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Adkison, Kathleen Gemberling
| Last Name: | Adkison |
|---|---|
| First Name: | Kathleen Gemberling |
| Dates: |
*1920 (Date of Birth)
*2010 (Date of Death)
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| Biography/History: | Kathleen Gemberling Adkison was born in 1920 and grew up in Beatrice, Nebraska. As a young child, her parents were enthusiastic fishermen. Among her earliest memories are of those excursions into nature, along with the memories of the extensive grain fields surrounding the town. Accompanying her parents to Seattle in 1936, she attended West Seattle High School and began to study privately at night school with the realist regionalist artist Leon Derbyshire. Adkison's early debuts as an artist in competitive group shows at the Seattle Art Museum's 31st Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists in 1945, and at the Western Washington State Fair in 1946, showed no sign of the powerful work to follow in the coming years. When she met Mark Tobey, both Adkison's life and art changed. After Tobey said to her in 1956, "From now on, paint what you really want," Adkison felt free to find what may now be seen as the first phase of her mature style (1957-1969). The pooling of paint by Helen Frankenthaler, the cloudy staining of Mark Rothko, and the drips and spatters of Jackson Pollock, found their own way as oblique inspirations into the art of Kathleen Gemberling Adkison. Information taken directly from the introduction: "Kathleen Gemberling Adkison: A Retrospective." AWARDS: Washington Professional Artists 1947,'55, Henry Gallery 1952, Northwest Annual 1956,'57,'58,'64,'79, Las Vegas Art Gallery 1959, Frye Museum 1959,'61,'66, Northwest Annual 1961, National Annual 1961,'66, Midyear Annual 1969, Governor's Award 1979 The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture owns four oil paintings spanning Adkison's career in addition to one work on paper. The Museum mounted a late career retrospective for the artist in 1999. |
| Related Objects: |
2657.1 (Painting, Schweitzer Basin, 1964)
3704.1 (Print, Screen, Moss Wraith, 1977)
4079.1 (Painting, Space Shower, 1973)
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