by Steven Carlson, Curator.
Welcome to another EFFIEgram tracing the art and life of Arizona’s earliest Impressionist desert landscape painter - Effie Anderson Smith (1869-1955).
Please join us over Thanksgiving Weekend as we present an exhibit of paintings by Effie at Studio 917 Gallery in historic Douglas, Arizona. Details are on our Effie website including photos and links to Studio 917’s site and some fun images from Effie’s years in Douglas, including a photo of her standing on G Avenue in Douglas in front of the Hotel Gadsden where she operated her art studio during the 1940s - just a few steps from where we will be exhibiting 16 of Effie’s most iconic depictions of her beloved Sulphur Springs Valley, the Chiricahua & Dragoon Mountains, and other vistas she captured so colorfully on canvas.
To prepare yourself, you can spend a few minutes exploring our virtual gallery of Effie’s Arizona art at our website under the PAINTINGS tab. Many of these works will be in Douglas for you to see in person!
Rediscovered and Restored works by Effie…
In Douglas we’ll exhibit a recently restored painting by Effie from the 1940s that has not been shown in an Arizona exhibit in over 80 years. Another stunning painting from Effie’s years in Pearce depicting Sunlit Hills in the Sulphur Springs Valley below Cochise Stronghold was once owned by the prominent Douglas ranching family - Rachel and George Stephens. It, too, has been beautifully restored in recent years to its former glory (funded by a generous supporter of the Effie Anderson Smith Museum). We’ll have it on view for you at our Douglas exhibit at Studio 917 for the first time in Douglas since it was acquired by the Stephens in the 1930s.
Our hosts for our main Douglas exhibit are Allyson and Dale Armstrong, and we are so pleased they agreed to make room for us in their busy gallery schedule so we could present this Thanksgiving Weekend exhibit of Effie’s art in their modern and exquisite gallery space. We are sure Effie would be thrilled to know that her art is being displayed at a proper art gallery in Douglas - which to our knowledge did not exist during Effie’s time there. A gift shop or a jewelry store were as good as it got in those days. So, for us to be able to present these painting for her - at Studio 917 now - in such a wonderful setting is a joy.
Come join us at Studio 917 in Douglas - Thanksgiving Weekend!
Effie knew Douglas from the time of its selection as a town site in the first years of the 20th century and watched it grow into a vibrant mining and ranching center. She and her husband Andrew Young Smith came there at least weekly for church and civic activities from their home in the mining camp at Pearce to the north. We know they were staying at the Hotel Gadsden as early as 1910 according to newspaper reports.
Fast forward to 1941. After living in Pearce as a widow through the Great Depression Effie chose lively Douglas to be her new home for reasons we have recounted in earlier EFFIEgrams (see our Archive for all past issues). Douglas was to become the geographic center of the last full decade of her life, which proved to be the most prolific years for her artistically. She created more art works and taught more students there in Douglas between her 72nd and 80th birthdays than at any other time of her life. By then the Douglas Daily Dispatch referred to her as the Dean of Arizona Women Painters. We believe - and other historians confirm - she is the earliest (beginning in 1895) of Arizona’s pioneering women artists of the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Details on our Douglas Exhibit - Reception & Walking Tour…
We expect to have 3 Exhibit Venues for you to enjoy on Saturday, November 30th with an Effie Art Walking Tour connecting them - all within a few short blocks…
At Studio 917 we will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday - Nov. 29, 30 & Dec. 1.
Friday, November 29 - 4p to 8p
Saturday, November 30 - 11a to 6p / Reception 1-2p / Walking Tour 2-3p*
Sunday, December 1 - 11a to 4p
On the *Walking Tour leaving Studio 917 at 2:00p on Saturday (please Contact Us to Reserve Your Spot) - we will visit the Douglas Art Association just around the corner from Studio 917 where a display of paintings by several women artists from Effie’s Palette and Brush Club in Douglas during the 1940s will be on view, along with paintings from one of her most accomplished younger students.
Just one of Douglas’ many architectural gems, The Little Gallery of the Douglas Art Association is a short two blocks from Studio 917 Gallery. It was the site of our first Effie exhibit ‘of the modern era’ back in 2012 during Arizona’s Statehood Centennial. The Douglas Art Association itself was founded in the 1950s by women who studied with Effie a decade earlier.
After our Douglas Art Association visit we will proceed another block and a half through Gov. Raul Castro Park, past the only city block in America that has a church on all four corners, to the Douglas Historical Society and Douglas-Williams House to see the largest public permanent display of Effie’s art anywhere. This amazing large arts & crafts house museum has several important collections in it - including Effie’s paintings focused on her years in and around Douglas - but also several exhibits devoted to area mining and smelting industries - and a truly fabulous historic camera collection. You can see some of the riches in store for you at the Douglas Historical Society on their website under Exhibits.
We will wind up our short 1-hour-plus Effie Walking Tour of central Douglas with a stroll through the lobby of the glorious Hotel Gadsden where Effie stayed on and off for decades and chose to make her home for the better part of the 1940s. She had a studio here both for teaching and art sales.
A Grand Canyon painting by Effie hung in the Hotel Gadsden for many years. We believe it is the one below. The hotel was recently profiled by Arizona Highways.
Today you can see its Tiffany style windows by Tiffany-trained independent stained glass craftsman Ralph Baker and the glorious painting by Audley Dean Nicols depicting a spot near the entrance to Cave Creek Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains that serves as centerpiece for the Hotel Gadsden’s grand staircase. Nicols is famous for his Arizona desert paintings that the railroads loved to feature in their ads to promote travel to the west. He was also known to have praised and admired Effie’s Grand Canyon works. A recent biography on Nicols and an online gallery of his art are available at the Life of Audley Dean Nicols website. We highly recommend it.
The admiration between Nicols and Effie was mutual. Nicols’ mastery of Arizona sunrises and sunsets seems to have inspired Effie to study and emulate the effect in more than one of her paintings.
Studio 917’s November and December exhibits are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Chiricahua National Monument and its Wonderland of Rocks.
For the adventurous, a drive up to Rustler Park at the 8,000 ft. elevation in the Chiricahuas presents you with a view that Effie loved to paint in her summers there…
The paintings we will have on exhibit, the art & historical venues of Douglas and nearby Bisbee (just 25 miles away), and the intriguing Cochise County towns of old Tombstone, Willcox with its wineries and antique shops, and Effie’s early home of 45 years in Pearce all await you over Thanksgiving Weekend this year en route when you join us in historic Douglas for our Effie Art Experience weekend, in one of the key places where she created her artistic legacy.
Our Effie museum team and our wonderful Studio 917 hosts Allyson & Dale Armstrong will be looking forward to greeting you at 917 G Avenue in Douglas during the exhibit hours above. Visit EffieAndersonSmith.org/exhibits for more.
As we approach the Holidays and Giving Tuesday - this year on Tuesday December 3rd:
Exhibiting Effie’s art and the Conservation and Restoration of her iconic Arizona Paintings are key elements of our Effie Anderson Smith Museum’s Mission.
As you consider your year end charitable contributions, we ask you to consider a gift to the Effie Anderson Smith Museum and Archive for preservation of Effie’s Arizona art. The Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit.
Your tax deductible contribution will ensure paintings like those in this EFFIEgram are preserved for future generations to enjoy. Please visit our SUPPORT page on our Effie website. Thank you for your gift in ANY amount.
You don’t have to wait until Giving Tuesday on December 3rd. GIVE TODAY!