Kathleen Gemberling Adkison ( Parks; July 5, 1917 – August 3, 2010) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

abstract painter Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...

Early life

Kathleen Gemberling Adkison was born in

Beatrice, Nebraska Beatrice () is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska, United States. Its population was 12,459 at the 2010 census. Beatrice is located approximately 25 miles south of Lincoln on the Big Blue River and is surrounded by agricultu ...

, to parents Rupert Parks and Henrietta Williamson. She attended Hawthorn High School in

Kearney, Nebraska Kearney is the county seat of Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 30,787 in the 2010 census. It is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The westward push of the railroad as the Civil War ended gave new birt ...

for three years, and graduated from Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. She studied art and painting under Leon Derbyshire at the Cornish Institute between 1938 and 1942.

Career

Adkison was the last surviving artist trained under

Mark Tobey Mark George Tobey (December 11, 1890 – April 24, 1976) was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophi ...

, who was Jackson Pollock's inspiration. Her work has been shown in museums as early as 1960 when the

Frye Art Museum The Frye Art Museum is a modern and contemporary art museum located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1952 to house the collection of Charles and Emma Frye and has since grown to include rotating temporary ex ...

staged a solo show of her work. She also had a show at the

Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, formerly the Cheney Cowles Museum and the Pacific Northwest Indian Center, is located in Spokane, Washington's Browne's Addition. It is associated with the Smithsonian Institution, and is accredited by th ...

, formerly the Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum, in Spokane, Washington, from December 13, 1973 to January 13, 1974. Adkison was a critically acclaimed artist and highly recognized for her work. She was among only eight women included in ''Northwest Art Today'' at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Adkison was the feature of a solo retrospective at the Cheney Cowles Museum in Spokane, Washington, from March 27, 1999, to June 27, 1999. It was the first retrospective of her work, at that museum, since 1974.

Personal life

Adkison married Thomas Adkison, an architect, in 1968. They had two children. Adkison enjoyed hiking, and she climbed to the base camp at Mt. Everest twice. Thomas Adkison died in 1986. She died on August 3, 2010, in Spokane, Washington, aged 93.Profile
mona.unk.edu. Accessed February 15, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adkison, Kathleen Gemberling 1917 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters Abstract expressionist artists People from Beatrice, Nebraska