The Highland House Museum and the Highland County Historical Society hosted the Detwiler Art Show in the summer of 2014. The show was curated by Avery Ann Applegate, a board member of the Highland County Historical Society. Community members loaned their Detwiler pieces for the show, and this video documents the exhibit.

Emma Sayler Detwiler was born in Hillsboro in 1849 to Jacob and Margaret Sayler. Emma was a student of the Hillsborough Female Academy and received an art education at the Cincinnati Art Academy. She married Leander Detwiler in 1871. Emma is known for her fine oil paintings, and she specialized in portraits and landscapes. Emma died in 1933 at 84 years of age.

Emma and Leander Detwiler raised three daughters: Irene, Margaret, and Frances (Fannie). The oldest daughter Irene was skilled in watercolors. She studied art in Cincinnati, Chicago, and Paris. In Hillsboro, Irene taught watercolor painting and painting on china. She also taught at the Hillsborough Female Academy. Irene never married. The middle daughter Margaret married Charles Stafford in 1929, and they moved to Missouri. The youngest daughter Fannie and Irene lived in Hillsboro in the family home, and all of the Detwiler women lived into their 80s.

The community of Hillsboro, Ohio is proud of its talented women painters and is delighted to share their artwork with the world.


Loans made by Jean Wallis, Beth Biggs, Margaret Van Frank, Betty Wilkin, Helen Ford, Susie Sharp, Anne Rhude, Debbie and Sandy Harsha, Susan and Steve Thompson, Leland and Ellen Pennington, Mary Jo Copeland, Barbara Hodge, Tara Beery, Nina Pence, Avery Applegate, and the First United Methodist Church.


Producer: Caitlin Schultz
Editor: Caitlin Schultz
Camera: Caitlin Schultz and Liesl Bonneau
Audio: Liesl Bonneau
Lighting: Caitlin Schultz, Liesl Bonneau, and Anne Fife