Northwest Matriarchs of Modernism:
12 Proto-feminists from
Oregon and Washington

Exhibition Statement

This exhibition presented more than fifty paintings, drawings, and sculptures by twelve artists who launched their careers in the mid-twentieth century. Included were works by: Kathleen Gemberling Adkison, Doris Totten Chase, Sally Haley, Mary Henry, Maude Kerns, LaVerne Krause, Viola Patterson, Hilda Morris, Eunice Parsons, Ruth Penington, Amanda Snyder, and Margaret Tomkins.

Northwest Matriarchs of Modernism was a long overdue tribute to twelve northwest women artists who embraced modernism in the mid-twentieth century. Critic and author Lois Allan and director of The Art Gym Terri Hopkins, curated the exhibition to look at the last generation of women to launch their careers prior to the impact of the feminist movement on the art world. These artists created substantial bodies of work from the 1940s to 1970s, yet critic and curator attention was directed toward their male counterparts. Although a number of these women were very active later, the exhibition focuses on their 1940 to the early 1970s work.

Washington State artists included: painters Margaret Tomkins, Kathleen Gemberling Adkison, and Viola Patterson; pioneering video artist, dance collaborator and sculptor Doris Totten Chase; printmaker and jeweler Ruth Penington; and geometric abstract painter Mary Henry. Work by Oregon artists included: the pioneering geometric abstractions of Maude Kerns; Sally Haley’s abstract paintings and those that use abstraction as a counterpoint to still life; sculpture and Sumi ink painting by Hilda Morris; painting, prints and collages by Eunice Parsons; Amanda Snyder’s abstracted bird forms and non-objective paintings; and LaVerne Krause’s abstract paintings based on the Oregon landscape. These women dedicated a lifetime to art, had substantial careers and deserve a better-articulated place in the history of the art of the Pacific Northwest.

Northwest Matriarchs of Modernism was organized by The Art Gym at Marylhurst University.

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