Rie Muñoz (August 17, 1921 – April 6, 2015) was an American artist and

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

educator.

Early life

Muñoz was born Marie Mounier in

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Van Nuys City Hall, Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley ...

and then moved with her family to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

as a child. Rie and a sibling were returned to the US by their parents before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, where they lived with family friends. The parents intended to follow, but were unable to leave for seven years following the

German invasion of the Netherlands The German invasion of the Netherlands (), otherwise known as the Battle of the Netherlands (), was a military campaign, part of Case Yellow (), the Nazi German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and Fran ...

. In the US, Muñoz studied art at

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

. She visited

Juneau, Alaska Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Southeast Alaska, Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the ...

in 1951 as a visitor, but became enamored of

Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern, and sometimes called the Alaska(n) panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian provi ...

and decided to stay.

Career

In Muñoz's first years in Alaska, she worked as a teacher on King Island. Muñoz's work featured watercolors, and she created prints of Alaska life. Muñoz worked as a writer and cartoonist for the

Juneau Empire The ''Juneau Empire'' is a newspaper in Juneau, Alaska, United States. It publishes Wednesdays and Saturdays. History The newspaper was founded on November 2, 1912, as the ''Alaska Daily Empire''. It was founded by John Franklin Alexander ...

. She worked as a museum curator, in addition to her work as a full-time artist. Her art has been featured in museums outside of Alaska, including the

Frye Art Museum The Frye Art Museum is a modern and contemporary art museum in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1952 to house the collection of Charles and Emma Frye and has since grown to include rotating temporary exhibi ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. She received the University of Alaska's Honorary Doctorate of Humanities Degree in May of 1999.

Personal life

In 1957, Muñoz and her husband, Juan, spent a year away from Alaska. Juan and Rie Muñoz lived at the time on

Mercer Island, Washington Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue to ...

, where Juan was employed as a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

. The couple had a home near the

East Channel Bridge The East Channel Bridge is a bridge carrying Interstate 90 from Mercer Island, Washington, to Bellevue, Washington, over the East Channel of Lake Washington, which separates Mercer Island from the rest of the Eastside. The original bridge was ...

. The couple later returned to Alaska. After Juan's death, Muñoz Juan and Rie Muñoz had two sons, Felipe and Juan, Jr. Felipe died from kidney cancer as a child. Juan and Rie divorced in 1963, and Rie subsequently settled in Juneau, where she spent the rest of her life. Her daughter-in-law is

Alaska State Representative The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...

Cathy Muñoz who served from 2009-2017. In 2015, Rie Muñoz died in

of a stroke, aged 93. In 2024, Muñoz's son digitized photographs her her husband had took during the couple's time on King Island and donated the originals to the Katirvik Cultural Center.

Legacy

Muñoz's work is featured on

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

's Heirloom Birth Certificate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz, Rie 1921 births 2015 deaths American women artists Artists from Alaska Artists from Los Angeles Educators from Alaska American women educators People from Juneau, Alaska People from Van Nuys, Los Angeles Washington and Lee University alumni American expatriates in the Netherlands