History of the Elko County Art Club

By Mildred Byers

January 1965

The Elko County Art Club was begun in the High School auditorium on April 12, 1955. There were were 20 interested people present. There were nine interested people who were unable to attend. Richard Parker, Elsie Heart, Carolee Hart, Louis Whaley, Ethel Paul*, Ruby Ruby, Sylvia Trehal, Ferrin Allen, Louise Lear, Winona Drawn, Edith Strange, Ethel Vancer Dussen, Theresa Thurston, Mary Ann Ryan, Elizabeth Griswold*, Blanche Miller, Cynthia Gibbs, W. J. Powell, Jessie Dewar*, and C. W. Paul*. The nine other members were Oren Probert*, Ralph Druehl, Morris Gallagher*, Mary Lou G., Helen Paul, Mary Evans, Mary Harper Peggy Read, and Merle Trehal*. Of these only seven or eight remain as active and interested members (in 1965), as indicated by asterisks (*) above.

During the business meeting, the name Elko County Art Club was adopted.

The officers were elected as follows: C. W. Paul, President; Mrs. Blanche Miller, Vice President; Mrs. Elsie Hart, Secretary; and W. Powell, Treasurer.

Dues were levied at $1.00 per month, payable quarterly, and that all members paying dues before May 15, 1955, would be considered Charter Members. After that date, a new member was required to pay a $5.00 membership and $3.00 in advance.

At the May business meeting, the Housing Committee reported that the club could meet at the Women’s Building, and a note of thanks was sent to Mr. Paul Hawkins to express appreciation for a donation of fuel oil. Mrs. Edith Strange showed slides on the Christmas Story to complete the evening.

During September 1955, a display entitled, "What is Modern Art," distributed by the Museum of Modern Art, was ordered by the club to be shown at Elko Grammar School #1 for three days. One day for the public, one for the PTA, and one day for the Homemakers. Also using the exhibit were Mr. Sherman for his art classes at the grammar school and the LDS Relief Society. It was estimated that approximately 400 viewed the exhibit.

At this time, a farewell party was held for Shorty Powell, who had been our treasurer, and more importantly our instructor since the beginning of the club, except for the first few weeks, when Cynthia Gibbs was instructing. Shorty was presented with a woolen blanket.

The second year of the club began with C. W. Paul being elected President, Beth Griswold; Vice President; Mary Ann Ryan, Secretary; and Ruby Ruby as Treasurer.

In October 1956, Mrs. Marion Pfieble became our instructor. She was art instructor at the grammar school. She was paid 50 cents for each student at each class.

Mr. Edgar Smith presented a miter box, and the club purchased frame clamps so that members could make their own frames.

The third year of the club began with a vote of thanks to Charlie Paul for his splendid years as President. The new officers were Beth Griswold, President; Mary Ann Ryan, Vice President; Ruby Ruby, Secretary; and Clair Blair as Treasurer.

A successful one-man show was held at Merrill’s Hardware Store on Feb. 2, 1957, with CurtisPete as the exhibitor. He sold four pictures, took orders for three pen and ink drawings and a 4’ x 10’ mural for the Snack Bar, and a picture of the Ruby Mountains.

It was at this time that a committee met with the Fair Board to offer suggestions as to making changes in the premium book and the displaying of the pictures at the fair.

Neva Robinson began to come to the meetings in May of 1957, and she became our instructor at 50 cents per student with a minimum of $5.00.

In December 1957, Dr. Norman of the Elko County School Board, asked the club to paint two murals for the School board meeting room. They are to be 3’ x 8’. Small sketches were submitted to the School Board. Sketches chosen were by Ethel Paul and Ruth Wood. All members were asked to work on the murals. The murals were framed and named. Ruth’s was named "Panorama of Elko," and Mrs. E. Paul’s was called "Autumn in Nevada." Engraved plates were put on them and the school finished the frames.

Due to the influence of the Art Club, an art program was instigated at the high school, and the Art Club was instrumental in obtaining an adult Education Class in watercolor by the high school art instructor. It was a very profitable ten weeks, and following the completion, a potluck supper was held. The group presented the instructor, Mr. Staubes, with a gift.

The officers for 1959 were Jessie Dewar, President; Dave Fretwell, Vice President; Ruth Wood, Secretary; and Margie McGurrin, Treasurer.

Kenneth Montgomery became the club instructor in June 1959.

During the week of September 8-20, the Elko County Art Club held a Ford Art Exhibit of 27 watercolors by professional artists. The exhibit was hung in the Produce Building, and it was very well attended. A registry was taken at this time.

A second Adult Education class was held during the fall of 1959 with Mr. Conoway as instructor. Kenneth Montgomery again assumed the regular class instruction following the Adult Education classes.

Ruth Wood was elected President for 1959. K. Montgomery was elected Vice President, with Pearl Rowan as Secretary and Vilate Bowers as Treasurer.

In November, Mrs. Dalton, librarian, extended the invitation to the club members to exhibit their paintings for one month. It has been greatly enjoyed by many of the people of Elko County, and very favorably commented on by tourists who have dropped into the library from time to time.

The year 1961 saw Ken Montgomery as President, Pearl Rowan as Vice President, Beth Griswold as Secretary, and Vilate Bowers as Treasurer

On August 12, 1961, the art Club began using the downstairs rooms with an exhibit. It sponsored a tea when Mrs. Molly McGee displayed her collection of original paintings and ceramics. Also shown were sculptures by Charles Russell—Tulouse LeTree.

Vilate Bowers was elected President for 1962, with Mildred Byers Vice President, Beth Griswold as Secretary, and Rose Burner as Treasurer.

The Art Club members were invited to display two pictures during Library Week and entertained the Rubles on Tuesday evening of that week.

The paintings of Mrs. Jessie Byers, former member, and Ellie C., Artist, were shown in June of this year. The paintings were all owned by different persons in Elko and its vicinity, and they were exceptionally well received. It was a wonderful tribute to her, and she was deeply touched.

Officers for 1963 were elected as follows: Neva Robinson, President, Pearl Rowan, Vice President, Mary Drawn, Secretary; and Rose Burner, Treasurer.

On September 29-30, 1963, the first of the field trips with Louis Heinzmann was held. An exhibit was held on the evening of September 20. ON the 30^th, the group gathered for breakfast at the Commercial Hotel. Following this, the group drove to the Lee Lamoille turn off and painted at that location. Mr. Heinzmann spent the morning hours helping the members. The afternoon was spent in watching Mr. Heinzman painting. It was an experience to watch his enthusiasm and his ease and freedom with colors and brush.

Morris Gallagher painted this picture

on an ECAC field trip to the Tom Gallagher

ranch in Lamoille.

History of the Elko County Art Club

By Charles W. Paul

January 20, 1983

To give you the history of the Elko County Art Club, it is quite necessary to tell you a little about myself. Due to poor health and a winter coming on, the doctors advised that I go to a warmer climate in hopes that I might make it through another winter.

We rented our home here in Elko, and our entire family moved to Redlands, California. It was there that I began to overcome my illness, and as the Redlands High School began holding Adult Night Classes in art, I joined with them and took two semesters before returning to Elko. As we were ready to leave, a neighbor of ours brought me a photo of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park to use as a guide in painting it for him.

On returning to Elko, I completed the painting and took it to my hardware store to wrap and pack it for shipment. However, before I had this done, a friend of mine, Merle Trehal, a representative of Cosgriff Sign Company, happened to come in, and seeing the painting, asked if I had painted it. Advising him that I had, he stated that I should see some of the pictures he had painted. This same day, he brought in a friend of his, Shorty Powell. He also said I should see his paintings. The three of us got together quite often and talked about art, the various kinds, types, etc. In the meantime, we had checked around and had found several people interested in painting. Three of these are Mrs. Mildred Byers (the mother-0in-law of our Mildred Byers) and Mrs. Jessie Dewar.

We decided to advertise and hold an exhibit of paintings in the hardware store building. When the day arrived, twenty five to thirty people had been painting, and we exhibited over one hundred paintings. We had expected to have a one-day show, but found we should extend it to some three days. We found so many people who thought their work wasn’t good enough to warrant viewing by the public. It seemed they didn’t have the courage to show what they had been doing, not even to their families or friends.

Well, to make a long story short, I contacted Mr. Neil Jones, Principal of our Elko High School, and he was more than glad to let us use the High School Auditorium, free of charge, for our meeting place. Art was not being taught at the high school at that time, so they didn’t have a special room for it. Only a few months later, however, the plans for adding rooms onto the building developed. In talking to Mr. Jones, he stated that it had helped a lot to have the Art Club so active in the town, and a room had been included for Art as a credit course in the school.

The next thing we faced was a place to meet and hopefully to be able to work. Shorty was the one that brought up the idea that the Fairgrounds Woman’s Exhibit Building just might be the place. By meeting with the County Commissioners and Fair Board, we were given the use of it without charge. The main room was plenty large, and if it was too warm, we could open the doors. It was quite different when cold weather came around. It was decided to move into the small room on the east side. We purchased a used oil stove and by going up early and lighting it on meeting days or evenings, the room would be nice and warm. Throughout the winter, we would find, many times, that the snow had drifted and a trail would have to be shoveled from the cars to the building. Many times those who came in from Lamoille would leave for home in a blizzard or encounter one before arriving there.

Our first meeting in the Exhibit Building, I was elected President, Merle Trehal, Vice President, and Shorty Powell was elected to instruct those that wanted to join as beginners.

On December 14, 1955, after having served as president for that year, I was reelected to serve another year. My officers were Beth Griswold, Vice President; Mary Ann Ryan, Secretary; and Ruby Ruby, Treasurer. A constitution and By-laws were drawn up and accepted by the members of the club.

It was reported at this meeting that Shorty Powell had moved to Arizona due to the cold weather affecting his arthritis.

As a group, we were able to help bring in several large exhibits, such as the Artrain. Mrs. McCarthy and Mildred Byers co-chaired for the Art Club’s co-sponsorship of this fine exhibit.

Elko built a new museum, and when Howard Hickson was hired as curator, we found him very willing and helpful in promoting our club and in getting a state grant that helped to defray the expense of bringing in professional art instructors. We still meet in the museum, which at the present time is undergoing remodeling. They expect to have this completed soon.

One afternoon, Oren Probert came to my office and informed me he was bringing a professional and world-renowned artist, Mr. Lewis Heinzman, in to meet me. From a growing friendship between Oren Probert, the Elko Art Club, and Mr. Heinzman, he returned to Elko each spring and fall for several years. Mr. Heinzman was definitely the keynote of our spring and fall art festivals, which consisted of a field painting trip to the Ruby Mountains, to some of our desert country, and some of the trips were just over the Lamoille Summit. Some of the artists who wished to avail themselves of a real outdoor painting trip came from Ely, Salt Lake City, California, and Idaho.

Additional History Notes

(Compiled in 2005 from past meeting minutes)

After 1983, the Elko County Art Club continued to meet regularly in a variety of locations, including the Girl Scout House, members’ homes, Desert Gold Gallery, Picture This! Gallery, and the First Presbyterian Church.

In 1984, the ECAC began its Rotating Artists program, which placed member artists’ works in local businesses on a rotating basis.

In 1985, the ECAC began its Art Scholarship program by donating $250.00 to an outstanding student artist selected from among all high school seniors in Elko County. This amount was paid in two installments of $125.00 (one installment per semester) and could only be used at Northern Nevada Community College in Elko. No one applied for the scholarship in 1985, but the first recipient was Mikel Jon Lopategui in 1986. Thereafter, scholarship awards were irregular at first, but they have increased in number and regularity over the years. In 2005, the ECAC was regularly awarding three $1,000 scholarships per year to graduating seniors from three Elko County high schools. Scholarships may be applied to tuition at any accredited school of higher education for use in furthering the recipients’ art instruction.

In 1989, ECAC began designating a member as "Artist of the Month," whose work was displayed for that month at Desert Gold Gallery in Elko. This practice continued at Desert Gold until Karen Vollbrecht, the gallery owner died and the gallery closed. Vicky Andrus, owner of Picture This! gallery then took over hosting the Artist of the Month program.

The club has continued to bring in instructors to lead workshops for club members. Instructors have included Mildred Byers, Luis Stephenson, Caroline Lord, Gayle Price, Mary Whitney, Bonnie Robinson, Ginger Hain, Lou Hay Morrow, Jackie Goodyear, Ruby Harrison, Connie Morse, Dave Simi, Sidne Teski, Don O’Day, Janice Driscol, Gene Paul, Roy Mason, Marilyn Cordes, Norma Rey, and many others.

The Elko Chamber of Commerce sponsored Elko’s first Art in the Park in 1987. The event allowed 50 participants in art, crafts, food booths, and entertainment to show in the park with no booth fees. In 1988, the Chamber sought another group to run this event. The ECAC took over sponsorship of the event in 1989, and it since has continued to be the club’s primary annual fundraiser.

Past ECAC records are not fully complete. Anyone who can help correct errors and/or fill in the blanks in the club’s history is encouraged to contact the ECAC President. Help with this effort would be most welcome!