Longtime Jacksonville resident and local artist Elaine Witteveen passed away at age 98 earlier this year. Due to the high profile and longevity of the Artist’s Workshop, founded by Witteveen in 1979, she was well-known in Jacksonville and beyond for facilitating the work of her fellow artists as much as for her own.
Born in Chicago in 1917, Elaine’s passion for art bloomed early. She took Saturday art classes at the Chicago Art Institute when she was in elementary school, winning a scholarship for full-time study at the Institute in high school. She continued her studies at the American Academy of Art at night while earning a Bachelors degree in Philosophy at the University of Chicago.
“Red Flowers in Blue Vase” by Elaine Witteveen
Achieving her Masters in Art History was temporarily interrupted when Elaine and her husband moved to Eugene in 1946. They opened a print shop for which she did the art layouts, and she continued her studies at the University of Oregon and taught plein air painting at Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, which she co-founded.
Moving to Jacksonville in 1964, the Witteveens gained the respect of West Coast artists who otherwise had to have color prints of their artwork made by firms back East. Elaine worked as typesetter and managed the marketing and distribution for their business, which she learned herself, all while continuing to paint.
After studying at the Samuel Provenzano Studio in Florence, Italy in 1972, Elaine became lonely while traveling throughout southern Oregon to paint landscapes on location and decided painting with other artists would be more fun. In 1979 the Rogue Gallery agreed to sponsor the group, which flourished from its inception as the Rogue Valley Artist’s Workshop to grow into the 60-artist strong group it has become in Jacksonville today. For her efforts, she was appointed to the Oregon Arts Commission by former Oregon Governor Bob Straub.
Like many artists who spent their younger years focusing on realism, Elaine moved into collage and abstracts painted in acrylic later in life. Therefore, her collection comprises a wide range of subject, style and medium from Elaine’s artistic life available to collectors.
Art Presence Art Center is honored to host a retrospective exhibition featuring over 100 of Witteveen’s paintings from September 4-27, 2015. Elaine was a friend of our founder, Anne Brooke, and board member of Art Presence for a year. Anne is a huge admirer of Elaine’s work and remembers her fondly for her fearless artistic experimentation, considering her an incredible role model. While some of Witteveen’s paintings are framed, there are many unframed originals from which to choose. Come to our reception on Saturday, September 5, 2015 from noon-3:00pm and learn more about this Jacksonville legend through her art. Visit the gallery any Friday–Sunday this month to view this special exhibition and choose one of Elaine’s paintings for yourself!