by the Arizona Arts Education Association with the Arts Advocacy Award in 1977, and, that the same years, received the Distinguished Achievement Award from Arizona State University.