Arizona Women Artists Active Before 1945: Painters, Sculptors, Potters, Printmakers, Illustrators, Quilters - by Lonnie Pierson Dunbier

Arizona Women Artists Active Before 1945: Painters, Sculptors, Potters, Printmakers, Illustrators, Quilters

By Lonnie Pierson Dunbier

2016

Wachtel, Marion Kavanaugh (1870, Milwaukee WI-1954, Pasadena CA) Traveled 1905-1929 from California by horseback and car rigged as studio with artist husband Elmer Wachtel; among painting titles were A Hopi Pastoral and Evening at Pueblo of Walpi. Exhibited at Arizona State Fairs, 1917 and 1920. ASF, KOV

Wack, Ethel DuPont Barksdale (1898, Wilmington DE-1974, Santa Barbara CA) Licensed pilot, golf champion, and portrait painter, was member of prominent Delaware DuPont family; with husband John Wack in 1930s and 40s often flew from Santa Barbara to stay at Yolo Ranch, their cattle spread in Yavapai County, Arizona near Prescott. HUG

Wadsworth, Beulah M. (1893, IL-1974, San Diego CA) Graphic artist and poet, gave talk and demonstration on block printing November 3, 1941 to American Pen Women in Tucson. Her saguaro block print image titled Forest of Giant Cacti was published in Tucson Desert Press, 1946, and her pastel Arizona scene Summer Clouds Over Tumacacori is an auction listing on askart.com. AAB, FEL, TUC

Wagner, Anna Dorothy Heneke (See Heneke, Anna Dorothy)

Wailes, Maud H. (1883, Moravia IA-) Exhibited landscape and floral paintings in 'Secondary Gallery', 1927 Arizona State Fair. Was married to Henry G. Wailes, a gravel contractor, and lived in Caspar, Wyoming in 1920 and Phoenix by 1930. ANC, ASF

Walsh, Margaret Mary (1892, Bellingham WA-1975, Phoenix AZ) 1930s staff artist for Flagstaff published Western Artist magazine; painted Hopi Indians; did Kachina dolls, and had art exhibition at San Marcos Hotel in Chandler. AAAC, DAW, KOV

Warner, Nell Gertrude Walker (1891, Richardson County NE-1970, Carmel CA) Floral painter mostly active in California; won exhibition prizes at Arizona State Fair in 1929 and 1931. Painting entries in 1929 included The Painted Shawl. ASF, FAL

Wasser, Paula Rebecca Kloster (See Kloster, Paula Rebecca Wasser)

Webster, Martha Gordon (Early 20th, AZ) Phoenix resident and still life and landscape painter, had two entries in 1935 exhibition of "Arizona Artists Arts and Crafts" at the Museum of Northern Arizona. AAAC

Webster, Mary A. Scherzel (Mrs. B.G.) Sister and painting companion of Emily Scherzel, and married to Benjamin G. Webster of Phoenix; exhibited figure and still life oil and watercolor paintings in 1925 and 1929 Arizona State Fairs. ANC, ASF, FEL

Webster, Mattie G. (See Webster, Mary A. Scherzel)

Webster, Mrs. B.G. (See Webster, Mary A. Scherzel)

Welch, Bonnie Martin (1887, St. Louis MO-1967, Butte MT) California landscape painter of desert scenes, mountains and redwoods; was in Arizona and surrounding states according to Desert Magazine, May 1938. KOV

Welch, Mary (1875, IA-1967, Hutchinson KS) Kansas realist and abstract landscape painter and student of Birger Sandzen, sketched and painted on site in Arizona 1940-1942; Signed her work M. Welch to disguise being a woman artist. AAB

Welisch, Linda B. Perry (1877, AZ Territory-1967, Reno NV) Born in Arizona and as a child lived in Tucson; appears to have been primarily a California resident artist; married Arthur Perry in Los Angeles. ANC, HUG

Wells, Francis Grace Parkinson (See Parkinson, Grace Wells Jenkins)

Wendt, Julia M. Bracken (1871, Apple River IL-1942, Laguna Beach CA) Prominent California artist trained in Illinois; created bronze Indian figure, The Apache Fire Hole, dated 1928, which suggests she was in Arizona. AAA, HUG

Whelan, Blanche (See Whelan, Eva Blanch)

Whelan, Eva Blanch (1889, Los Angeles CA-1974, Los Angeles CA) Still life, landscape and Indian painter; using name of Blanche Whelan, exhibited in 1928 and 1931 State Fairs. ASF, DAW, HUG

Whitaker, Ruth Townsend (1887, Lima OH-1937, San Diego CA) Active as artist in Manhattan in 1920s and San Diego in 1930s where was part of informal group, San Diego Moderns; listed in 'Water Colors' category in 1929 Arizona State Fair with entry Cape Cod Church Tower. ANC, AAB, ASF, HUG

White Squash Blossom (See Chapella, Grace)

White, Edith (1855, Decorah IA-1946, Berkeley CA) Portrait, mission, landscape and still-life painter and teacher from Berkeley, entered Magnolias and Zinnias in 1925 Arizona State Fair. ASF, HUG

White, Elizabeth Ruth (Polingaysi Qoyawayma) (1892, Oraibi AZ-1990, Phoenix AZ) Famous potter, and liaison between Hopi and 'white man's' culture; elected to Arizona Women's Hall of Fame. AHS, AZL

White, Minerva T.E. (1878, St. Louis MO-) Painter and tapestry designer from Dallas, Texas; used Arizona themes from visits to the state beginning about 1902. ANC, DAW

Whittemore, Frances Davis (1857, Decatur IL-1951, Topeka KS) Art department director of Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas; was niece of Grand Canyon explorer Wesley Powell; before 1891 with maiden name of Frances Davis, accompanied him "to sketch artifacts of ethnological importance, and the Navajo Indians." So she could draw an Arizona cliff dwelling entrance, he had her suspended from a "bo's'n's chair." DAW

White, Minerva T.E. (1878, St. Louis MO-) Painter and tapestry designer from Dallas, Texas; used Arizona themes from visits to the state beginning about 1902. ANC, DAW

Wilhelm, Lillian (See Smith, Lillian Wilhelm)

Williams, Rose (1915, Shonto/Cow, Navajo Reservation-2015, Shonto/Cow Navajo Reservation) Recognized as matriarch of Navajo pottery, and also mother of 15 children, she taught her daughters Navajo style pottery techniques. Although known for marketing to tourists, she also kept alive Navajo pottery traditions for tribal ceremonial use. AAB

Wilson, Kathleen (early 20th Century) Abstract animal sculptor from Phoenix, was one of local artists on teaching staff in 1937 of newly founded Phoenix Federal Art Center administered by Philip Curtis as part of the WPA, Federal Art Project. Married to Charles King Wilson. AAB, ANC, FAHND

Withrow, Evelyn Almond (1858, Santa Clara CA-1928, San Diego CA) Described as independent "new-woman" type from California and known for celebrity portrait painting, spent time among Hopi and Navajo "doing significant work" in late 1890s. DAW, HJA

Wood, Eva Adeline (1879, Kentucky-1963, San Diego CA) From Encinitas, California, exhibited in California State Fair in 1937, and in 'Water Colors' exhibition category in 1929 Arizona State Fair with entry, Off Point Lobos. ASF, HUG

Wood, Nan Howard (1872, Dayton OH-1961-Southhampton NY) Landscape, Indian figure, mission and floral painter, was married to Charles Morgan Wood, authority on Apache Indians; moved to Arizona in mid 1920s for his health. Exhibited with Tucson Fine Arts Association, Arizona State Fair in 1928, and for nearly 30 years with Tucson Palette and Brush Club. KOV

Woodward, Josephine (early 20th) Portrait painter from Tucson; in Arizona Artists category of 1929 Arizona State Fair exhibitors; submitted three oil paintings, two titled Portrait Sketch and another, Five O'Clock. ASF

Woodward, Mabel May (1877, Providence RI-1945, Providence RI) Artist of New England landscapes and marine subjects and Arizona. In 1931 at the Providence Art Club in Rhode Island exhibited paintings Squaw Mountain, Phoenix Arizona; Camelback Mountain; and San Xavier Mission. KOV

Woolley, Virginia B (1994, Selma AL-1971, Laguna Beach CA) Painter and etcher from Laguna Beach, where was founder of Annual Festival of the Arts; exhibited paintings in 1927 and 1929 Arizona State Fairs. AAB, ASF

Yazzie, Sybil (Baldwin) (early 20th, Chinle NM) Member of Navajo Nation and married to Gordon Baldwin; did miniature paintings that are a "tapestry of Navajo ceremonial life." In 1937, her Squaw Dance scene painting, A Crowd At a Navajo N'DA-A, with 170 Navajo figures in traditional dress, and 59 sitting on horses, was exhibited in Paris and London. ANC, BRO

Yerkes, Mary Agnes (1886, Chicago IL-1989, San Mateo, CA) Began painting American West in 1915 when moved from Oak Park, Illinois with naval officer husband to California; traveled in a specially modified 1920s Buick with canvas sling interior bed. Painting sites included Grand Canyon and Organ Pipe National Monument. WIK

Young, Dolores Samuels (Early 20th, AZ) In 1925 Arizona State Fair, entered Fallen Leaf Lake in Water Color section. ASF

Young, Gertrude Mary (1862, London ENG-1930, Tucson AZ) Governess of President Teddy Roosevelt's children; in Tucson in 1924 for tuberculosis cure; painted at Navajo Reservation and Fort Lowell; entered oil and watercolor paintings in State Fairs of 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1929; also in 1929 "Arizona Arts and Crafts Exhibit." AAAC, ASF, FAL, KOV

Young, Myrtle Luke Dewakuku (early 1930s, Hopi AZ-1984, Hopi AZ) Spider Clan member of Tewa Village, did black and red on yellow bowls; was sister of Garnet Pavatea; in collection of Museum of Northern Arizona. SCH

Youvella, Ethel (1919, Hopi AZ-2006, Hopi AZ) Tewa, Sand Clan Tewa Village potter; beginning 1930, created turtle and bird effigy black and red on yellow design pots and tiles. SCH

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