May Gearhart facts for kids

May Gearhart (born April 22, 1872 – died August 14, 1951) was an American artist who made prints. She was part of a group of printmakers in Southern California in the early 1900s. These artists were greatly inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement and Japanese art.

Early Life and Learning

May Gearhart was born in Sagetown, Illinois, in 1872. Her older sister, Frances Gearhart, also became a famous printmaker and watercolor painter. Another sister, Edna, was an artist too.

In the 1880s, May's family moved to California. May studied at a teaching school in Los Angeles. Later, she went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to learn more about art. One of her teachers there was Rudolph Schaeffer.

May kept learning about art throughout her life. She learned how to make block prints from an artist named Arthur Wesley Dow. She also learned etching from Benjamin Brown. Etching is a way of making prints by using acid to create designs on a metal plate. Benjamin Brown lived near her in Pasadena. He also helped start a group called the Print Makers of Los Angeles. In 1930, she studied with the painter Hans Hofmann.

Teaching Career

May Gearhart earned a living by teaching art. In 1900, she started as a teacher in the Berkeley public schools in California. By 1903, she became the supervisor of art for all the schools in Los Angeles. This meant she was in charge of art education for the entire city school system. She held this important job until 1939.

In 1919, May moved to Pasadena to live with her sister Frances. Their house became a popular meeting place for local printmakers. Artists would gather there to share ideas and work on their art.

Her Artworks

Gearhart mostly created prints using a method called soft-ground color etching. She also made block prints. Her art often showed landscapes, which are pictures of nature, and genre scenes, which are pictures of everyday life. Her style used simple shapes, clear drawings, and soft colors. These ideas came from the Arts and Crafts movement, Japanese art, and the teachings of Arthur Wesley Dow. Some of her artworks even appeared on the covers of magazines, like California Life in 1922.

In 1924, May and her sister Frances had a special art show together. It was held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. May also showed her work in exhibitions by other art groups. These included the Print Makers Society of California and the Chicago Society of Etchers.

In the late 1920s, May and her two sisters worked together on a children's book. It had original poems and was illustrated with their linocut prints. Linocut is a type of printmaking where you carve a design into linoleum. The book was called Let's Play. It wasn't published until 2009. The original handwritten book is now kept at Princeton University.

In 1939, May Gearhart published an illustrated book called Sketches of a Late Etcher. This book told the story of an artist who was running late for a deadline.

May Gearhart passed away in 1951 in Altadena, California. Her artworks are now part of the collections in several museums. These include the Los Angeles County Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.