Everett M. Kivette

Everett Kivette, a passionate and prolific artist and co-founder of Painting in the Mountains Studio in Burnsville in 1966 with John Bryans, died at his beloved studio on April 7, 2020.  His painting school offered art instruction to students, both local and from across the country.

He was preceded in death by his wife,  Ruth Montgomery, a New Jersey native and professor at Barnard College in New York, who he married October 23, 1954.  Ruth retired to Burnsville after a distinguished career as a professor of literature.

Everett was born in Raleigh, NC on April 29, 1927, the only child of Willis Ervin Kivette and Willie Ethel Brown Kivette.  He lived with his parents in Goldsboro and Southern Pines, and studied for several summers at the Burnsville Painting Classes while attending Mars Hill College, which was the beginning of his lifelong love for Yancey County.

He attended Mars Hill College and Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University).  He received a Bachelor of Divinity degree and Master of Sacred Theology degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City,  where he studied the relationship between Christian theology and the fine arts.  He studied there under the tutelage of theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr and philosopher Paul Tillich.  He also did graduate work in art history at Columbia University and the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Everett and Ruth traveled extensively in Europe in the 1950’s.  He had one-man shows in Washington, D.C., Wake Forest, NC, Old Salem, NJ and Little Switzerland, NC.  He participated in group shows in New York and North Carolina.  His work is included in private collections in many states.  During several winters he maintained a studio in Sea Cliff, NY, on Long Island’s “North Shore”.

Everett operated Painting in the Mountains for many years with John Bryans, and then later ran the school on his own.  He was a much-loved teacher of art, a unique storyteller, and he deeply appreciated the people and mountain culture in Yancey County.

Everett and Ruth established the Herring-Kivette Gallery and Archives located in Yancey’s library to honor the painting tradition started in Yancey County in the 1940’s by his mentor and nationally-known artist Frank Stanley Herring,  and to celebrate mountain arts and culture.  Herring, a nationally-known artist, founded the Burnsville Painting Classes that operated here until his death in the 1960’s, when Kivette and Bryans continued the tradition.

The Kivettes established an endowment for the Herring-Kivette Collection and Archives and the Yancey County Public Library through the Community Foundation of WNC.  The mission of their foundation is to celebrate the arts and roots of mountain culture.  The gallery/archives are located on the second floor of the Yancey County Public Library.

Donations in his memory should be made to the Yancey County Public Library, 321 School Circle, Burnsville, NC 28714.

A Memorial celebrating the lives of both Everett and Ruth Kivette will be held at a future date to be announced.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Everett M. Kivette, please visit our floral store.