Carrie Sweetser
{{Short description|American painter}}{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Carrie Sweetser
| birth_name = Carolyn Knowles Phinney
| birth_date = September 11, 1863
| birth_place = Centerville, Massachusetts
| death_date = {{death date and age|1952|09|09|1863|09|11}}
| death_place = Eugene, Oregon
| known_for = Watercolorist
| image = Carrie Sweetser, water colorist.jpg
| caption = Carolyn "Carrie" Knowles Phinney Sweetser (1863–1952)
}}
Carolyn Phinney Sweetser (1863–1952) was an American watercolorist and amateur botanist who lived and worked in Oregon.
Early life and education
Carolyn Knowles Phinney, daughter of Nelson and Eunice (Clark) Phinney, was born in Centerville, Massachusetts, on September 11, 1863.{{Cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=MAMarriageRecords&h=13382280&tid=7103042&pid=-1012143634&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&rhSource=60525|title=Massachusetts Marriage Records, 1840–1915|date=February 29, 1888|website=ancestry.com|access-date=January 20, 2017}} She married Albert Raddin Sweetser (1861–1940) in Centerville on February 29, 1888.{{Cite web|url=http://www.npsoregon.org/kalmiopsis/kalmiopsis06/love.pdf|title=Albert Raddin Sweetser, Founder of the University of Oregon Herbarium|last=Love|first=Rhoda M.|year=1996|publisher=Kalmiopsis|access-date=January 19, 2017}} The couple had no children, but they raised Carrie's nephew, George Phinney.
They moved to Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1897 when her husband was hired by Pacific University. They moved to Eugene when her husband joined the Botany faculty of the University of Oregon in 1902, and became head of the department in 1909.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/sweetser_carrie_phinney_1863_1952_/#.Vtt46U1wXIU|title=Carrie Phinney Sweetser (1863–1952)|last=Love|first=Rhoda|website=www.oregonencyclopedia.org|access-date=January 20, 2017}}
Watercolorist and amateur botanist
Sweetser spent much time over the years on botanical exploring trips with her husband and others,{{cite book|author=Glenda Riley|title=Women and Nature: Saving the "Wild" West|url=https://archive.org/details/womennaturesavin0000rile|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-8975-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womennaturesavin0000rile/page/56 56]–}} during which she painted watercolors of wildflowers and fungi, though she had no formal training in art.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7293972/the_eugene_guard/?xid=637|title=Widow of Botanist is Painter of Fine Collection of Watercolors|last=Moore|first=Jo|date=January 7, 1948|newspaper=Eugene Guard|access-date=January 20, 2017|via=Newspapers.com}} More than 300 of her paintings are in the special collections in the University of Oregon Libraries.
Reception
The Eugene Guard noted, "For many who have not had the opportunity to roam over the hills and meadows of the Oregon country, these delicate watercolors are a source of great interest and knowledge. And for those who have more intimate knowledge of the wildflowers of the area, the pictures are a delightful reminder." Biographer Rhoda Love wrote, "Her surviving paintings, photographs, and diaries provide a vivid picture of a Northwest botanist's life in the early twentieth century."
Sweetser died in Eugene on September 9, 1952, two days short of eighty-nine years.
{{Portal bar|Biography|Visual arts|Oregon}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://scua.uoregon.edu/repositories/2/resources/398 Albert and Carrie Sweetser papers] at the University of Oregon
- [https://scua.uoregon.edu/repositories/2/resources/2159 Carrie K. Sweetser paintings] at the University of Oregon
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Category:20th-century American artists
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:Artists from Massachusetts
Category:American watercolorists
Category:American women watercolorists
Category:American botanical illustrators