The artist Atlanta Constance Sampson may not be as famous as Michelangelo, Pablo Picasso or Andy Warhol, but she's an icon in Toeterville, Iowa.

She was an eclectic artist, creating everything from still-life watercolor paintings and charcoal drawings to abstract oil paintings, who didn't receive much recognition until she was 91 years old.

Her journey to that point, and the journey of the seven years following, are fascinating stories.

According to a pamphlet printed by the Unionhurst Art Gallery in Toeterville-a gallery dedicated to the life and works of Sampson, she was born in 1896 on a farm four miles north of Toeterville. Her nephew, Fred Langrock, director of the gallery, says she probably began painting when she was about 10 years old. "She took some paintings of morning glories to school … and she'd later say her teachers told her she was a natural-born artist," he says.

After she graduated from high school, she studied art at the University of Minnesota and then moved to Detroit where she taught until 1947. During that period of time, Sampson constantly painted and saved all her paintings, hoping to fulfill her goal of getting a show at a major art gallery in New York City.

Langrock says her artwork from the years she spent in Detroit depicts many dark and gloomy images of the city. They probably reflect her feelings for the city, he says. "She said it was difficult to teach in Detroit. At that time, art wasn't taught in every school and she often had 40 to 50 kids in a class," he explains.

In 1947, the pamphlet says, she left her teaching job and moved to New York. She continued to paint and was often inspired by scenes in Union Square. Sampson also traveled to Cape Cod, Mass. and painted much of what she saw there.

Langrock says she was able to spend most of her time during the first ten years painting. She "had saved up a lot of money from teaching, so she was able to live pretty well. She had a nice apartment in Greenwich Village, but the money ran out in 1957," he says. "When that happened, she took temporary service jobs to make ends meet. She sold some paintings to help out, but she wanted to save most of them for better shows when she got into the galleries."

Despite her monetary struggles, she still painted, often using napkins, paper bags and the backs of other paintings for her work.

Then came her big break.

The gallery's pamphlet says that "at 91 and in failing health, she was resigned to moving back to Iowa; the dream of a one-woman show in a good gallery eluding her." The owners of the deli on the first floor of her building encouraged her to display some of her paintings in their shop. She obliged and was "discovered." Soon her paintings were in a major art show and Sampson even found herself displaying her works at an exhibition in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. on her 96th birthday.

Meanwhile, she moved to Iowa and her family opened the art gallery in 1988. Though many of her paintings were sold when she left New York, Langrock says they were able to take about 650 original paintings and made thousands of prints from those.

Langrock says she was pleased by her sudden rise to fame, even though it came late in life. "She once said 'I can hardly believe this is really happening to me,'" he says.

Sampson died in 1995, but people still come from all over the country to see the museums huge collection of original art work and prints. Langrock says none of the originals are for sale, but all the prints can be purchased.

The museum is open by appointment, Monday through Friday and on Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. For more information, call (641) 736-2195.

Call Amanda L. Rohde at 434-2214 or e-mail her at amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com