Jean Goodwin Ames (November 6, 1903 – February 12, 1986) was an American artist known for her work with the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA).

Biography

Ames née Goodwin was born on November 6, 1903, in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

. She studied at the

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Chouinard, Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt Disney, Walt and ...

, the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

, and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. She received her master's degree from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. In 1941 she married fellow artist Arthur Forbes Ames. Before their marriage the couple collaborated on several WPA murals including the sketches for ''History of Aviation'' at the Charles Lindbergh Middle School in Long Beach, California, two mosaic murals ''Three Women Gathering at the Sea Shore'' at Harbor High School in Newport Beach, California, and three egg tempera murals ''Recreation,'' ''Agriculture,'' and ''Conservation'' at the

San Diego County Administration Center The San Diego County Administration Center is a historic Beaux-Arts/Spanish Revival–style building in San Diego, California. It houses the offices of the government of San Diego County. Due to its notable architecture and location fronting S ...

. Ames taught at

Scripps College Scripps College is a private liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1926, a year after the consortium's formation. Journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps pr ...

and

Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...

. She died on February 12, 1986, in

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of Los Angeles. It lies in the Pomona Valley at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had ...

. In 1958 she was named a Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year. Her work was included in the 2008 exhibition ''First Generation: Art in Claremont, 1907-1957'' at the Claremont Museum of Art. Papers of Arthur and Jean Ames, including examples and photographs are in the

Online Archive of California In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

References

External links

image of ''Recreation, Agriculture, Conservation''
from the San Diego County Administration Center
images of Ames' enamels
at The Enamel Arts Foundation
Oral history interview with Arthur and Jean Goodwin Ames, 1965 June 9
from the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

, Smithsonian Institution

Biography

References

External links

Further reading