Bransby was married for nearly 70 years to Mary Ann, until her death in August, 2011.[4][5] Mary Ann Hemmie, daughter of Joe and Lillian Hemmie was an artist and educator. Mary Ann attended the
Kansas City Art Institute on a scholarship and studied
silversmithing. She studied and mastered watercolor painting under
Thomas Hart Benton. Two weeks before the
Pearl Harbor Attack in December 1941, Mary Ann married Eric Bransby, who was a fellow student;.[6][7] Their daughter, Fredericka was born in June, 1943. Their daughter developed
asthma and the family returned to Colorado Springs for a more favorable climate for Fredericka.[8][nb 1]
He
turned 100 in October 2016[9] and died in September 2020 at the age of 103.[10]
Resilience mural (2012), made for the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center's Glass Corridor, was made to celebrate the center's 75th Anniversary. The mural includes the history of the center and art forms, including dance, theatre and music. The 5' by 27' mural was made when Bransby was 94 years of age and was dedicated April 20, 2012. After his wife's death, former art student Rev. Bradford N. Bray suggested to Bransby that he add her to the mural of the History of the Fine Arts Center. She was depicted as a student of Robinson.[4][5]
Frescos (1986) were repainted by Bransby over the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center's front entrance for its 50th anniversary. The frescos were originally painted by Boardman Robinson in 1936, but had faded over time. Blake Milteer, the museum's director stated that: "Bransby masterfully enhanced Robinson's original forms with his own details on the original facade."[2][4]
History of Navigation (1968) was commissioned by the United States Air Force Planetarium and has been on loan from the Air Force Academy to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Made the year before the
Apollo 11 Moon landing, mural panels totally 30 feet in length, depict navigation history up to space travel. The work was made in polymer and tempera.[2]
Mural on a wall of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (1950s). The mural was torn down during a renovation in the 1970s.[5]
"Legacy of St Paul" (1986) commissioned by St Paul Lutheran Church and Academy,
Skokie, Illinois.
Publications
The following are publications by or about Bransby:
^Mary Ann also studied at Yale University and the
University of Illinois at Urbana. She completed her bachelor's and master's degree at University of Missouri in Kansas City. She taught at
Donnelly College and University of Missouri at Kansas City, where she taught at the graduate level.
She "initiated" a program called "Choreographing the Object" that was a fusion of music, dance and art. Performances were conducted in the Midwest, an annual meeting of the
College Art Association, and on the television program Good Morning America. In Colorado Springs, following retirement, Mary Ann founded the Chromatic Edge and The Pikes Peak Watercolor Society.[8]
^A Press Release issued by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center stated that Bransby studied at the center from 1938-1940,[5] but he studied in Kansas during this time period.[8]
References
^"Sedalia". katytrail.net. Archived from
the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
^William Underwood Eiland.
"Eric Bransby: Draftsman and Muralist". Resource Library Magazine, Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
^Berardi, Marianne (1993). Under the influence : the students of Thomas Hart Benton / Marianne Berardi: with an essay on "Thomas Hart Benton as a teacher" by Henry Adams. St. Joseph, MO: Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. p. 52.
ISBN0-9615372-2-1.