Grace Lai 1927-2010

(flinty-eyed portrait by Richard Schmid)



I'm not really sure why Grace Lai
ever joined the Palette and Chisel.

She didn't use the workshops,
she didn't rent one of the studios,
and she never did a one-person show
in the gallery.

Perhaps she just figured that
almost every other graduate
from the American Academy came here,
so why not her?

Or... maybe she found some company here
among all the others who practice
the world's loneliest profession.


Whatever.


I remember her
as the most friendly face in the crowd
back when we used to have
quarterly meetings that actually decided things.

And to exemplify
her extraordinarily eccentric nature...
I think she actully liked me!











Here are the reproductions of hers
that we have posted
above the kitchen counter.

(where I can see them
while chopping onions
for the next drawing marathon)








And here's a detail
that I think
exemplifies
her buoyant spirit.

More of her work can be found here

And her fascinating life story is presented here

And here is the museum in Milwaukee
that ought to exhibit at least one of her paintings of "men at work"
(which is the theme of the Grohmann Museum)