Works Progress Administration Artists photograph collection, between 1935 and 1943

Ted Abrams grew up in a southern Jewish family in Savannah, Georgia. He came to Seattle prior to WWI and became active in the social life of the city's fine art scene. He spent part of the war years working as a buyer for the Frederick & Nelson department store in Japan, but returned to Seattle where by 1917 he had a studio in the Haller building. He gained a reputation for his collections of antiques, cooking, singing, storytelling, and also worked as a weaver. In the 1920s he opened Club Mauve on First Hill which he designed around his antiques, exotic art, and instruments playable by guests. Abrams himself served as chef and entertainer, playing guitar and singing blues and gospel music. There, he befriended Seattle icon Ivar Haglund who came to Abrams aid when his club was closed. Haglund gifted Abrams a plot of land across from his own home where Abrams built a two-room house from salvaged materials. In 1938 through the Federal Art Project, Abrams was employed in building models of Indian Villages for the Washington State Museum and replicating scenery in miniature for a model of the Skagit Dam for the City Light Building. Abrams died in Seattle in 1942.

Guy Anderson was one of the Northwest's most respected contemporary painters of abstract expressionism and active for more than forty years. He was born on November 20, 1906 in Edmonds, Washington. Growing up, he used to bus down to Seattle Public Library to study art books. In 1929 he won the Tiffany Foundation Scholarship and spent the summer studying art on Long Island, New York. Upon returning to Washington, he set up a studio and had a number of paintings exhibited in a group show in downtown Seattle where he met fellow painter Morris Graves, a lifelong friend. In 1933 he befriended the founder of the Seattle Art Museum, Dr. Richard E. Fuller. Anderson worked there for several years as an art installer and children's teacher. In 1934 he made a trip in an old pick-up truck down to California with Graves and Estelle Claussen. As part of the Federal Art Project, in 1939 and 1940, Anderson taught at the Spokane Art Center. Later, he was noted along other painters as a founder of the Northwest School, a naturalistic painting movement. In 1959 he set up permanently in La Conner, Washington. The natural setting there served as a major inspiration for his art. In 1993, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Seattle Center. Anderson died on April 30, 1998 in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Margaret Anthony was born in Rhode Island in 1910. Her father worked in a lumber yard in Barrington, but by 1920 the family had relocated to Spokane, Washington where her father became a stenographer in an insurance company. Anthony attended Vassar College in New York and gained skill as a portrait painter. In 1936, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer referred to her as "one of Spokane's youngest and most outstanding artists." In 1937, Anthony married Harold Otho Stone of Seattle. They later moved to Portland, Oregon where Margaret worked as a portrait painter. She died in November 1979 in Millbrae, California.

Wilhelm Bakke was born on April 27, 1906 in Naustdal, Norway. He left Norway in 1923 at age seventeen, originally arriving in Canada. By 1930, he had declared his intention to be naturalized as a U.S. citizen in Tacoma, Washington. He attended the College of Puget Sound from which he graduated in 1935. As a senior, he served as the first president of the college's writing club. From 1936 to 1938, he taught at Foster Senior High School in Burien, Washington. In 1939, he was teaching in Federal Way. In the 1940s he had various teaching positions: he served as the instructor of metal work for the newly opened Hobby House at Fort Lewis for the U.S. Army in 1943, taught woodworking at Central Washington University, and from 1945 to 1948 held a faculty position at the College of Puget Sound in the occupational therapy department teaching creative woodworking and woodcarving, art metal work, and jewelry techniques. In 1951, he gained a Masters in science at Oregon State College. He was a professor of industrial technology and education for many years at Central Washington University, and crafted a ceremonial mace for use by that institution. Bakke also did woodcarving for church interiors. He died in 2000 in Ellensburg, Washington.

Fernand W. Barrett was born on June 26, 1906 in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. His father was a locomotive engineer. By 1910 the family had relocated to Whitefish, Montana, eventually settling in Spokane, Washington by 1920. Barrett was an associate art editor for The Annual at Gonzaga High School and attended college for two years at Gonzaga University. In the late 1920s, he was employed as an artist in the advertising art studio of Patterson & Sullivan in San Francisco. He opened his own art studio in 1930 together with Louis Du Bois in Seattle which operated for a few years, after which he continued to work as an occupational artist and portrait painter. He died on December 17, 1984 in Orange County, California.

Ralph J. Bishop was born on October 6, 1905 in Tacoma, Washington. After graduating high school, he worked for several years in Tacoma as a draftsman. Bishop was talented in quick rapid-fire style sketches. He produced hundreds and many were exhibited in various cities in the Northwest. His most successful sketches were of the tide flats in his hometown of Tacoma. In the 1930s, he drew a map of Washington featuring vignettes depicting historic sites throughout the state. This was displayed for thirty years at the Washington State Historical Museum. The museum lacked information about Bishop as the cartographer until Captain T. J. Bishop of Seattle visited and identified his brother as the author of the map. In 1968, to celebrate Bishop's work, the museum exhibited sixty of his watercolors and pencil sketches, many of historic sites and buildings in the Tacoma and Steilacoom area. Bishop had a career as an architect in Spokane. In 1957 he acted as treasurer of the Spokane Chapter of the Washington State Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He died on November 13, 1984 in Spokane.

Artist Alf Bruseth was born on May 10, 1898 in Silvana, Washington. He was a self-taught artist who specialized in drawings and watercolor. In 1938, he submitted his work to Mr. Inverarity, the supervisor of the federal art project in Seattle. One of Bruseth’s paintings traveled with Inverarity as an example of what the project was looking for in artists work. Sometime before the 1960s, Bruseth moved to California. Minette Martin of the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian interviewed him at his Oakland home on April 24, 1964. A sample recording of this interview is available on the Archives for American Art’s website. He died in 1974.

Bertha Ballou was born in 1891. She grew up on the frontier, living in U.S. Army forts as her father was the military commander of Fort Niobrara in Nebraska. In 1910, Bertha went east to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, beginning her formal art education. In 1911, she was enrolled in the Art Students League in New York City, then left to travel Asia. From 1916 to 1920, she studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC. She spent a brief period in Spokane, Washington, but returned east in 1921 to study in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston until 1924. She spent the years from 1925 to 1927 in France and Italy on a Tiffany Foundation Fellowship then returned to Spokane to move in with her parents. Her father died the next year and in 1930, Bertha married Frank D. Buckler who she later divorced.

Her frontier childhood was a major inspiration for her art which often featured scenes of sand hills, the Niobrara River Valley, and Indians and U.S. soldiers on horseback. In Spokane, she taught and was a popular lecturer on art topics. She was a member of the Spokane Art Association, the Washington Art Association, and exhibited with those groups as well as the Spokane Society of Women Artists and the Women Painters of Washington. In 1934, she completed a project painting historic Indians of the Northwest. Her portraits of Chief Joseph and Chief Moses are held at the Spokane Public Library. In 1948, she was commissioned by the First Federal Savings Loan Bank in Spokane for a frontier-themed mural. She died in January 1978 in Spokane, Washington.

Born Margaret Gove on November 13, 1881 in Rochester, Minnesota, Camfferman was a Modernist-leaning landscape and still-life painter. She attended the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts where she met Peter Camfferman. They married in 1914. In 1915, the pair relocated to Langley on Whidbey Island where they built their home Brackenwood, all the furniture of which Peter made himself out of driftwood. Brackenwood also included cabin studios for visiting artist friends and space for private classes. In the 1920s, Margaret exhibited actively in Northwest Annual shows put on by the Seattle Fine Arts Society. She was a charter member of the Women Painters of Washington which formed in 1930. She and Peter traveled to Paris in 1932 where they studied with Andre L’hote and were inspired by the Cubist movement. She was a highly regarded member of the Seattle Group of Twelve. Margaret worked as an easel painter for the Public Works of Art Project. She also gave talks with the Study Guild after the opening of the Seattle Art Museum, where she had a solo exhibition in 1935. She spent much of her life as an art instructor, conducting classes in Seattle and Everett. She was also a member of the Northwest Academy of Art, the National League of American Penwomen, and an honorary life member of the Everett Art League. She died in 1964 in Everett, Washington.

Peter Camfferman was born on February 6, 1860 in the Hague, Netherlands, immigrating to the U.S. at age 12 in 1902. He was known as a landscape painter, etcher, and art educator. He studied at the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts where he met Margaret Gove. The pair married in 1914 and relocated a year later to Langley, on Whidbey Island in Washington. There they built their home Brackenwood, all the furniture of which Peter made himself out of driftwood. Brackenwood also included cabin studios for visiting artist friends and space for private classes. In the 1920s, he began exhibiting in Northwest Annuals put on by the Seattle Fine Arts Society. He was influenced by the Synchromism movement as well as the Cubists, having studied with Andre L'hote together with Margaret during a 1932 trip to Paris. Peter was a well-regarded member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters, and the Group of Twelve. His work was displayed nationally from the Pacific Northwest and the Seattle Art Museum where he had solo exhibitions, to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and in galleries in California and Chicago. He taught at the Helen Bush Art School in Seattle and in 1940 offered free art classes for high school students under sponsorship from the Puget Sound Group of Painters. He died in 1957.

Waldo S. Chase was born in Seattle in 1895. He was the eldest of four children and, along with his younger brother, Wendell Corwin Chase, became a noted printmaker. After high school, he gained a teaching certificate from Seattle College and taught for several years in Mason County and on the Skokomish Indian Reservation. However, by 1923 he had become frustrated with the industrialization of society. Together with his brother Corwin, he began living in the wilderness of Western Washington in a teepee Corwin had designed and built himself. The beauty of nature served as a major inspiration for their artistic endeavors. The brothers taught themselves the basics of woodblock printing in the Japanese style from a 1916 instruction manual. They began producing prints in the 1924. Waldo is best known for his expressive and delicately colored woodcuts depicting Northwest landscapes. He and Corwin operated a workshop in Killarney-on-the-Lake in Bellevue where they produced what they called Chenuis Color Prints of Mount Rainier. Waldo had a one-man show at the Art Institute and also exhibited his wood blocks at an exhibit at the Yachthaven mansion near where he was living in his teepee along Hood Canal. He was a conscientious objector to WWII, but carried out alternative service as an artist in residence at the Waldport and Cascade Locks for the Oregon Civilian Public Service. After the war, he kept to his life in the wilderness working on art, prints, sketching and painting until his death in April 1988 in Union, Washington.

Wendell Corwin Chase was born in Seattle in 1897. He was the younger brother of fellow artist and printmaker Waldo S. Chase. In 1923, he left his career as an urban planner and city engineer to join Waldo living in the Western Washington wilderness in tepees Corwin designed himself. He later built the pair a handcrafted Japanese-style cabin out of locally available cedar, but the brothers continued moving around Washington, living near Mount Rainier, Lake Washington, Hood Canal, and other locations. Together with Waldo, Corwin learned the art of Japanese woodblock printing from a 1916 instructional manual. By December 1924, just six months after they began their study of printmaking, the brothers were selling their "Chenuis Color Prints." They also became affiliated with fellow artist Jacob Elshin and offered their work for sale as Christmas cards at his studio. In 1931, Corwin had a solo exhibition at the Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts. He also exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in a 1934 show featuring works produced for the Public Works of Art Project. He authored the book Teepee Fires about his adventures living with his brother on Mount Rainier. W. Corwin Chase died in December 1988 in Vaughn, Washington.

Estelle Claussen was born on May 24, 1907 on a farm near Goldendale, Washington. As she was preparing to attend university, she moved to live with her aunt, Mabel Ingersoll Miller, in Everett. At school she majored in literature and art with aspirations to be a portrait painter. She attended extra classes with Eustace Ziegler in downtown Seattle where she met and befriended fellow artist Guy Anderson. In 1934, Claussen joined Anderson and their friend Morris Graves on a road trip south with the goal of getting to Los Angeles and on to Mexico, sketching and painting as they went. The three earned their living along the way buying and re-selling antiques and performing odd jobs like picking strawberries. In Los Angeles, they stayed part time in the home of Estelle's cousin, screenwriter Seton I. Miller. Claussen exhibited her work several times in Seattle. She was a member of the Women Artists of Washington, showed her oil portraits at Attic Studios, and displayed her work in an exhibition of northwest artists organized in the home of her aunt. Claussen died on July 8, 1955 in Los Angeles, California.

Chester Soule Cobb was born on April 20, 1899 in Portland, Oregon. The son of a millwright, he took art classes while attending Lincoln High School, was a member of the Scribblers Club, and served as art editor for the school newspaper the Cardinal. He served in WWI and attained the rank of Sergeant First Class. He arrived in Seattle in 1922 and worked as a commercial artist in street car advertising and for John Hamrick theaters as a staff artist. In 1928 he was part of the executive committee that formed the Art Guild of the Seattle Fine Arts Society. Cobb exhibited with the Seattle Art Guild and was known for his amusing caricatures. He also acted as chairman organizing various exhibits by the Guild to be displayed at the Galleries of the Art Institute. In 1933 he was a judge for an art competition selecting the poster to advertise the opening of the Seattle Art Museum and a book plate for use in the museum's library. He was a member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Artists. In about 1935 he relocated with his family to Los Angeles, California to work as an animator for Walt Disney, though he quit in 1940 after writing a critical letter to Mr. Disney. Cobb died on January 10, 1968 in Escondido, California.

Elizabeth Colborne was born in 1885 in Chamberlain, South Dakota. She lost her mother at age six and two years later in 1893, her father also passed away, leaving Colborne an orphan. She went to live with her maternal aunt and uncle in Bellingham, Washington. After graduating from high school in 1903 she left for New York City to attend the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. There, she stayed with relations working as an artist as she attended school. In 1905 she returned to Bellingham and took a job as an illustrator for a magazine, also setting up a studio to teach young children. Colborne began splitting time between New York and Washington. In 1907, she did cover designs and illustrations for Decorative Designers of New York City as well as illustrated children's books, designed book plates, and produced Christmas cards sold nationally. She enrolled in the National Academy of Design in New York in 1910 and studied woodblock printmaking in 1924 with the Art Students League. Her art production waned with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 and she returned to Bellingham. In 1933 she spent the summer alone in a cabin to imbibe nature and produce art, after which she participated in the Public Works of Art Project producing prints. In 1939 she was accepted as a member of the National Association of Women Artists in New York City and held an exhibition there of her color woodcuts, for which she was exceptionally talented and well known, earning national recognition for her vivid and painterly effects. She also exhibited with the Women Painters of Washington and had a solo show at the Seattle Art Museum in 1940. In 1942, she was hired by the Boeing Company where she worked during the war years as a draftsperson and technical illustrator until her retirement in 1948. Colborne died in Seattle in 1968.

Stanley A. Cookson was born on October 3, 1900 in San Francisco, California, the son of a ship carpenter. While he did not enter the seafaring life himself, marinescapes and ships became a frequent subject for him as an artist. He grew up in Oakland, Los Angeles where he attended the California School of Arts and Crafts. By 1930 he had become a resident of Seattle, Washington and began exhibiting in local galleries. He was a member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Artists and under their sponsorship taught free art classes for high school students. He was proficient in both watercolors and oil on canvas. He produced paintings under the Public Words of Art Project and one of those pieces was selected for display at the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington D.C. He had another P.W.A.P. painting gifted to a congressman and a penitentiary sought one of his marines to hang in their welfare department for inspiration. By 1944, Cookson had relocated to Bremerton and was working at Winslow Shipyard on nearby Bainbridge Island.

Irene Cope was born on October 23, 1897 to a farming family in Walla Walla, Washington. She spent a year studying at the University of Idaho, then came to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, ultimately completing her art education at the Cornish School. At Cornish, she studied under the department head Walter C. Reese, an illustrator of national renown. After graduation, she became a teacher there herself and by 1927 was instructing children's classes in drawing, design, and color. She participated in poster contests in Seattle, placing fairly well. In 1926, her design won a competition to become the cover of the Christmas edition of the Town Crier, a weekly magazine of arts and culture news. The magazine described Cope's work as having a "pleasing flair for fantasy, delicacy of color and a vague eerie quality." Besides teaching, she also created fashion illustrations for Eastern advertising agencies. For the Public Works of Art Project, she made art for display in children's schools and nurseries. By 1940, she had relocated with her family to Los Angeles, California, where Cope worked for Warner Brothers Studios making backgrounds for animated cartoons, painting portraits and miniatures in her spare time. She died on April 1, 1993 in Mendocino, California.

Elizabeth L. Curtis was born in October 1892 in Seattle, Washington, the daughter of a lumber dealer. She went on to have a long teaching career in both art and ornithology. In 1916, she painted several mural panels decorating the auditorium of the Seattle Fine Arts Society for their 4th annual spring festival. As a member of both the Audubon Society and the Northwest Bird and Mammal Society, she led walks, gave lectures, and taught courses on water and shore birds. For thirty years she was a professor in the art department of the University of Washington and displayed her work in faculty exhibitions. She taught free adult classes in flower arrangement at the Y.W.C.A. and lectured on art history for the Study Guild sponsored by the Seattle Art Museum in the 1930s. She was involved in the Public Works of Art Project and is said to have painted the first mural done in Seattle under that program, a piece placed in the old Oceanography Building at U.W. In 1936, she joined the Seattle Group of Modern Artists which organized for the purpose of group-inspired work. In the 1940s, she led courses on wood engraving, wood cuts, laboratory drawing, and supervised the selection of candidates for Seattle Public School art teachers. She provided 60 pen-and-ink illustrations for the Field Guide to the Birds of King County published by the Seattle Audubon Society. She also illustrated a series called "Nature Sketches" written by Harry W. Higman for the Seattle Times from 1955 through 1957. She retired from UW in 1960 and died in 1971.

Francis Valentine de Mole was born in Burnside near Adelaide, South Australia. As a mining engineer, he traveled the world widely. He first came to North America from Sydney, Australia in 1904, arriving in Quebec as a prospector headed for Rossland in British Columbia, Canada. Around 1911 he returned for a few years to Australia, but also spent time in Japan, China, Singapore, Burma, and Africa, claiming that in his life he crossed the equator more than 20 times. By 1918, however, he had come to Seattle to stay and in 1919 declared his intent to naturalize as a U.S. citizen. In Seattle, he first began working in Ames Shipyard and later supervised the building of the Glendale Golf Course. Following a heart attack that left him unable to continue as a mining engineer, he turned to woodcarving, a hobby he first began with one of his sisters for a church carving guild in Adelaide. In 1936, he offered lessons on Wednesdays for members of the Sunset Club. He also gave classes from beginning to advanced students at the Women's University Club. He was noted for offering tea time during his lessons at 4 o'clock. His work and that of his students was displayed in the Washington Craftsman Guild exhibits at the Seattle Art Museum. He died in Seattle on December 3, 1943 after a long illness.

Jacob Alexander Elshin was born in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He graduated from Nicholas Cavalry School and was a former lieutenant colonel of hussars in the Russian Imperial Army. After the Russian Revolution, he fled with his father through Siberia to Shanghai, where Elshin lived for three years working as a cartoonist for the North China Daily News. In 1923, Elshin came to Seattle. As soon as he arrived, he began painting and exhibiting, designing the exterior of the Moscow Restaurant, yearly selling greeting and Christmas cards, and helping with theater sets and costumes for Russian community events. From 1928, he exhibited yearly in the Northwest Annual shows put on by the Seattle Fine Art Society and later the Seattle Art Museum. He became one of the most well-known mural painters in Seattle. Through the Federal Works of Art Project, he painted three murals in public buildings for West Seattle High School, the Renton Post Office, and the University Post Office. He gave free art classes for high schoolers under sponsorship from the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. In the 1940s and 1950s, he exhibited nationally as well as abroad in Brazil and France. He also did set designs for the Northwest Grand Opera and painted religious subjects in the style of Russian icons. He had four solo exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum in his lifetime in 1934, 1943, 1956, and 1965. Elshin died in 1976 in Seattle.

Merlin Glenwood Enabrit was born on June 5, 1903 in Meservey, Iowa. He attended the (now defunct) Des Moines University in 1921 and 1922 before he began studying at the Cumming School of Art. He spent his adult life in Seattle, Chicago, Hollywood, and Scottsdale, Arizona working as a commercial painter and illustrator and gained renown for his expertise on the use of color in art. He had relocated to Seattle in the 1930s, returning again in the 1940s from Chicago. In 1936, he painted murals for the Ubangi Club of Seattle. While well known for his portraits and landscapes, but Enabrit really made a name for himself painting pin-up girls for calendars, playing cards, and postcards. His "Merlin girls" were so popular with British soldiers in WWII that Enabrit was awarded fellowship to the prestigious Royal Art Society of London. He also did portraits of Hollywood stars and representatives of the United Nations. He wrote four books on painting and color theory. In his later years, he traveled around the country offering painting workshops. Enabrit died in November of 1979.

Vera Eleanor Engel was born on November 26, 1909 in Seattle, Washington. She attended West Seattle High School where she was nicknamed "Red." In 1931, she graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in fine arts. That same year, she exhibited a print in the third annual Northwest Printmakers' exhibition at the Seattle Art Institute. In 1934 she created the print "Houses from Old Denny Hill, Seattle" for the Public Works of Art Project for Washington State. She also studied at Cornell University and gained a master's degree at Columbia in New York City. She spent two years in the early 1940s teaching applied arts in Forest Glen, Maryland. She married Victor Heck in 1943 in Costa Rica where he was a member of the U.S. civil attaché. The couple later moved to Macon, Georgia around 1950 where Victor became a professor at Mercer University. Vera died on December 14, 2011 in Macon, Georgia.

William W. Ferguson was an artist working in Eastern Washington and had work displayed in the annual exhibition of the Pacific Coast Painters and Sculptors in 1935.

John Fery was born as Johann Nepomuk Levy on March 25, 1859 in Strasswalchen, Austria to Hungarian parents. His was orphaned as a teen, but his inheritance allowed him to pursue an education in art. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1883 and lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where a number of German-speaking immigrant artists had been hired to work on large panorama paintings. He briefly returned to Europe and started a family there before came back to the U.S. A trip through Yellowstone National Park all the way to Seattle gave him a lasting appreciation for the beauty of the American West. In the 1890s, he worked as a hunting guide for groups of wealthy Europeans touring the West. From 1910 to 1913, Fery was commissioned to produce hundreds of paintings promoting Glacier National Park. His paintings were hung in train depots, hotels, ships, travel agencies, and colleges throughout the country. He took commissions from other railways, most notably the Great Northern, through which he gained a reputation of national renown as a landscape painter. From 1925 to 1930, Fery completed about 75 paintings for the railway. In 1929, Fery moved to Orcas Island, Washington to be closer to his family; his studio was next door to the home of his daughter. However, that same year, a fire destroyed his studio and much of the work he was finishing for the Great Northern railway. The subsequent onset of the Great Depression made his future prospects grim. Fery operated a new studio in Everett, Washington until his death on September 10, 1934.

Earl T. Fields was born on April 11, 1898 in Kuopio, Finland. He immigrated with his family to the U.S. via Canada in 1903 whereupon they changed their surname from Tiihonen to Fields. The family settled on a farm in Woodland, Washington. In 1918, Fields graduated from Woodland High School and went on to earn a B.A. from the University of Washington, the first Finn from his community to achieve either accomplishment. In the mid-1920s to the 1930s, Fields studied part time at the University for a Masters degree in fine arts while hitchhiking up and down the West Coast and Alaska, sketching in between working labor jobs. In 1927, he made one such trip with friend, fellow artist, and art writer Kenneth Callahan. In 1933, he began working as a museum assistant at the newly opened Seattle Art Museum where he also had his first one-person show in 1934. He produced a handful of paintings for the Works Project Administration art projects. He left his position as staff photographer at S.A.M. during WWII, instead working for Boeing. He quit painting in 1959, returning to it only after he retired from S.A.M. in 1972. In his time, he was well-connected with the Seattle art scene and was a member of the Group of Twelve. Much of his early work depicted Finnish people where he grew up and farm life in the Woodland area. Fields died on March 24, 1975 in Seattle, Washington.

Jessie Fisken was born on March 4, 1860. She attended Glasgow School of Art in Scotland and Kensington School of Art in London. In 1888, she immigrated to the U.S. from Helensburgh, Scotland with her family, settling in a home on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. Fisken set herself up as a professional artist. Her paintings, usually portraits, were in an impressionistic style. She was a member of the Seattle Conservatory of Arts at the Holyoke Building in 1892. She also served as the director of the Spokane Art League Art School in 1902. She displayed beaten copper crafts at the 1907 Seattle Women's Century Club Arts and Crafts Exhibition. She ran a tea room together with her friend Mrs. C. H. Rollins that offered a number of her artistic creations for sale. Fisken died on December 29, 1935 in Seattle.

Edmond James Fitzgerald was born in 1912 in Seattle. He was well-known as a marine, landscape, and portrait painter, and served as a combat artist in WWII. He graduated from the California School of Fine Arts and in Seattle studied under Mark Tobey and Eustace Ziegler. At age 19, he traveled to Alaska as a deckhand to gain experience painting sailors up close and became taken with Alaskan scenery. Fitzgerald set up a studio in Seattle along the waterfront at Pier 9 where he painted marinescapes in both watercolor and oil. Under F.D.R.'s New Deal, Fitzgerald painted murals for the government, notably in post offices in Preston, ID, Colville, WA, and Ontario, OR. He served for 26 years in the U.S. Naval Reserve and during WWII commanded an LST, gaining combat experience alongside his art assignments. After WWII, he settled in Larchmont, New York, but returned at times to the Pacific Northwest to paint landscapes. He taught at Newark Academy of Art, Parsons School of Design, and the New York Academy of Design. He was the first Honorary President of and a regular juror for the American Watercolor Society. He also served as president of the Allied Artists of America and was a member of The Artist's Fellowship and the National Society of Mural Painters. In 1978 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he died in 1989.

Edgar Forkner was born in Indiana in 1867. He trained as an artist in New York with the Art Student League. He traveled and painted in Italy and taught at the Chicago Auditorium before settling in Seattle where his older brother Willard had established a mortuary in 1910. He was especially well known for floral watercolors and vivid water scenes in oil. He was a popular artist and gained a reputation as one of Seattle's best-known painters, exhibiting often as a member of the city's Group of Twelve, though Forkner won more renown back East. He exhibited paintings for over 20 years in the Hoosier Salon Exhibition. He visited Chicago annually and showed at the Chicago Art Institute. His painting "Old Vase of Flowers" was chosen for display at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. He also taught art at his studio, as well as offering free classes for high school students under sponsorship from the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters in 1941. Forkner died in Seattle in 1945.

The identity of this artist could not be verified.

Ernst Gebert was an expert woodcarver. He was born in Germany in 1885 and taught the trade by his father. He served for four years in the German army in WWI and was wounded twice. He came to the U.S. in 1930 and settled in Seattle. He worked for the Architectural Decorating Company. In 1938 he carved the chancel rails for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Chapel at Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton. The next year, assisted by colleague Fritz Hahn, Gebert carved a pair of twin 40-foot red cedar totem poles to flank the entrance of the Bridgeport branch of the Boys & Girls Club in Chicago. The work took eight months and special tools had to be designed for the task. Gebert was also known for his miniatures and had his work displayed at the Seattle Art Museum. He died in 1942 at age 57.

Ross Gill was born in Beloit, Kansas in 1887. He was a painter, frequently working in tempera as well as oil and watercolor. He studied at the Chicago Art Institute and with the Art Students League in New York City. His work was widely displayed in the Pacific Northwest and exhibited in the Seattle Art Museum from 1935 through 1949. In 1934, Gill was involved in a controversy at the Pilgrim Congregational Church. He was teaching an art class for young congregants and the murals they were set to paint drew accusations of communist propaganda from some churchgoers, despite being defended by the pastor. Gill, working as an artist for the Civil Works Administration, was unable to see through the murals' completion, though he did other murals in buildings in the Northwest such as the Seattle Chamber of Commerce Building. He often offered his watercolors for sale through the Lowman & Hanford Company. His frequent subjects included landscapes, seascapes, ships, and decorative flower studies. He was an active member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters and offered lectures through the Seattle Art Museum's Study Guild. In 1966 and 1967, his paintings appeared on the covers of Seattle Times Sunday Magazine. He lived in a pioneer log cabin northwest of Bothell and hosted other artists to sketch there on occasion. He died in 1969 in Bothell, Washington.

Salvador Gonzalez was born to Spanish parents on December 5, 1905 in Bloomington, Illinois. He was hard of hearing. During the Great Depression, he studied at the Cornish School in Seattle. He worked on Federal Art Projects in the city of Seattle, including on murals alongside Morris Graves, Malcolm Roberts, Theodore Abrams, and Jacob Elshin. In 1942, he earned an honorable mention in an exhibition of 60 war posters created by Pacific Northwest Artists and displayed at the Seattle Art Museum in joint sponsorship with The State Artists' Council for Defense and the 13th Naval District. Fellow artist William Cumming noted in his memoir Sketchbook that Gonzalez painted landscapes that were "compilations of leaves, trunks, burls, initials carved in bark, blades of grass and all the impedimenta of the world of illusion, rendered in a supernormal focusing of intense love," and said that long after WWII, Gonzalez kept painting. He died in 1989.

Morris Graves was a renowned artist of the Pacific Northwest Region, famed for his abstract surrealist paintings mixing an interest with the natural world and Asian philosophies showcasing his deep love of nature. He was born in Fox Valley, Oregon on August 28, 1910. Shortly after his birth, his family returned to the Seattle region, and Graves grew up near Edmonds. He was a self-taught artist and initially dropped out of high school to work as a steamship hand for the American Mail Line visiting Asian ports. In the 1930s, he returned to Seattle and entered the art scene, befriending Guy Anderson, who he shared a studio with in La Conner. He won an award in the Seattle Art Museum's Northwest Annual Exhibition in its opening year and had his first one-man show there in 1936. He participated sporadically in Washington's Federal Works of Art Project, but quit by 1938 to travel to the Caribbean. In 1942, he gained national acclaim when his work was included in the exhibit "Americans 1942: 18 Artists from 9 States" put on by the Museum of Art in New York. In 1953, he was identified as one of the "Mystic Painters of the Northwest" alongside Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, and Mark Tobey. He traveled often and frequently uprooted himself seeking a quiet, reflective place to live, from building a rustic clifftop cabin on Fidalgo Island in Washington to moving to Ireland and finally settled in Loleta, California in 1964 where he created a lake and Japanese-style home on a patch of 25 acres of redwood forest. Throughout his career, he exhibited his works in many prestigious U.S. museums and galleries. Graves died on May 5, 2001 in Loleta.

Max Frank Grosser was born in March 1857 in Germany. In 1871 at age 14, he boarded a ship in Hamburg bound for New York City. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1890. He lived in New York for several years working as a woodcarver, eventually settling in San Francisco with his wife, a fellow German named Rose, and his brother Edward. By 1930, Max and Rose had moved to Riverton, Washington, where he continued his work as a woodcarver. He died in August 1948 in Seattle.

Theodora Lawrenson Harrison was a heraldic artist of international renown. She was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1890. She began her art study at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art after which she completed a five-year apprenticeship in Europe on heraldry and illumination. Harrison arrived in Seattle in 1929 and was active in the city's art scene for more than twenty years. She exhibited locally as well as in museums and galleries across the nation. In Seattle, she was in great demand as a lecturer on all topics of art, but especially for her particular disciplines of heraldry and illumination. In addition to in-person lectures given at the Seattle Art Museum, for eight years Harrison had a weekly radio broadcast in which she discussed art topics. In 1933, while in Europe, she was commissioned for heraldic art by the English royal family. In 1934 and 1935, as part of her work with the Public Works of Art Project, Harrison created a number of illuminations, including a coat of arms for the Seattle Art Museum. In 1940, she was selected as the new president of the Women Painters of Washington and held that position for two years. In 1941 and 1942, she organized and promoted National Art Week in Seattle. From 1943 until she returned to Ireland in 1951, Harrison served as the director of the Little Gallery in the Frederick & Nelson department store. She was also a member of the Seattle branch of the National League of American Pen Women, the Northwest Watercolor Society, and the executive committee of Washington State Artists' Defense Council. Harrison died in 1969 in Dublin, Ireland.

Augustine Haugland was born in Bergen, Norway in 1891. He arrived in the United States in 1907. While in New York City, Haugland was involved with the Art Students League, the Pratt Institute, and the Metropolitan Museum Art School. He and his wife, Ruth Joy Haugland, had two children: Stanley Augustine Haugland (March 14, 1929 – December 9, 2009) and Beverly Joy Haverly (September 7, 1923 – December 15, 1996). He died in Tacoma, Washington on November 6, 1964.

Haugland taught at the Tacoma Art Center and later ran a small art school out of his home. His specialties included painting, drawing, calligraphy, and ceramics. He also published a children’s book called Diddle, Doodle and Dan, which included his hand-done calligraphy and illustration. Haugland also created ceramic sculptures to market the book. Around 1937, the federal government commissioned Haugland to draw the Cigar Store Indian Chief Skookum for the American Index. This index was scheduled to be published sometime soon after. Additionally, The Tacoma News Tribune reported that he would be drawing assorted pioneer objects in Tacoma and Pierce counties.

Edward Haupt was born to Peter John Haupt and Anna M. Haupt on November 30, 1898. He was one of eight children; his siblings were: William Haupt, Theresa M. Haupt, Marguerete M. Haupt, Francis E. Haupt, Helena Haupt, Robert J. Haupt, and Andrew J Haupt. He attended Washington State University where he was a member of the Newman Club. Additionally, he held the title of First Lieutenant in the staff for the First Battalion of the WSU cadets corps. As a graduate student there in 1933, he was a member of the art fraternity Delta Phi Delta. In the summer of 1938, he was an assistant instructor of design and drawing at WSU and was reappointed that September as a teaching fellow in fine arts. During his time with the WPA, he worked on multiple murals at the WSU campus at Pullman, WA. On August 8, 1942 he enlisted to serve in World War II. He served as a Private in the Quartermaster Corps and was discharged on December 11, 1944. Haupt died on August 10, 1951. He was buried at Saint Gall Cemetery.

Mason F. Holmes was born in Connecticut in 1865. He came to Washington in the late 1800s, settling in Tacoma and marrying a fellow artist in 1905. Together, they were members of the Tacoma Art League (T.A.L.). Under T.A.L. sponsorship, they offered their home as a location for sketch classes in 1914. The Holmes' were also members of the Tacoma Fine Arts Association. Mr. Holmes taught at Pacific Lutheran University. He worked in both oils and watercolor. His work was represented alongside that of other state artists more than once at the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup in the 1920s and 1930s. Holmes died in Tacoma 1953.

Ivan Marion Kelez was born on September 13, 1907. He was a graduate of Queen Anne High School and went on to earn a degree in Fine Arts from U.W. in 1930. In 1934 alongside Jacob Elshin, he received funding via the Public Works of Art Project to create an art piece. Kelez carved a five-paneled bas-relief mural that was installed in Alki Elementary in West Seattle. In 1935, Kelez began working as a cartographer in the King County auditor's office under Earl Millikin, his old high school history teacher. He was later promoted to deputy clerk of the board of commissioners. In 1938 he was elected president of the 26th District Democratic Club and was secretary of the United Slavic-American Progressive Club. During WWII, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve. After the war, he worked as a naval architect for the port of Seattle. He was killed following an argument with his son at their family home in Seattle on October 24, 1965.

William A. Kemp was born in 1875 in Redruth, Cornwall, England. He came over to America with his parents, William and Charlotte Kemp, when he was around two years old. He married his wife Julia Kemp neé Laurelle on July 3, 1903 in Billings, Montana. Together they had a son: William L. Kemp. William A. Kemp’s artistic specialty was painting and his works were featured in Spokane Junior High and High School. He died in 1946 in Spokane, WA.

Ruth Kreps was born in 1900 in Washington. She attended the California School for Fine Arts in San Francisco and the Cornish Art School in Seattle. She was a member of the Women Painters of Washington and lived in Seattle.

Sculptor Halford Lembke was born in Topeka, Kansas on October 2, 1889. His parents were John and Eva M. Lembke and his sibling was named Marguerite. He served in the United States Army during World War I. On February 14, 1914 he married Lucile Phelps. They divorced around 1921. Halford Lembke died on January 9, 1962.

Lembke was quite accomplished in his career as a sculptor. In 1932, he won first prize for his sculpture “Congo” at the 18th Annual Exhibition at Northwest Art that was held at the Chamber of Commerce. His work was also a part of a Christmas time gallery at Attic Studio in Hoge Annex in 1933. Lembke’s work was hosted in the 16 cities exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The exhibit held from December 11, 1933 to January 7, 1934. Several of Lembke’s sculptures, including “Alexandrian Dancer”, are now housed at the Seattle Art Museum.

David Lemon was born on February 18, 1908 in Pennsylvania. He moved to Seattle as a child and learned to sculpt from his father. He moved to San Francisco in 1937 to create art for the Golden Gate International Exposition. He operated an art gallery with his wife Jerry O’Day in Belvedere until 1965. He died of a heart attack on April 9, 1997 in Bandon, Oregon.

Charles Wesley Lindstrom was born in 1910 in Tacoma, Washington. He earned his BA in Education-Graphic Art at Stanford University in 1932. In 1948 he was the Director of Education at the De Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. Lindstrom did several “Tacoma Industry” oil paintings that highlighted architecture and loggers in the area. His artwork is located in several public schools in Tacoma. He died on February 14, 1940 in Tacoma, WA.

Rowena Clement Lung, later Rowena Lung Alcorn, as born on March 27, 1905 in Tacoma, Washington. Her parents were Edward Burchell Lung and Velma Deborah Lung. She had four siblings: Clement, Ella, Paul, and Helen. Lung attended Stadium High School in Tacoma. In the census, her profession was listed as a wage/salary position at an art school. She married Gordon D Alcorn (1907-1994) on August 8, 1935. Lung and her husband collaborated frequently on articles and a book on American Indians, biology, and more. In 1956, she founded the National League of American Pen Women, Tacoma Branch. She also taught at different schools, including: Grays Harbor College, University of Puget Sound, and the adult education program at Tacoma Public schools.

Lung was a prolific illustrator and painter and was well known for painting the Nez Perce people. Her work was displayed throughout the United States, including the Smithsonian. She had painted notable Nez Perce people and Tacoma locals. Many of her paintings are currently on display, including on twenty-two pieces at Rocky Reach Dam in Wenatchee. Her oil portrait of Henry Sicade is at the Tacoma Public Library.

Rowena Lung Alcorn died on May 3, 1996 in Tacoma, Washington. She was survived by her daughter Patricia Alice Brammer and grandson Gordon Peterson.

Leota Mattison was born in Washington state around 1910. Her parents were Morris M. Mattison and Pearl J. Mattison. Mattison had five siblings: Else, Helen, Frances, and Raymond. She attended Roosevelt High School in the Roosevelt neighborhood in Seattle. While in high school, she was part of the Make-Up Corp and The Torch Society. After high school, she attended the University of Washington and was an Art Assistant for the Columns Editorial Staff and a member of the art fraternity Lambda Rho. She graduated in 1931 with a degree in Fine Arts.

Irene McHugh was born on September 5, 1889 in San Diego to Elizabeth (d. 1948) and B. L. Muir (d. 1926). Her father specialized in residential development and was called “the pioneer of Leschi Park”. She married her husband Peter McHugh before 1910 in California. Together, they had three children: Lorn P. McHugh, Horace B. McHugh, and Mrs. Eola Healy. She died in Seattle, WA on April 26, 1955 at age 64.

McHugh was a well-known painter, portrait painter, and sculptor and studied at the Annie Wright Seminary in Tacoma, WA. She painted several state leaders and several of her paintings were housed in the capitol. McHugh sculpted Senator W.H. Paulhamus, Senator David Cox, and surgeon Dr. James B. Eagleson. She also designed the bronze plaque that was presented to the airship crew of the Shenandoah on September 3rd, 1925. In 1928, her work was honored at the First Annual Independent Art Salon. Several of her other works were housed at the University of Washington. Her Shakespeare bust was displayed in the Walker-Ames room Parrington Hall in 1938, when the building was home to the university’s English Department. The bust was made of Oregon limestone and required nine months of intermittent work to complete. It was the first in a planned series of portrait busts, though the completion status of the other busts is unknown as a result of WPA budget cuts. Her work was also displayed at the Seattle Art Museum in 1938. At the 15th Annual exhibition of Northwest Artists, Reginald Poland, the chairman of jurors, praised the exhibit and her work. In addition to creating many artistic works, McHugh also taught sculpture.

On March 24, 1892, Louise Hinckley Moller was born to Maj. Ferdinand Hinckley and Adelaide Melcher in Seattle, Washington. She had five siblings: Rhoda M. Swegle, Edwin F. Hinckley, Adele Marie Butt, Raymond Vandere Hinckley, and Roland Smith Hinckley. Moller married Lt John Pierce Moller (September 15, 1890 – October 31, 1960). They were married at Trinity Parish Church in Seattle. Together, they had Phyllis H. Finston on August 7, 1920. Moller was adept at watercolor painting and her works were displayed in Snohomish and Seattle, Washington. She passed away on September 5, 1967 and is buried at the Santa Fe National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Bernard “Barney” D. Nestor was born on November 10, 1903 in the city of Rushford, Minnesota. He attended the University of Washington and was a member of the Radio Club. He married his wife Marjorie on June 19, 1929 in Seattle, WA. They had two children: Doris and Danie Nestor. Barney Nestor worked as a painter, specifically a portrait artist. He died in 1974 in Sonoma, California.

Winifred Louise Newman, the daughter of Herbert Appleton Newman (1861-1917) and Louise Leaman Sears Newman (1866-1957), was born in Medford, Massachusetts on July 20, 1904. Her siblings were named Alfred and Dorothy. She attended Garfield High School and was a member of Girls’ Glee Club. In the high school year book, they listed her future as future as “Art School” and “a painter of pictures." Following her high school graduation, she went to the University of Washington. She was a member of the honorary art fraternity Lambda Rho in 1930 and 1931. During World War II, she worked in the art department of the Boeing Aircraft Company and later worked for the Richards Publishing Company. By 1957, she was living in Southern California. She died on May 22, 1970 in San Fernando, CA.

Ernest Norling was born on September 26, 1892 in Pasco, Washington. He attended Whitman College where he studied math and physics. He attended the Chicago Art Institute and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He moved to Seattle and taught at the Cornish School. He participated in the Public Works of Art Project creating documentary paintings of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He worked as an artist for the Seattle Times, the art director for Boeing Preliminary Design Unit. He also authored and illustrated Perspectives Made Easy (1939) and many children’s books, especially the Pogo series. The University of Washington commissioned Norling to create art works for the Seattle campus. Norling died in March 1974 in Seattle.

Kenjiro Nomura was born in 1896 in Japan. He immigrated to the United States as a child. He was a well-known artist in the Pacific Northwest in the 1920’s and 1930’s. During the 1930’s, he created several paintings for the Public Works of Art project and his work was frequently selected to represent Seattle and Washington State in national exhibitions. In 1942, the United States incarcerated Nomura in the Puyallup Temporary Detention Facility and the Minidoka Prison Camp. He created paintings, drawings, and sketches that are an important record of the Japanese American wartime experience. He died in 1956 in Seattle.

The identity of this artists could not be verified.

Ransom Rathbone Patrick was born on July 28, 1906 in Santa Barbara, California. He started his career as a graphic artist for a sign painter and a newspaper. He became a freelance artist and exhibited paintings from 1931 to 1943 at the Pacific Northwest Annual Exhibition in Seattle, Washington. He earned his B.A. in 1944 from the University of Washington. He earned both his M.F.A. and his Ph.D. from Princeton University, in 1947 and 1959 respectively. He taught at Oberlin College, the University of British Columbia, the University of Minnesota and Western Reserve University before joining the Duke faculty as chair of the Aesthetics, Art and Music Department at Duke University in 1954. He specialized in American and modern art.

Charles T. Pearson was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 24, 1905. He and his family moved to Ogema, WI around 1910. By 1920, Pearson and his family had moved to Tacoma, Washington, where he would remain. He attended Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington and was a member of the Sons of Cicero, a club created from his debate class. After high school, he attended the University of Washington’s School of Architecture. He married Jeanne Kulzer Pearson on August 1, 1940 in Valley, Washington. He worked as an architect with Lea, Pearson and Richards with Charles Lea and John Richards. His artistic impressions are displayed in schools of Washington state and at the Seattle Public Library.

In addition to being a working architect, Pearson was involved in both professional and philanthropic organizations. He was a founder of the Southwest Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and served as the chapter’s third president. The Southwest Washington AIA chapter later honored him by naming an award after him. In addition to being involved in AIA, Pearson served as the president of the Downtown Tacoma Rotary in 1954 and the president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1969.

He died on August 10, 1994 in Tacoma, Washington.

Ebba Rapp was born on June 4, 1909 in Seattle, Washington. Rapp was training in drawing from a young age and was proficient in portraiture before high school. She attended the Cornish College of the Arts. She was a studio assistant for sculpture teacher Alexander Archipenko at the University of Washington from 1935 to 1936, where she began practicing sculpture work. Due to her success in the medium, the Cornish College of the Arts invited her to teach in their newly formed sculpture department, where she taught from 1938 to 1941. She was involved in many artist groups and public programs. She was a member of the Women Painters of Washington, the Washington State Arts Commission, Seattle Clay Club, and participated in the Public Works of Art Project. Her work was showcased at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, Seattle Art Museum’s Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists from 1932 to 1967, the Frye Art Museum in 1955, and many others. She regularly completed work for numerous art commissions across the Northwest. She died in November 1985.

Helen Rhodes was born in 1875 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was a painter, a block printer, a lithographer, and illustrator, and a teacher. She won awards in contests at the Seattle Art Institute, the International Salon of Watercolors, and the Northwest Artists Annual Exhibition. She started at the University of Washington as an Instructor of Drawing in 1921. She was Assistant Professor in the School of Fine Arts from 1927 to 1937. She was best known for her block print illustrations for Paul Bunyan Comes West. She died on June 16, 1938.

Stephen S. Rodionoff was born in Russia on May 9, 1900. He immigrated to America in 1923, and worked as a set designer in the Seattle area. He married Marie Rodionoff in Seattle on June 23, 1928. Together they had a daughter: Nina Rodionoff. The family moved to California sometime between 1935 and 1938. He died on March 6, 1989 at age 88.

Emil Maruis Olfusen Sando was born in Foldereid, Norway on May 30, 1893. He married Olga Alfrida Bjorden on March 28, 1818, and the came to the US on the SS Stavangerfjord in 1923. He worked as a draftsman in St Paul, Minnesota (1925-1927) and then as a civil engineer. His WWII draft card places him in California around 1940. He died in Yakima on November 11, 1960.

Grace was born in 1883 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. She and her husband George W. Sauers (1882-1962) lived in Walla Walla, Washington. Grace H. Sauers worked as a teacher and was head of the art department of Whitman College in 1939. Sauers died on April 2, 1962 in Walla Walla, Washington.

Hulda Schweer was born around 1891 in Iowa to Charles and Kate M. Schweer. Her two siblings were Nathan and Martha Schweer. She later moved to Washington state and attended North Central High School. While there, she was in the cast of the school’s production of the play Not So Fast by Conrad Wetservelt. Birth- Iowa 1891. She attended the University of Washington and was a member of the art fraternity Lambda Rho in 1930 and 1931. She worked as teacher in the Seattle area and worked near Spokane Bridge on behalf of the WPA.

George Sheckels, better known as Glenn, was born in Minden, Nebraska on June 7, 1885. He and his family came to Seattle in 1901. He married Lenore Kohler on August 25, 1915. Together they had two children: Glenn “Dale” Sheckels and Virginia Sheckels.

Glenn Sheckels became a well-known commercial artist in the Seattle area. He was a partner in the firm Sheckels, Terry, and Dearle. Before that, he had worked at the Western Engraving and Color Type Company and Puget Sound Engraving. He created three murals for the University of Washington Drama Department as part of the Federal Art Project for the WPA. These murals were: “The Theatre of the East”, “The Theatre of the West”, and “The Theatre in the Time of Shakespeare”. His murals were later displayed at the Spokane Arts Center. In addition to his work for the WPA, he also served as a judge for a gallery showing hosted by the Women Painters of Washington in 1938. His fellow judges were Miss Clara Reynolds and Mr. Walter O. Reese.

Sheckels died on December 3, 1939 in Seattle, WA. He was 54 years old.

Vladimir Pavlovich Shkurkin was born on July 7, 1900 in Northern China. He went to a military school in Siberia then studied art at the School of Fine Arts in Kiev from 1917 to 1922. He worked as a scenic artist for theatres and taught painting and composition at his previous military school. In 1925, he emigrated to the United States. He lived in Seattle, Washington from 1925 to 1938. In Seattle, he painted murals in many public buildings in addition to painting icons in Russian Orthodox Churches and landscapes. In 1938 went to San Francisco, California to paint murals for the Golden Gate International Exposition. In 1941, he settled in Vallejo, California as a commercial artist at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard until he retired in 1963. He continued to paint, exhibit, and teach privately. He died on November 3, 1990.

Yngvar Sonnichsen was born on March 9, 1873 in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He earned a civil engineering degree in Norway in 1894. He also studied art at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry from 1894 to 1895 and 1901 to 1902, and at the Académie Julian in Paris, France. He painted and designed in Norway until he immigrated to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada in 1904. He painted portraits and designed in Canada until he moved to Seattle, Washington in 1908. In Seattle, he supported his artistic painting by operating an orchard and painting houses. He painted murals in the Sons of Norway lodge in collaboration with his brother, architect Sønke Engelhart Sonnichsen. Yngvar Sonnichsen died in July 1938. His works are in galleries and buildings throughout the United States and Norway.

Peggy Strong was born in 1912 in Tacoma, Washington. She studied at the Annie Wright Seminary at the University of Washington and studied privately with Mark Tobey, Sarkis Sarkisian, and Frederick Taubes. In 1933, Strong was in a car accident that left the lower half of her body paralyzed. She was a member of the Women Painters of Washington, published paintings in the Junior League Magazine, exhibited in the Seattle Art Museum Northwest Annual Show beginning in 1936, and was included in Golden Gate Exposition of Contemporary Painting in 1939. She won the commission to paint the mural in the Wenatchee Post Office in 1940, which led to a private exposition at the Seattle Art Museum. She lived briefly in San Francisco until she died of kidney disease in 1956.

Fokko Tadama was born in May 16, 1871 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. He was taken to the Netherlands, studied landscapes under Sieger Jan Baukema and attended the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. In 1897, Tadama and his wife, Thamine Groeneveld, settled in Egmond aan den Hoef and became part of the Egmondse School. In 1898, Tadama and his wife held a joint exhibition at the Société des Artistes Français in Paris. In 1910, Tadama emigrated to the United States and settled in Seattle. In 1913, he held his first showing in one of the meetings rooms at the Seattle Public Library. In 1914, he started his own art school. He mentored and was patron to many Japanese immigrant artists despite not being Japanese himself. Although he participated in the Federal Art Projects and worked as a mural painter with the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, his situation improved minimally, and he committed suicide in 1937.

On March 1906, Winifred Sutton neé Thurman was born in Santa Cruz, CA to Charles (1892-1954) and Sadie Irene Thurman (1882-1971). She had four siblings: Elmer T, Adeline Stuart, Beatrice Sovensen, and Charles Thurman. Sutton attended North Central High School in Spokane, WA and later attended the University of Washington. She married William Sutton (1908-1983) in 1960. Sutton worked in the photo retouching industry. She also worked as a painter and photographer. Additionally, she composed music and wrote poetry. Winifred Sutton died at age 93 on July 9th, 1999 in Spokane, WA.

Kamekichi Tokita was born in 1897 in Shizuoka City, Japan. He received secondary education in business to take over his father’s businesses, but he became interested in painting. He immigrated to Seattle, Washington in 1919. He became a member of the Shunjukai painting group and studied oil painting under Kenjiro Nomura. In 1928, Tokita and Nomura started the Noto Sign Company, a sign-painting business which operated until 1936. His paintings were primarily urban landscapes. He exhibited locally during the 1920’s and expanded to regional exhibitions in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area in 1929. He also had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Seattle (later the Seattle Art Museum) in 1930 and 1935. The Public Works of Art Project hired Tokita to produce six paintings in 1934. He also was invited to become a founding member of the modernist artist collective the Group of Twelve in 1935. After 1936, he managed the Cadillac hotel. In 1942, the United States government forcibly incarcerated Tokita and his family in first the Puyallup Detention Site then the Minidoka Incarceration Camp until October 1945. He kept a diary during this time of his experience. Tokita and his family returned to Seattle in 1945. Tokita and his wife purchased a workers’ hotel in 1947 to rebuild their livelihood, however Tokita fell ill and died in 1948.

Julius Ullman was born in Germany around 1863. He came over to America in 1898 and participated in the Klondike Gold Rush. He later moved to Seattle, WA where he worked as a landscape painter. Ullman also served as the Dean of Seattle Artists. Ullman died on April 22, 1952 in Auburn, WA.

Michael Uttendorfer was born on March 12, 1876 in Germany. His parents were Helena and Peter Uttendorfer and his siblings were Mrs. Lena Weitl, Mrs. Mary Schuechl, and Louis Uttendorfer. He immigrated to America and moved to Seattle, Washington. Uttendorfer and his wife, Betty, had three children: Rosina Gramann, Barbara Gibboney, and Richard M. Uttendorfer.

He worked as an iron and metal worker and even owned his own company, Iron and Bronze Works in Seattle. He did ornamental iron work on several Seattle buildings, including the Main Office of the National Bank of Commerce, the 1st Avenue Branch of the People’s National Bank of Washington, Smith Tower, and the Christ the King Churches. He was a member of the Craftsman Guild and known to many as “Iron Mike”.

He died on August 1, 1958 in Seattle, Washington at age 83.

Pieter Van Dalen was born in 1897 in Holland. He immigrated to the United States and served on a Navy ship during World War I while producing comic strips for local Navy newspapers. During his work with the Federal Art Project, he was an easel painter. Van Dalen typically created oil paintings which focused on the working class and social awareness. His landscapes and other neutral works were exhibited in the Northwest Annual Exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum and elsewhere. He died in 1975.

Walter Edward Varney was born on April 30, 1908 in Montana. His parents were Charles W. and Mary M. Varney and he had two sisters, Ruth and Winifred. By 1920, the family was living in San Diego, where Varney worked in a fish cannery. He and his sisters graduated from San Diego Teachers College (now San Diego State). Varney received his A. B. in Art with a special credential in 1933 and taught in Sand Diego schools following his graduation. He relocated to the Pacific Northwest, where he met sculptor Donal Hord. Hord became his creative mentor and Varney worked as his apprentice, helping Hord sell and deliver his massive artworks. Varney also worked in sculpture and made his own pieces. His work “Four Sources of Happiness”, created in 1934, is currently housed at the Seattle Art Museum. His draft card in 1942 lists his employer as Boese Pflug Company. Varney was also a mountaineer and climbed along Kangaroo Ridge with Fred Beckey in 1943.

One article published in the LA Times in 1953 reported that he had traveled to Sydney, Australia to apply for a citizenship in Bali. At the time, he had been living on Bali for a year, saying that he was tired of civilization. A May 2015 article in The Wenatchee World described Varney as “reclusive”. The same article also mentions that his journals were purchased at an estate sale. It is unknown whether they have been purchased or donated to a museum. The date of Varney’s passing is also unknown.

His sister, Ruth Mary Varney, married John S. Held, and wrote a number of books about genealogy and local history. There is a park named for her in Ocean Beach near San Diego.

Jeanie Walkinshaw was born Jeanie Mayer Walter on March 28, 1885. She studied art in Paris under Lucien Seimon and Rene Mesnard, returning to the United States in 1911 to study with Robert Henri. She married Robert Boyd Walkinshaw on June 10, 1914 in Baltimore, Maryland. They moved to Seattle, Washington in 1917. Jeanie wrote and illustrated On Puget Sound in 1929. She was a member of the National Association of Women Artists, The National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, Salons of America, Pacific Northwest Academy for the Arts, and Women Painters of Washington. She was also a representative of the Northwest for Portraits, Inc. and chairman of sketchers for the King County Chapter of the American Red Cross. She died on April 7, 1976.

Artist Marajane Warren was born on March 5, 1908 in Indiana. She attended the University of Washington and was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority chapter on campus. Warren co-owned the Jane-Donne Studio with fellow artists Charlotte MacDonald. In 1934, the studio was located on University Way. On June 14, 1938, she married Julian Barksdale (1904-1983) and took his last name. She died on September 21, 1999.

James When was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 6, 1882 to John and Clara Wehn. He and his family came to Seattle 1889. Wehn worked at his father’s foundry before becoming an artist. He worked as a sculptor and studied with artists such as Rowena Nichols, Will Carson, and August Hubert. His studio was located in the backyard of his family home. He married his first with, Florence on July 14, 1915. She was murdered in 1917. In 1949, he remarried to Lillian Hocking. Wehn had no known children.

One of his most well-known sculptures, a life-sized bronze sculpture of Chief Seattle, was first unveiled on November 13, 1912 for the anniversary of the Alki point landing. The statue was formally announced by Myrtle Laughery, Chief Seattle’s great-great-granddaughter. His sculpture was temporarily removed for the renovation of Tilikum Place and was returned there in 1975.

In addition to his Chief Seattle sculpture, Wehn made many additional artworks and contributions to his field. He founded the University of Washington’s sculpture department in 1919 and taught at the university. Some of his other sculptures were of Governor Isaac Stevens, pioneer Marcus Whitman, explorer Robert Gray, and Chief Patkanim. He also designed the medallions for streetlights as part of the Bhy Kracke gifts program. Additionally, he designed the bicentennial medal for the state of Washington.

Wehn died on October 2, 1973 in Seattle, Washington. He bequeathed 200 of his artworks to the Washington State Historical Society Museum.

Myra Wiggins was born Myra Jane Albert on December 15, 1869 in Salem, Oregon. When she was 17, she won her first award for painting at the Oregon State Fair. Between 1886 and 1907, she would win 94 more state fair awards for her work. Her brother introduced her to photography and exhibited her photographs at the Portland North Pacific Industrial Exposition in 1890. She studied at the Art Students League of New York from 1891 to 1894. She became one of the first female members of the New York Camera Club. She married Frederick Arthur Wiggins on November 24, 1894 in Salem, Oregon. In 1900, she exhibited her photography in a solo show at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1903, her colleague Alfred Stieglitz admitted her to the Photo-Secession group. Her photography work was included in both national and international exhibitions from the 1900’s to the 1920’s. In 1930, Wiggins co-founded the Women Painters of Washington. In 1932, she moved to Seattle, becoming a leader in Pacific Northwest arts. She exhibited her paintings at the Seattle Art Museum in 1953 and other national locations throughout the 1950’s. She died of a stroke on January 13, 1956.

Elwood Leo Winslow, aka E. Leo Winslow or Leo Winslow, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1893. His parents were Elwood and Sarah Winslow. He worked as a painter, florist, and a railroad porter. In 1910, his occupation was listed as a decorator and mural painter. During the 1920s and 1930s, he lived in Spokane and lived in the area for almost 20 years. He was one of several Black artists who worked for the WPA. Additionally, he was a member of the Pacific Coast Painters and Sculptors Association and exhibited his work in 1935. He died on December 7, 1939.

Eustace P. Ziegler was born in 1881 in Detroit, Michigan. He was a muralist, printmaker, and teacher. Ziegler studied at the Detroit Society of Fine Arts, at the Yale Society of Fine Arts, and with Ida Marie Perrault and was a member of the Puget Sound Group of Painters. He died in 1969.