Ruth Halvorsen

Halvorsen, Ruth

Ruth Halvorsen

Camas 1896

Oregon

painter

watercolorist

Northwest artist

Oregon artist

Ruth Halvorsen had a long and busy career as an exhibiting artist and art educator. Her oils and watercolors were exhibited widely in California, Oregon, and Washington. She was featured in many one-person shows in museums and galleries throughout the Northwest. She was a member of many professional arts organizations and held the vice-presidency and presidency of the National Art Education Association. Halvorsen taught art at Lincoln High School in Portland from 1922 to 1943, was supervisor of art in the Portland Public Schools from 1944 to 1962, and was an instructor of art at the University of Oregon.

In 1937 Halvorsen was active in the formation of the Contemporary Crafts Gallery. She authored many articles on art education and received the Theta Sigma Phi Woman of the Year Award in 1948. In 1947 she established the annual Oregon Scholastic Arts Award Exhibition.

Artist biography reproduced with permission from the authors, Oregon Painters: the First Hundred Years (1859-1959), Ginny Allen and Jody Klevit.

Female