Ann O'Hanlon
Ann O'Hanlon
Our approach to learning involves hands-on practice with art materials to establish an interplay between the receptive and the creative—seeing, and doing, and then seeing again the receptive contemplation of what one has done.—Ann O’Hanlon
Ann O’Hanlon (1908-1998) was recognized as the artist in her family a few years after her birth on June 21, 1908, in Ashland, Kentucky. Her younger sister, Myra Dee, is fond of telling stories about the preferential treatment this talent afforded Ann: “’Now, Myra Dee, mother used to say, ‘You know Ann Louise has to protect her hands so you need to do the dishes.’” The oldest of five, Ann helped to raise her younger siblings while her mother became somewhat of a local celebrity for the “beaten biscuits” she used to make and sell in order to help make ends meet.
From these humble beginnings, Ann Louise Rice went on to receive her Bachelor of Art degree in 1932 from the University of Kentucky, followed by graduate work at the California School of Fine Arts, now known as the San Francisco Art Institute. There she met her future husband, Dick O’Hanlon.
Kentucky Mural (detail)
At this time Dick was an apprentice to Diego Rivera and was assisting him on the creation of the large fresco which stands in the Art Institute to this day. Four years later Dick and Ann returned to Kentucky to paint their own landmark 40-foot fresco in Memorial Hall at the University. Each day Dick would lay out fresh plaster for Ann while she prepared the pigments for the area she would be painting. This fresco, one of the only true frescoes in the United States, captures the pictorial history of Kentucky, and is still considered one of the most important works of art in the state.
Kentucky Mural (detail)
After completion of the fresco in 1936, Ann and Dick ventured east, where they spent time in New York City and at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. In 1938 the O’Hanlons returned to the Bay Area, and in 1942, along with a group of family members and friends, bought the old Freitas dairy farm at 616 Throckmorton Avenue, where the O’Hanlon Center still stands today.
As Dick and Ann began to convert the old barn into living and studio space, they attracted neighboring artists and friends, and with their help, in 1948 they raised the walls of Dick’s new sculpture studio, which now houses the O’Hanlon Gallery.
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Ann O'Hanlon: Self portrait
Many thanks to Jane Peters, Assoc. Prof., Art History, University of Kentucky for providing the Kentucky Mural photos.