the art and life of eunice parsons: April 2010

April 26, 2010

gifted to hfma

Eunice (Jensen) Parsons

“Not by a Dam Site”, 1959

oil on canvas

21.25” x 35.25”

Exhibited at the Annual Artists of Oregon, Portland Art Museum, 1959

“In honor of the contributions of Roger Hull to the advancement and appreciation of Oregon art and artists.”

This is a blog about Eunice...

Eunice Parsons, born in 1916 in Loma, Colorado, grew up in Chicago. As a child, she drew constantly. At ten, she attended lectures at the Art Institute of Chicago and was exposed to the magnificent collections there under the tutelage of an enthusiastic instructor. After marriage at age 20, she moved with her husband to Portland. By 1948, she was raising three children while her merchant seaman husband was away for long periods of time. Responding to her continued need to make art, she set up a studio in the her basement and began to draw her children and their friends. Frustration at trying to teach herself art led her to enroll at the Museum Art School. She was 34 years old and and desired nothing more than to become a full-time artist.

Eunice went on to teach at the Museum School from 1957 - 1979.

Through the years she has been a painter, a printmaker and a tilemaker, but since the early 1970s Eunice has worked in the medium for which she is best known- collage.