Oregon-based artist Eunice Lulu Parsons, whose observe spanned printmaking, portray, tilemaking, and collage over the course of seven a long time, died in Portland on Saturday, November 16. She was 108 years previous. Her granddaughter Jos Dodson Tervo described Parsons as “a legend in the Portland art community” in a Fb publish asserting her loss of life.
“She was a force of nature and I somehow thought she would live forever, but 108 is an amazing run,” John Olbrantz, director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Artwork at Willamette College, instructed Hyperallergic. He described Parsons as “an artist who lived her life on her terms” who “took the medium [of collage] to new heights of technical virtuosity and sophistication.”
Born on August 4, 1916, in Loma, Colorado, Parsons was primarily raised in Chicago, the place she took her first artwork courses on the College of the Artwork Institute when she was 11 years previous. There, she studied the varsity’s assortment of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Modernist holdings and was significantly drawn to its Impressionist and Cubist works. In 1936, she married Allen Herbert Jensen, with whom she had three youngsters. They moved to Portland, Oregon, and divorced in 1960.
Eunice Lulu Parsons, “Teatro”(1976), paper and newsprint collage on cardboard, 38 1/2 x 37 7/8 inches (~98 x 96 cm) (© Eunice Parsons; picture courtesy the Portland Museum of Artwork)
“She knew she was in love with art, but like most women, I think the expectation was that she would get married and have children,” Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, a former curator of Northwest Artwork on the Portland Artwork Museum who met Parsons through the ’70s, instructed Hyperallergic, including that the artist “raised the kids, but was always drawing.”
On the encouragement of a neighbor, she enrolled in artwork courses on the Museum Artwork College (now referred to as the Pacific Northwest Faculty of Artwork) in 1950. As a consequence of monetary constraints, nevertheless, she attended courses for only one 12 months. After her divorce, she was employed as an teacher on the faculty, instructing full-time and part-time for simply over 20 years as one of many few ladies school members. She additionally held instructing positions on the Younger Ladies’s Christian Affiliation, St. Mary’s Academy, and Portland State College.
Eunice Lulu Parsons, “After Peto” (2000), paper, stamps, fabric tape measure, delivery tags, 24 x 17 1/2 inches (~61 x 44 cm) (picture courtesy the Hallie Ford Museum of Artwork)
Within the early ’60s, she turned towards collage, the self-discipline for which she is finest identified, usually incorporating discovered supplies like posters, previous journal covers, ticket stubs, packaging supplies, and her personal silkscreen prints. She spent most of her life on a modest revenue (Laing-Malcolmson mentioned she supplemented her earnings with brush drawings of birds), grew her personal greens, and spent a number of hours 5 to seven days per week making artwork within the attic studio of her three-story bungalow dwelling, which was crammed “floor to ceiling” with work from different artists that she acquired by buying and selling her personal artwork.
She principally exhibited at Portland galleries and Pacific Northwest establishments just like the Portland Museum of Artwork, the place her work is held in its everlasting assortment. Her collages, lithographs, and work are additionally housed on the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Artwork on the College of Oregon, the Hallie Ford Museum of Artwork, and Portland Neighborhood Faculty.
“It’s hard for regional artists because often they are not recognized unless they make it in a bigger urban setting,” Laing-Malcolmson mentioned, although she famous that the artist was “never bitter” for her lack of recognition. She added that Parsons “influenced so many artists that studied with her and later befriended her” throughout her lifetime.
“She was a tiny, fierce, dedicated-to-art person,” Laing-Malcolmson mentioned.
Eunice Lulu Parsons, “Opening Collage” (1969), combined media on board, picture: 23 3/4 x 18 inches (~60.33 x 46 cm); board: 26 1/8 x 19 3/4 inches (~66 x 50 cm) (© Eunice Parsons; picture courtesy the Portland Museum of Artwork)
Eunice Lulu Parsons, “Avec Minou” (1972), colour woodcut on paper (© Eunice Parsons; picture courtesy the Portland Museum of Artwork)
Eunice Lulu Parsons, “Repo” (1974), paper and cardboard collage, 33 x 24 inches (~84 x 61 cm) (picture courtesy the Hallie Ford Museum of Artwork)
