Artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere
<> Their Legacy Art Community <>
<> Their Legacy Art Community <>
Lydia's Art
1919 - 1938
1919 - 1938
During the summer months, somewhere between 1907 and 1913, while Lydia had been working at Bethany College as the Dean of Women and Matron to the Bethany ladies at Lane Hart Hall, she began her study of art at the University of Chicago.
- Reflections -
Possibly from her art studies at the University of Chicago
- Reflections -
Possibly from her art studies at the University of Chicago
Yet, it would be in 1919, at the age of 46, that she became a student at Bethany College, and a serious one in art with family friend artist Professor Sven Birger Sandzén (1871-1954), graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts in 1923. (In 1900 Lydia had already graduated with a degree in Commerce from McPherson College, and she would also graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Science at Bethany in 1925.)
During her years as an advanced art student, from time to time, she would exhibit her art beyond Lindsborg to other Kansas towns with other students and Sandzén. One historical show was with Sandzén, G. N. Malm and Lola Wheaten at the debut exhibition of the Mulvane Art Museum in Topeka which was founded in 1924. With a Degree in Fine Arts, she taught summer sessions of painting and drawing until 1931. She became a member of the Prairie Water Color Painters organized by Sandzén and began showing her work with them at its first exhibition in 1934.
During her years as an advanced art student, from time to time, she would exhibit her art beyond Lindsborg to other Kansas towns with other students and Sandzén. One historical show was with Sandzén, G. N. Malm and Lola Wheaten at the debut exhibition of the Mulvane Art Museum in Topeka which was founded in 1924. With a Degree in Fine Arts, she taught summer sessions of painting and drawing until 1931. She became a member of the Prairie Water Color Painters organized by Sandzén and began showing her work with them at its first exhibition in 1934.
- Birger Sandzén, Lydia Deere, G.N. Malm, Lola Wheaten -
- These Lindsborg Artists to exhibit in Topeka are mentioned at the very end of this article c1924. -
- These Lindsborg Artists to exhibit in Topeka are mentioned at the very end of this article c1924. -
Previous to that teaching experience, she taught classes at the Bethany Academy and those were in various types of Swedish and Scandinavian handwork while she worked at Lane Hart Hall into the year of 1913.
It was also in that year that Lydia helped Sandzén establish his far-reaching Smoky Hill Valley Art Club. It was so popular that it grew to a membership of 400 somewhere in the 1930s, an impressive number when considering that the town of Lindsborg had a population of about 2,000 citizens* during that period.
Smoky Hill Art Club
- more than 400 members in the 1930s -
(Sandzén re-elected president, Lydia elected vice president)
- more than 400 members in the 1930s -
(Sandzén re-elected president, Lydia elected vice president)
Date of article unknown.
- Peacocks -
Lydia's entry at the 1927 Midwest Art Exhibition at Bethany College
Lydia's entry at the 1927 Midwest Art Exhibition at Bethany College
Information and photograph: Courtesy of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
Summer travel, with her husband, Bethany College Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences Emil O. Deere, produced many paintings from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Lydia was a prolific artist producing countless beautiful pieces, most of which found homes with Smoky Valley family members and their descendants, with Lindsborg residents, Bethany College, Bethany Home and the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery.
Shown in the next three (3) sections: -- The Kansas Collection; The Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico Collection; and The California Collection -- each with a subsection of corresponding sketches, are found only a remnant of Lydia's art work of which she produced between approximately 1919 to 1938.
For "The Kansas Collection" click on the painting.
The Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota Collection
The California Collection
- Lydia Sohlberg Deere -
1873 - 1943
1873 - 1943
* From Wikipedia Kansas Demographics
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"Let Us Celebrate Them"
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Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
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All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
