Grace Olive Reeve-Bilger (June 25, 1907 – October 1, 2000) was an American painter. Often signing the name of ''g.Bilger'' (and later ''g.Stansbury'') to her work. Bilger is mainly noted for her

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

paintings of buildings, landscapes and structures, many of historical significance throughout the mid-west, USA.

Biography

Grace Reeve Bilger (g.Bilger and g. Stansbury) was a resident and artist in

Olathe, Kansas Olathe ( ) is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290. History 19th century Olathe wa ...

from 1941 until 1999. She taught art at the Kansas School for the Deaf for 25 years. In addition to meeting her requirements as a teacher, she studied art with the following;

Dong Kingman Dong Kingman (, 31 March 1911 – 12 May 2000) was a Chinese American artist and one of America's leading watercolor masters. As a painter on the forefront of the California Style School of painting, he was known for his urban and landscape ...

, Don Stone, Eliot O’Hara, Frank Szaaz, Richard Yip, Zalton Szabo, Tony Van Hasselt, and Asertio Pascolini. She traveled the world extensively and sketched in such places as Europe and Mexico as well as throughout the USA and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. Bilger’s

paintings have been reproduced along with her articles in the ''Ford Times'', ''NEBRASKALand'', and ''Kansas Magazine''. She won a first prize in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

for the design of a Christmas Card for the Heraldry Society. She also produced original historical murals which hung in the Johnson County Courthouse at Olathe . One of her works is in the permanent collection of the Sierra Museum of San Diego, California. Bilger exhibited widely and her some of her works reside in collections in Europe, India, Philippines, and the U.S.A. She also had exhibited shows which include but is not limited to: the Kansas City area, Heritage, Discovery, Plaza, Ward Parkway, Oak Park,

Crown Center Crown Center is a shopping center and neighborhood located near Downtown Kansas City, Missouri between Gillham Road and Main Street to the east and west, and between OK/E 22nd St and E 27th St to the north and south. The shopping center is ...

Prairie Village, Kansas Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,957. History After the successful development of the Country Cl ...

, and Metcalf South. In 1979 one of her watercolors was selected to be in the exhibition of Eastern Kansas Artists in the Rotunda of the Kansas State Capitol in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...

. She was a member of the International Society of Artists (

Artists' International Association The Artists' International Association (AIA) was an organisation founded in London in 1933 out of discussion among Pearl Binder, Clifford Rowe, Misha Black, James Fitton, James Boswell, James Holland, Edward Ardizzone, Peter Laszlo Peri'Artis ...

), the Greater Kansas City Art Association, and Tri-County Art League. "Grace Bilger" day was established June 25, 2007 in Olathe, Kansas to commemorate Olathe's 150th birthday and Grace's contributions artistically and historically to the city and county. Grace Reeve Bilger is survived by her daughter Sarah, granddaughter Suzanna Reeves, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

References

* Biography adapted (by her family) from her biography in "The Olathe Rotary Club: Honors Its 1994 Paul Harris Fellows" * ''Olathe Daily News'',"Artist Pictures Olathe's Past", Wednesday, March 25, 1987. * ''Olathe Daily News'',"Local artist still paints with grace after 91 years", August 31, 1998, page 1 & 6A. * ''NEBRASKALand'', August 1966, pages 25–31, "Many Faces of Nebraska" * ''Kansas!,'' No. 3, 1964, (center-fold painting displayed) *

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

, August 24, 1972, page 6W, "Teacher Reflects on Career." * ''City of Olathe, Kansas'', Olathe History:1870 through the Present, retrieved March 1, 2009 from olatheks.org

External links

Official Grace Bilger Website

June 25, 2007 Established "Grace Bilger" Day

Olathe, Kansas History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilger, Grace 1907 births 2000 deaths Artists from Nebraska Artists from Kansas American watercolorists 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters Women watercolorists