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Viola Patterson
Viola Patterson
Viola Patterson

Viola Patterson

born Seattle, Washington, 1898; died Seattle, Washington, 1984
BiographyThough she was interested in art early on, painter Viola Patterson did not take a formal class until she was working on a Master’s program in librarianship at the University of Washington in 1921. The professor of her drawing class was Ambrose Patterson who had founded the art department at UW. He inspired her to begin painting and they later married. He had trained abroad and stayed connected with a number of prominent modernist artists. Viola met and studied with many important figures including Diego Rivera, Amedee Ozenfant, Alexander Archipenko and Andre L’Hote. She showed her work in exhibitions in Washington, Oregon, and New York. She also taught children’s art classes at the University of Washington and Seattle Art Museum from 1947 to 1966. The Henry Art Gallery hosted a retrospective of her work in 1968.

In 1982, Viola Patterson was interviewed for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and that interview, which offers an extensive overview of her life and career, can be accessed at https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-viola-patterson-12618

Person TypeIndividual
Terms
  • Seattle
  • Seattle
Andrew Chinn
born Seattle, Washington, 1915; died Seattle, Washington, 1996
Ambrose Patterson
born Daylesford, Australia, 1877; died Seattle, Washington, 1966
Heikki Seppa
born Säkkijärvi, Finland, 1927; died Bainbridge Island, Washington, 2010
Jacob Elshin
born St. Petersburg, Russia, 1892; died Seattle, Washington, 1976
Fumiko Kimura
born Rexburg, Idaho, 1929; died Tacoma, Washington, 2023
Margaret Camfferman
born Rochester, Minnesota, 1881; died Everett, Washington, 1964
Antonio Frasconi
born Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1919; died New York, New York, 2013
Gail Tremblay
born Buffalo, New York, 1945; died Olympia, Washington, 2023
Lenore Tawney
born Lorain, Ohio, 1907; died New York City, New York, 2007
born La Crosse, Washington, 1918; died Pendleton, Oregon, 1985
Ebba Rapp
born Seattle, Washington, 1909; died Seattle, Washington, 1985