31 minute read
CLWAC Presidents
Eleanor Gay Lee: 1950-1953 Honored Member 1992
Eleanor came from Atlanta, Georgia, where she began studying art at the age of 14. At 21 she came to New York to study at the National Academy and then, finding it difficult to make a living from commissions for portraits, turned to study commercial art at Cooper Union. This turned out to be an uncongenial field, but her marriage to Walter Wright Lee, who was successful in the hotel business, freed her to pursue her artistic interests. It was not until after World War II that she began to exhibit in large juried exhibitions and commenced a very successful career that led to her membership in six art societies, four of which she served as President. She is well represented in five art museums and many private collections in America, Australia, and Europe. During her term as president CLWAC instituted a scholarship fund for the Grace Church School, and the creation of the newsletter Highlights was proposed by Verall Wright. Eleanor’s organizational skills and expertise were much valued while she held office. Over many years she continued to serve as an advisor and supportive Member of the Club until her death in 1997. In 1992, at the age of 90, she was chosen Honored Member.
Advertisement
Under Florence’s presidency the Bylaws of CLWAC were amended to extend artist membership to professional women artists regardless of residency, and the first Annual Open Exhibition was held at the National Arts Club, marking a turning point in CLWAC’s history. The newsletter Highlights became an established feature of the Club.
Florence was a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and later studied watercolor at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. She was a life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in England and belonged to numerous art organizations in addition to CLWAC: the American Artists Professional League, the Academic Artists Association, Knickerbocker Artists, and the National League of American Pen Women among others. She had a special feel for New York scenes as well as landscape, marine, and floral painting. Her work was widely exhibited in many venues, including the National Academy, Bruce Museum, Hammond Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Guild Hall, and Kennedy Galleries. She served CLWAC in many capacities: President, Vice President, Corresponding Secretary and, at the time she was Honored Member in 1982, on the Finance Committee.
Florence Fitch Whitehill
“Brooklyn Bridge”
Peter A. Juley & Son Collection - Smithsonian American Art Museum “Peonies on White”
Peter A. Juley & Son Collection - Smithsonian American Art Museum
Charlotte Dunwiddie: 1961-1962
Honored Member 1988
A distinguished sculptor and CLWAC’s Honored Member in
1988, Charlotte served one year as President. Born
in Strasbourg, France, she studied with professor Wilhelm Otto at the Academy of Art in Berlin, Mariano Benlliure y Gil
in
Madrid, and Alberto Lago in Buenos Aires. Her commissioned works are
in many outstanding collections. She was elected Academician of the National Academy of Design,
in 1978 became the first woman President of the National Sculpture Society, and
in 1992 was given title of Honorary President of the Society. Three of her sculptures are in Brookgreen Gardens, where she served as a Trustee. She was a witty, acute, and forceful person who was generous with her time and never compromised
her high standards. She commented on her year as President: “I myself benefitted greatly by holding this office. It gave me new insights and added awareness
in
human relations and organizational functioning, as well as in plain practical matters. ” Many CLWAC presidents
have expressed similar feelings. At her death she left the Club a generous bequest that continues to fund awards
in her name.
Charlotte Dunwiddie
“Pope John XXIII”
Peter A. Juley & Son Collection
Smithsonian American Art Museum
“Trooping the Color”
Peter A. Juley & Son Collection Smithsonian American Art Museum
Margaret Fernald Dole: 1962-1965
A well-known portrait painter, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, England, and a member of numerous local and national arts groups, Margaret was a Member of CLWAC for many years. Under her presidency the Club took the significant step of becoming incorporated, with the generous help of her lawyer husband John Dole, who continued to assist the Club for several years. The 1970 catalog was dedicated to her memory, and a portrait award is given in her name at CLWAC’s annual Members’ Show.
Margaret Fernald Dole
Sara Metzner Boal: 1965-1968 Honored Member 1978
Sara Boal’s tenure as CLWAC President saw many significant changes. She initiated the association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, introducing the Preview Benefit in 1966. With the assistance of John Dole she achieved the Club’s tax exempt 501(c)3 status, and she obtained the use of the galleries at the National Academy of Design for several years. Sara was a woman of many talents. After graduating from Wellesley College she expected to pursue a career as a concert pianist. When family commitments made this difficult, she turned to composition, and some of her pieces were performed at Town Hall and Columbia University. Her interest in musical therapy led her to introduce such a program at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York.
In the 1930s she turned to painting and was encouraged by Eleanor Gay Lee. She studied oils with Carle Brenner, M. A. Rasho, and Dimitri Romanovsky, and watercolors with Jack Marriott. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, England, a life Fellow of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, a member of the American Artists Professional League, the National League of American Pen Women, the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Club, and the Composers, Authors and Artists of America. She helped form the organization Fifty American Artists. Her work is in many private collections in England, France, Japan, and Hong Kong as well as the permanent collections of several museums, among them: the Hammond Museum; the Museum at the Hispanic Society of the Americas, and the collection of Wellesley College. At Wellesley one of her classmates was Mai-Ling Soong (Madame Chiang Kai-shek), and Sara later encouraged her to become an Honorary Member of CLWAC.
Sara Metzner Boal
Winnie Borne Sherman: 1968-1971
During Winnie’s presidency the Bylaws were amended to limit the terms of office for Board Members and Alternates, and permanent rules for exhibition were established. She presided over CLWAC meetings with grace and charm, and lived a full life until the age of 102 in 2004, always maintaining a warm interest in CLWAC.
She studied at the National Academy, Cooper Union, Columbia University, and the Art Students League. She had many solo shows and her work was regularly exhibited with Fifty American Artists, American Watercolor Society, and at Grand Central Galleries. In addition to her work with art organizations she demonstrated art supplies for Grumbacher and gave watercolor demonstrations for New York City school children. Carey Boone Nelson shared her studio at 30 East 20th Street, a building that also housed Sally Swan Carr and Suzanne Hurt. After Winnie moved to Rossmor, New Jersey, Carey and Suzanne continued to visit her regularly, bringing her news of CLWAC.
Winnie Borne Sherman
“Young Girl Holding Doll”
Peter A. Juley & Son Collection Smithsonian American Art Museum
Sally Swan Carr served as CLWAC President from 1971 to 1974 and had been active in the Club for many years before that. In the 1960s she had encouraged Anna Hyatt Huntington, Harriet Frishmuth, and Malvina Hoffman, all illustrious sculptors, to become Honorary Members. In addition, she created the Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal (also in the American Numismatic Society of New York), first awarded in the 1970 Annual Open Exhibition, and she persuaded Anna Hyatt Huntington to create the Horse’s Head Award to be presented at annual Members’ Shows. For her outstanding achievements, Sally was named a CLWAC Honorary Member in 1979.
Her life began in Minneapolis, where her family encouraged her to study ballet. At an early age she was dancing at social functions and on the stage. At sixteen she came East with a show, and it was not until after she married in 1941 that she turned to sculpture, starting at the Clay Club (now the SculptureCenter). She also studied privately with John Hovannes, Frederick Allen Williams, and Paul Manship, and advanced sculpture at New York University. She worked in all media, her first commission being a life-size mahogany carving, the “Indian Queen,” for the Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia. Her bronze relief of the “Lion of St. Mark” is at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City; five Carrara marble reliefs of the “Cardinal Virtues” are in Riverside Park, St. Joseph, Michigan, and her sculptures are in many other venues in this country and in Europe.
She was a member of the Architectural League of New York, the Burr Artists, and the International Platform Association. But beyond her other professional commitments, she is remembered for her devotion to CLWAC, and her long service to the Club as a Permanent Advisor, where her sharp memory, generosity, and infectious spirit were highly valued. She herself said that one of her best memories of CLWAC was of when she was Chairman of the 1963 Exhibition and there was snow “as high as the fence,” and a newspaper strike was in effect. She called all the radio stations, and the Exhibition was publicized on the Fitzgerald program on WOR, resulting in a large turnout –- the best attendance ever –- with Ed and Pegeen Fitzgerald themselves being present.
Sally Swan Carr
Before being named as one of the Club’s youngest Presidents, Carey had served as Exhibition Chair, Program Chair, Sculpture Chair, and Vice President. In 1988 she was made an Honorary Member, and she continued as a Permanent Advisor. She was a source of invaluable information, good sense, and historical perspective, with her warm and intimate recollections of earlier members and events. During her presidency the Bylaws were amended in significant ways to introduce more stringent requirements for Artist Membership and to initiate the category of Associate for those wishing to participate in some activities without the necessity of being juried as professional artists.
Born and raised in Lexington, Missouri, Carey graduated pre-med from Wellesley College and later received her MS in Education from Wagner College on Staten Island. She studied sculpture at the National Academy, and at the Art Students League with John Hovannes, Arturo Lorenzani, and John Terken. Although she has worked in stone, wood, metal, and plastic, her favorite medium is oil-based clay (plastelina), casting her sculptures in bronze using the lost wax process. Her work is represented in museums and collections on all five continents, and in the U. S. her sculptures are in the Pentagon, the Missouri State Capitol, the U. S. Air Force Hall of Fame, Colgate University, and Wagner College, among many other venues. One of her numerous commissions is the “Douglas A. Munro Monument” at the U. S. Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, unveiled during the high winds of Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Other commissions include “The Zinc Miner” monument” at the Franklin Museum, New Jersey, and
Carey Boone Nelson
“Dr. William M. Boone,” 1860-1936 Physician and Educator Highland Community College Highland, Kansas
“The Zinc Miner,” Bronze Franklin Mineral Museum
Franklin, New Jersey
portraits of James Madison, Montpelier, Virginia; George Balanchine; General Jimmy Doolittle; Reverend Martin Luther King, and many other diverse figures. Some of her other sculptures reveal a more humorous side, with her five “Subway Riders” being included in the permanent collection of the International Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton, Florida. Carey has had many one-person exhibitions, including her being the first sculptor to be given a solo exhibition at the Salmagundi Club.
She was active in several art organizations and was a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, England; a Life Member of the Art Students League; member of the Salmagundi Club, and Fellow in the American Artists Professional League.
With all her professional accomplishments and extraordinary commitment to CLWAC, Carey also achieved a remarkably balanced life with her husband Ken, six children, and many grandchildren.
The CLWAC Artist Laureate Award was presented posthumously to Carey in August 2021. It honors her dedication and commitment to her art, and to the broader art community through her service, perseverance and grace.
Carey Boone Nelson with her bronze of “Le Marquis de Lafayette,” created for the Lafayette County Court House Lexington, Missouri
Cecelia Cardman: 1980-1981 Honored Member 1987
Cecelia was born in Soveria, Italy, but grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado. She earned her BFA degree from the University of Colorado and then returned to Italy to study with Guiseppe Aprea at the Instituto di Belli Arte in Naples. During her stay there she was honored with two solo shows warmly received. After returning to Colorado she had many solo shows, including exhibiting at the Denver Art Museum. A few years of teaching followed at Mesa College, the University of Southern California, and Greeley State College of Education. She painted in both oils and watercolors and received warm guidance from Leon Kroll, Edgar Whitney, Milford Zornes, and Diana Kan. In addition to CLWAC, she served on the boards of Salmagundi Club, Allied Artists of America, American Artists Professional League, Pen and Brush, and the National League of American Pen Women.
Cecelia Cardman, 1906-1988
“Seascape,” Oil
Nora Roth: 1986-1989
A native of Tipperary, Ireland, where she was educated, Nora immigrated to the U. S. in 1955. Her introduction to art was through Diana Kan, with whom she studied for 15 years. Nora’s warmth and charm were disarming, guiding the Club through its 90th anniversary year with elegance and grace. She gave everyone she met the feeling that they were themselves special and capable of accomplishing things they had not imagined, a quality that persuaded many to undertake difficult tasks for CLWAC.
But her extraordinary dedication to the Club was based on a strong sense of purpose and a capacity to deal in a practical and pragmatic way with changing times. This enabled her to establish the substantial Medals Fund and to ensure that the Club maintained a secure operating base. Her welcoming manner and generosity were apparent to those who met her, those who knew her only through her remarkable personal notes, and those Board members who were privileged to participate in the lavish luncheons she hosted at her home. Her spirit and unheralded support continued to nurture CLWAC for many years, eliciting the qualities that have made the Club unique.
Nora Roth
Dorothy Dallas: 1989-1992 Honored Member 1999
A native New Yorker, Dorothy majored in interior design at Pratt Institute and worked in that field while raising her family. Later she studied at the Art Students League and privately with Arthur Barbour, Joseph Rossi, and Edgar Whitney, followed by a return to Pratt, where she earned an MFA in painting and printmaking. She was drawn to abstract art, and her watercolors are exceptional for their design and color. During her tenure as President she did much to encourage CLWAC’s acceptance of modern forms, and her wonderful sense of humor kept the Club vital.
She exhibited widely, with the American Watercolor Society, the watercolor societies of Baltimore, New Jersey, and New England, among others. Her work was seen in Greece, Thailand, and India, and she has had numerous exhibitions. She organized a watercolor group for the Art Center of Northern New Jersey, and is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the New Jersey Watercolor Society, and the Katonah (New York) Museum Artists Association.
Dorothy Dallas
Karin Strong: 1992-1995
When Karin took office she was one of CLWAC’s youngest Presidents. After graduating in psychology from Boston University and in illustration from Pratt Institute, she studied painting for a year in France and subsequently took courses in New York at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League.
At the time Karin became President CLWAC was approaching its centennial and beginning to consider ways to celebrate the milestone. Karin energetically explored means to achieve more public awareness of CLWAC in particular and the work of women artists in general. Eventually she and the Board initiated plans for the Centennial Traveling Exhibition. She also organized two successful Members’ Shows in Southampton, New York, and one at the Salmagundi Club. In addition she undertook revisions of the Bylaws.
A highly accomplished oil painter, Karin has won many awards and has enjoyed teaching science and art to young children in museums and local schools, serving for a time as the administrator of an after school program. She was a founding member and has served on the Board of the Southampton Artists and the East End Classic Boat Society, and was a Member of the Guild of Natural History Illustrators and the East End Arts Alliance.
Karin Strong
“Meeting of the Board,” Oil
Jean T. Kroeber: 1995-1998 Honored Member 2003
Jean served as Vice President for Sculpture for five years before being elected President. Plans for CLWAC’s Centennial Traveling Exhibition were already launched, but she oversaw its opening installation at the Broome Street Gallery in January of 1996 and undertook the complex arrangements for travel to ten additional venues over the course of the next two years. Thanks to the enthusiastic support given to the Club by all the participants, the show was a great success and was achieved without any serious mishap.
A native of New York City, Jean graduated from HarvardRadcliffe with an AB in History. Although sculpture was a life-long interest, she seriously pursued it only after working as an editor and raising a family. Largely self-taught, with reinforcing study in Jose DeCreeft’s class at the Art Students League, her work is primarily direct carving in stone and wood, much influenced by Classical and Romanesque carvings and the strong forms of Maillol and Zorach. She continued as a Permanent Advisor for CLWAC and was also a member of Allied Artists of America, Pen and Brush, and The Salmagundi Club, as well as the Southern Vermont Artists and the Chaffee Art Center, in Rutland, Vermont.
The CLWAC Artist Laureate Award was presented posthumously to Jean in June 2021. It honors her dedication and commitment to her art, and to the broader art community through her service, perseverance and grace.
Jean T. Kroeber with her sculpture “Sorelle,” Georgia pink marble
“Cloud,” Marble
“Salome,” Manzanita wood
Amy Bright Unfried: 1998-2000 Honored Member 2009
Before becoming CLWAC’s President, Amy served for three years as Vice President for Sculpture. She brought to both jobs great organizational skills and the serious purpose of bringing the Club into the 21st century. Exploring the possibilities of internet connections, she was the first to achieve CLWAC representation on a website and in many ways helped the Club into the technological age. As a Permanent Advisor after her presidency she has maintained a close interest in CLWAC and was instrumental in reorganizing complicated financial affairs into simplified accounts.
Born in Boston, Amy graduated from Wellesley College and received an MA in Economics from Yale. After several years of working in finance and economics, she felt a need for a different life and eventually found in sculpture a satisfying career. She studied at SUNY-Purchase and then undertook three years at the National Academy. Her figurative sculptures in bronze, using the lost-wax method, are inspired by Classical and Renaissance works. Since moving to Wyoming in 2001, she has added delicate bronzes of trees, branches, and birds to her work. As a member of several art groups, among them Allied Artists of America, American Artists Professional League, and the National Association of Women Artists, Amy has exhibited widely, receiving many awards. Her work is in over 150 public and private collections around the country, to name a few, the permanent collections of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey; the Center for the Arts in Jackson, Wyoming; Lawrence Hospital Center, Bronxville, New York, and the Wyoming State Capitol Art Collection, Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Amy Bright Unfried
“Four Ravens,” Bronze
“End of a Long Day,” Bronze
After retiring from a career as an art teacher and art department chairman, Eleanor was able to devote concentrated time to her own painting and to become active in local and regional art organizations. CLWAC was fortunate to welcome her as a Member. She served as Awards Chair and Vice President for Painting before stepping into the job of President, where her grace and tact were enormously appreciated. She saw CLWAC through the aftermath of September 11, helping to prove the value of art in difficult times. Her clear-headed insight contributed greatly to the revisions of the Bylaws, and she took forward the Club’s commitment to the world wide web.
After receiving a BS in Art Education from Nazareth College of Rochester, New York, and a MALS from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, she studied at workshops, and her interest in watercolors developed in courses with Barse Miller. Her still life paintings, featuring transparent and reflective objects, have been exhibited in many venues, from Washington, D. C., to Athens, Greece. Her work is included in collections at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum of Rutgers University, the Saratoga Springs Hospital, and the personal collection of Ambassador Susan Jacobs. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the Baltimore Watercolor Society, the Smithtown Township Arts Council, and the Art League of Long Island. She continues as a valued Permanent Advisor for CLWAC.
Eleanor Tyndall Meier
“Tulips, Quilt, Onions,” Watercolor
“Kimono & Apples,” Watercolor
Lucille served CLWAC in many capacities before being elected President. She led the Club into the computer world, bravely mastering systems to get the membership lists off 3 x 5 cards and onto a data base, then continued as Membership Chair for years thereafter. She redesigned the web page and got it functioning, and she designed the current logo. Always taking on jobs with enthusiasm, her talent for hanging exhibitions is extraordinary and frequently called upon. And her willingness to explore new possibilities kept the Board on its feet. She initiated an exhibition of small works for Associates as well as Members, arranging for the first of those at the Water Mill Museum on Long Island in the Summer of 2006. CLWAC hopes to provide more such opportunities when suitable venues are available. She remains a committed Permanent Advisor for CLWAC.
Lucille is primarily an accomplished portrait artist in oils and pastels, though she also often does still lifes and landscapes. While her work is in the classical tradition, it frequently conveys wit and humor. After receiving a degree in Advertising & Design from SUNY, she was employed by McCann-Ericson as a commercial artist in Madrid, Spain, and then did further study at Parsons School of Design as well as with Richard Owen, Daniel Greene, and Albert Handell. Over the years she has won many top awards and medals. Lucille has been a visiting artist for the Art Frame Program and taught portraiture for the Southampton School System and has instructed at the Victor D’Amico Art Barge Institute of Art in Amagansett, New York. She is an Elected Member and serves on the board of Allied Artists of America and is also a Director of the Water Mill Museum where she heads the Art Show committee. She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America and a Fellow Artist of the American Artist Professional League. Her work is in private collections across the country and in Europe and is widely displayed on the East End of Long Island and in New York City.
Lucille Berrill Paulsen Photo by Richard Muller
“First Born,” Oil “St. Rachel,” Oil “St. Kips,” Oil “St. Ryfi,” Oil
Joyce Zeller: 2006-2009 Honored Member 2017
Joyce came to the presidency with a desire to explore ways of achieving more public awareness of CLWAC. Her vision was to chronicle the formation and history of CLWAC, initiating the process which led to the publication of this book. She developed contact with Art Connoisseur Magazine, resulting in its publishing an article on Catharine Lorillard Wolfe and the Club; she arranged for CLWAC Members to send work to the National Museum of Women in the Arts Annual Gala in 2007, and she promoted the use of e-mail for communications, as well as improving the website. Under her tenure, a CLWAC scholarship for women artists was established at the Art Students League.
An early interest in faces and the people behind them led her to portrait painting. She studied art at the Fashion Institute of Technology and then taught there for two years. But by a strange twist of fate, she found herself owning a men’s and women’s clothing boutique for 17 years. There she used her artistic talents for window displays and advertising. After selling the business, shereturned to art studies at the Art Students League, the National Academy of Design, and with many artists whom she admired.
She now paints mostly commissioned portraits in oil and pastel, as well as plein-air landscapes and genre paintings, and creates hand-built sculptures. She has exhibited in juried and solo shows in the metropolitan area, winning many awards. Her portraits of doctors, lawyers, school headmasters, and judges hang prominently in homes, offices, and public spaces around the country. Her portrait of the U. S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey hangs in the Justice Department in Washington, D. C.
Joyce is on the Board of the Artists’ Fellowship, is a Member of the Portrait Society of America, and the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists; an Associate Member of the Pastel Society and Allied Artists of America; and a Permanent Advisor to CLWAC.
Joyce Zeller
Attorney General Eric Holder, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and Joyce at the unveiling of her painting for the Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
Susan Twardus Faith: 2009-2012
Before being elected President of CLWAC, Susan served as Awards Chair, Treasurer, and Vice President for Sculpture. In addition to her artistic gifts, Susan brought an unusually diverse background of experience, in the business world with computers, and in the art world with running her own gallery. This gave her unique strengths in working toward her goals of streamlining and modernizing the Club’s operations and of elevating its profile. In both these endeavors she brought CLWAC a long way. And with the enhanced use of computers she was able to reach out to a wider base of Members for jurying and other Club undertakings.
Growing up in New Jersey near the college towns of Princeton and New Brunswick, Susan early excelled in art and science, earning an art scholarship. However, she chose for a time to pursue a career in business and computers. After having moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, as a single mother, she returned to college to fulfill a long-time calling to study art, while also working for a time at Merrill Lynch. It was while surrounded by piles of discarded Wall Street Journals at her job that she first conceived of the idea for the papier-mâché sculptures that have become such a distinguishing part of her artistic expression. Her work in that medium, raising it to a level of fine art that expresses serious life statements as well as a sense of humor, has gained her wide recognition and earned her many awards.
In 1997 Susan took a position with a gallery in nearby Lambertville, New Jersey, where her work brought her in contact with many experts skilled in restoration, framing, and gilding. She also gained knowledge of work by some of the finest Impressionist painters of the New Hope school. In 1999 she opened her own fine arts gallery. Building on these influences, Susan began exhibiting widely her own paintings, charcoal drawings, and papier-mâché sculptures in prominent venues, such as: the James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA; the Trenton City Museum, NJ; Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ; the National Arts Club, NYC; and the Salmagundi Club, NYC. Her work is in many private collections and in the permanent collections of the State of New Jersey Cultural and Heritage Commission, Merrill Lynch, and Harrison Corporate Properties.
In addition to CLWAC, Susan has been elected to membership in Pen and Brush, Inc., and Philadelphia Sculptors. Her many prestigious awards include the CLWAC Medal of Honor and the Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal for Sculpture. She has been listed in multiple editions of Who’s Who as an artist of note.
Susan Twardus Faith
“The Winds of Wall Street” Newspaper 15”h x 15”w x 22”d
“The Manipulator” Newspaper 30”h x 16”w x 22”d
Gaile Snow Gibbs: 2012-2015 Honored Member 2008
Gaile assumed the presidency of CLWAC after long service on the Board, particularly overseeing the Annual Open Exhibition Catalogs for sixteen years. With her background of thirty-five years experience in advertising as an award-winning Art Director and a Creative Supervisor, she brought highly perfected skills to that endeavor, raising the quality of the Catalog and bringing it into the digital world and in full color. Those same design skills have been amply drawn upon in the realization of the first book about the Club: A Chronicle - The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. Gaile also served as Chair for a Members’ Exhibition and worked to establish the Club’s first website.
At the age of fifteen Gaile began studying at the Art Students League of New York under Jean Liberté and was published for the first time in the League catalog. Ten years later she was commissioned to paint two oil portraits of Dustin Hoffman for the Off Broadway production of Journey of the Fifth Horse. In pursuit of a degree in Fine Arts, Gaile studied at DePauw University, Hunter College, and the School of Visual Arts. She continued her studies at the League under pastelists Richard Pionk and Americo DeFranza, watercolorist Irwin Greenberg, and classical painter Frank Mason. A painter of portraits (people and wildlife) and still lifes, Gaile states her “goal is basically the same: to always celebrate a subject’s unique qualities...in all their beauty.”
A recipient of many awards, Gaile’s work is in private collections in California, Florida, New York, and Paris. She is a Life Member of the Art Students League, where she has served two terms on the Board of Control. In addition, she is a Fellow of the American Artists Professional League, an Elected Artist Member of the Salmagundi Club and Allied Artists of America. Apart from her commitment to her art, Gaile assists her husband and best friend Clark Warren acting as manager of his New York cabaret career.
Gaile Snow Gibbs
“Bird Dog,” Oil
Jeanette Dick: 2015-2018
Jeanette Dick ascended to the presidency of the CLWAC in 2015 after serving as Awards Chair for six years. As president she initiated a complete analysis of the Club’s finances and investments, streamlining all the processes. She founded the Gordon Coe Dick Memorial Award given each year at the Annual Open Exhibition to a deserving pastel artist. Also, she planned and chaired a special exhibit for Members and Associates at the historical Deepwells Mansion in Smithtown, Long Island.
Jeanette grew up on Long Island, studied Art Education at Queens College and earned her master’s degree in liberal studies at Stony Brook University. She taught art in several public schools in Nassau and Suffolk County spending her last ten years teaching at Scraggy Hill School in Port Jefferson, coordinating an Artist in Residence program that was well received. After her retirement she was able to make a deeper commitment to her own art expression taking workshops with Christian White and Diana DeSantis. She has focused on the figure and the landscape. Using pastels and oils as her primary media she has developed a style uniquely her own, composition, color, and design are her primary focus. Her work with the figure has a mystical poetic quality, her landscapes of the Long Island shoreline with a rich buttery texture are depicted from unusual angles.
She was also an active participant in the Setauket Artists, a group of forty local artists who show their work at the Setauket Neighborhood House and other venues several times a year. She was selected as their Honored Artist in 2012. She was elected to membership in the Connecticut Pastel Society and as an Associate in the American Pastel Society. She exhibited in many juried shows, galleries and museums in New York City, Connecticut, and on Long Island, winning many awards.
We lost Jan in January, 2022. She was the personification of elegance and grace. Her dedication to CLWAC was unflagging. She is sorely missed.
Jeanette Dick
“Untitled,” Pastel
JoAnn Bishop:
2018-2020
For many years JoAnn Bishop, long time Member of CLWAC
was the go-to person for the Club’s board to reach the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. She worked at the Museum and was an able
intermediary when the Club needed attendance buttons, gift
certificates, and other services. She lived up-town in New
York City and volunteered to assist at all the Club events. She always made herself available. As president of the Club, she was a no nonsense, take charge executive. The board meetings were brief and to the point. She has been able to computerize many of the Club’s functions even running inter-active board meetings during the pandemic. When the Members’ Exhibition had to be cancelled, she immediately planned the exhibit on-line keeping with the Club’s mission of publicizing women artists. JoAnn inherited her art talent
from her dad, choosing to attend the
High School of Art and Design in New York City near her
home where she studied painting and illustration. Later at Hunter College, she entered a work study program majoring in business and minoring in art...her first
love.
After receiving her degree, she entered the
Art Students League where she studied under Richard Pionk, Oldrich Teply and Greg Kreutz. At the
League, in lieu of tuition, she served as a monitor where she would set up a still life, pose a model
and assist the instructor. After mastering the basics, she realized it was time to work independently and
to find her own means of expression.
In addition to CLWAC exhibits she has shown her work at the Covello Senior Center and the
University Settlement House. Several of her paintings shown in the CLWAC’s Annual Open Exhibitions
depicted scenes from small spaces at the Met where the people shown in these small acrylic paintings
and the subdued lighting create an intimate mood. More recent work in mixed media collage show
a female figure with a patterned background in themes that lend the work meaning, whimsy and
mystery. JoAnn has won many awards in her different styles, yet she still remains the student
experimenting with different forms of expression including digital photo images.
JoAnn Bishop
“Bar Talk”
“Queen of Soul”
Karene Infranco: 2020 -
Karene took over CLWAC presidency in June of 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unable to meet or exhibit in person, she took advantage of online opportunities. The Board continued its operations via Zoom, and she introduced the first Associates and Non-Member online show in 2020. To keep our Membership engaged, she also implemented online educational programs with Metropolitan Museum of Art curators.
CLWAC infrastructure needed updating, and Karene endeavored to update the bylaws, the website, our accounting system and introduced a new member management platform to streamline operations. Membership grew almost 20% in the two years she has been president.
Karene is an artist working in pastel, oil, and printmaking. She earned a BS in Biology and Chemistry from the State University of NY at Albany in 1985. After owning a healthcare communications compay for over a decade, Karene returned to her passion — art. Her art education includes coursework at the prestigious Brooklyn Museum Art School, the New School at Parsons, the School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston, the Yard School of Art in Montclair NJ, Visual Art Center in Summit NJ, the Pastel Society of America, and the School of Visual Art in New York.
Karene is a juried artist member of the Salmagundi Club, a Signature Member and a member of Board of Governors of the Pastel Society of America, an Elected Artist Member of Audubon Artists and the American Artists Professional League, and Signature Member of the Pastel Society of the West Coast. She has been a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2015, working with children grades 4-12.
Her work is in private collections in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey and has been exhibited at the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Art Club in New York, and the Haggin Museum in California.
Karene Infranco
“Along New Road,” Pastel “Glimmer of Hope,” Pastel
