Vera Allison
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Short description|American jeweler and painter (1902–1993)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Vera Allison
| other_names = Vera Gaethke
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|12|05}}
| birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|08|20|1902|12|05}}
| death_place = San Cristobal, New Mexico, U.S.
| occupation = Visual artist
| years_active = 1920s, and c. 1930s–1980s
| known_for = Jeweler, painter
| movement = Modernism
| spouse = George Michael Gaethke (m. 1919–1982; death)
| children = 1
}}
Vera A. Allison (1902–1993) also known as Vera Gaethke, was an American Modernist jeweler, and abstract painter.{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Edan Milton |title=Artists in California, 1786-1940 |publisher=Hughes |year=1989 |isbn=978-0961611217 |author-link=Edan Milton Hughes}} She was a co-founder of the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco, a non-profit, arts educational organization. Allison had lived in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Mill Valley in California; and in San Cristobal, New Mexico.
Early life and education
Vera Allison was born December 5, 1902, in San Francisco. She attended University of California, Berkeley (U.C. Berkeley), where she received a B.A. degree in Art.{{Cite web |title=Vera Allison - Biography |url=https://www.askart.com/artist/Vera_Allison/10000807/Vera_Allison.aspx |access-date=October 8, 2022 |website=AskArt.com}}{{Cite news |last=Allen |first=Keith |date=November 12, 1950 |title=Empire Music And Drama, From Fine Arts to Art Crafts Is The Story of Designer Vera Allison |pages=21 |work=The Press Democrat |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110915166/empire-music-and-drama/ |access-date=October 8, 2022 |issn=0747-220X}}
In 1929, she married painter and printmaker George Gaethke (1898–1982), and they had a child.{{Cite web |date=July 16, 1929 |title=Intent to Marry |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457715596/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 8, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |work=The San Francisco Examiner |page=15 |language=en}}
Career
After graduation, she travelled in Europe and made paintings in oil paint and watercolors. When she returned to San Francisco, Allison worked as a commercial designer at Foster & Kleiser advertising company.
When she was returning to work after a period of maternity leave, Allison took adult education classes in jewelry and studied under Loyola Lawson Fourtane (1899–1976) of Sausalito. In 1951, Allison was one of the founding members of the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco (MAG), a metal arts organization led by Margaret De Patta.{{cite book |last1=Lauria |first1=Jo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KvtNbSpCpTkC&pg=PA140 |title=California design : the legacy of the West Coast craft and style |last2=Baizerman |first2=Suzanne |date=2005 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-0811843744 |location=San Francisco, Calif. |page=140 |access-date=October 7, 2022}}{{cite book |last1=Shaifer |first1=Jennifer |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/18636 |title=Metal Rising: The Forming of the Metal Arts Guild, San Francisco (1929-1964) |date=2011 |publisher=Corcoran College of Art & Design, Department of History of Decorative Arts |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=24, 35–36 |hdl=10088/18636 |access-date=October 6, 2022}}{{Cite web |last1=Adell |first1=Carrie |last2=Renk |first2=Merry |date=Summer 1984 |title=The San Francisco Metal Arts Guild - Ganoksin Community |url=https://www.ganoksin.com/article/san-francisco-metal-arts-guild/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |website=Ganoksin |publisher=Metalsmith (magazine) |language=en}} Other founding members of MAG included Merry Renk, Irena Brynner, Florence Resnikoff, Byron August Wilson, Peter Macchiarini, Virginia Macchiarini, Francis Sperisen, and Bob Winston.
From 1967 to 1986, Allison lived in Mill Valley, Marin County, California; where she was an active member of the Marin Society of Artists.
She was part of the group exhibition, Jewelry by Peter Macchiarini, Vera Allison, and Irena Brynner (1952) at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA).{{Cite news |date=June 8, 1952 |title=San Francisco Museum of Art |pages=67 |work=Oakland Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110916043/san-francisco-museum-of-art/ |access-date=October 8, 2022}} In 1962, Allison was part of an annual members group exhibition with the Society of San Francisco Women Artists (now San Francisco Women Artists) arts organizations at SFMoMA, where she won an award for her jewelry.{{Cite news |last=Fried |first=Alexander |date=December 9, 1962 |title=Women Hold Their Annual Show |pages=158–159 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110916128/women-hold-their-annual-show-22/ |access-date=October 8, 2022 |issn=2574-593X}}{{Cite news |date=December 25, 1966 |title=S.F. Women Artists Annual Exhibition Prizewinners |pages=56 |work=Oakland Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110951337/sf-women-artists-annual-exhibition/ |access-date=October 8, 2022}} In 1976, she served as a jury member for the 30th Annual Art Festival (1976) in Civic Center, San Francisco.{{Cite news |last=Fried |first=Alexander |date=September 7, 1976 |title=There Will Be Sad Note in Art Festival |pages=23 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58317969/the-san-francisco-examiner/ |access-date=October 8, 2022}}
End of life, death, and legacy
She continued to be active in the arts into the late 1970s. In 1986, Allison moved to New Mexico to live with her daughter.{{Cite news |date=September 2, 1993 |title=Vera Allison Gaethke |pages=17 |work=The Taos News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21630351/the-taos-news/ |access-date=October 8, 2022}} She died on August 20, 1993, in La Lama (now Lama Foundation) in San Cristobal, New Mexico at the age of 90.
Her artist files are located in the Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library in Washington, D.C.{{Cite web |title=Record Vera Allison, 1902- [Folder] |url=https://collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:SILAF_7426 |access-date=October 9, 2022 |website=Collections Search Center, Smithsonian Institution}}{{Cite web |title=Allison, Vera, 1902- |url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no00099809.html |website=LC Name Authority File (LCNAF)}}
Exhibitions
- 1947, Vera Allison and George Gaethke, Gump's gallery, San Francisco, California{{Cite news |last=Dugan |first=H. L. |date=October 12, 1947 |title=Chinese Art Exhibited in S.F. Gallery |pages=C-3 |work=Oakland Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/205283482/ |issn=1068-5936 |via=Newspapers.com}}
- 1950, solo exhibition, Barry Lambert Gallery, Santa Rosa, California
- 1955, Jack London Square Art Festival, Oakland, California{{Cite news |date=August 28, 1955 |title=Jack London Square Art Festival Will Close Today |pages=26 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110954778/jack-london-square-art-festival-will/ |access-date=October 8, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
- 1952, Jewelry by Peter Macchiarini, Vera Allison, and Irena Brynner, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
- 1961, Contemporary Craftsmen of the Far West, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York City, New York{{Cite web |title=Contemporary Craftsmen of the Far West, M-27 10 |url=https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll6/id/1592/rec/1 |website=American Craft Council (ACC)}}
- 1962, Annual Exhibition of the Society of San Francisco Women Artists, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California{{Cite news |date=November 29, 1959 |title=A Score For The Distaff Side |pages=207 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110955167/a-score-for-the-distaff-side/ |access-date=October 8, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
- 1966, The Art of Personal Adornment, the Museum West of the American Craftsman Council, San Francisco, California{{Cite news |date=January 27, 1966 |title=Exhibit of Amulets, Jewelry |pages=23 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110953334/exhibit-of-amulets-jewelry/ |access-date=October 8, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Vera}}
Category:Artists from San Francisco
Category:Artists from Berkeley, California
Category:Artists from Mill Valley, California
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni