Ada Mae Sharpless

Ada May Sharpless (also spelled Ada Mae Sharpless) (August 16, 1899 – November 20, 1988) was an American artist and sculptor.

Ada Mae Sharpless
Sharpless in 1935
Born(1899-08-16)August 16, 1899
Hilo, Hawaii
DiedNovember 20, 1988(1988-11-20) (aged 89)
Kona, Hawaii[1]
NationalityAmerican
Known forSculpture
MovementArt Deco

Early life and education

She was born in Hilo, Hawaii, the daughter of missionaries Viola and Benjamin Harry Sharpless, and grew up in Santa Ana, California. She graduated from USC in 1922,[2] studied art at the Otis Art Institute, and continued her studies in Paris for four years during the 1920s, with Antoine Bourdelle.[3][4][5]

Career

During the 1930s she created sculptures for several area parks and associations.[6] She was a member of the California Art Club and the Laguna Beach Art Association.[7][8][9]

Works of art

One of her most notable sculptures, ("Our Queen of the Angels"), was commissioned in 1934 by the federal Works Project Administration and funded by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). It was donated to the city in 1935 and installed at the edge of Echo Park Lake at Echo Park, Los Angeles,[10][11] and became immediately popular at its installation. Despite its official title, it has become popularly known as "The Lady of the Lake."[12][13] For this piece, Sharpless used the newly popular poured concrete material and technique commonly called "liquid stone."[12] The sculpture is mounted on a four-sided pedestal faced with bas reliefs of the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles harbor, the San Gabriel mountains, and the Los Angeles Central Library.[12] After decades of deterioration it was restored and re-installed in 1999 by the City of Los Angeles.[12][10]

Sharpless also made a full-length statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo for the patio of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California.[14]

References
  1. Lovret, Juanita. "Artist Ada Mae Sharpless grew up in Tustin". Orange County Register. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  2. "S. C. Student Wins Honors As Composer of Popular Songs," Southern California Trojan (April 1, 1921): 1.
  3. "Artist Ada May Sharpless next to the Model for her Sculpture 'Nuestra Reina de los Angeles' now in Echo Park, Los Angeles, 1935," Los Angeles Times photographs collection". Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  4. Hadley Meares, "The Lady of the Lake: The Depression-Era Roots of Echo Park's Unofficial Patron Saint," KCET (August 23, 2013).
  5. "Task Finished by Sculptress," Los Angeles Times (June 1, 1934).
  6. Moure, Nancy Dustin Wall (1975). Dictionary of art and artists in Southern California before 1930. Glendale, CA: Dustin Publications.
  7. "MISS ADA MAY SHARPLESS, DAUGHTER OF MR. AND MRS. B H SHARPLESS OF "NEWPORT ROAD, WHO WAS MARRIED IN PARIS ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, TO JEAN LILIENFIELD OF PARIS AND RUMANIA AND WHO WILL CONTINUE HER ART STUDIES IN PROMINENT ATELIERS OF FRANCE". Santa Ana Register. September 21, 1926.
  8. Arthur Millier, "Art Club Show Below Par," Los Angeles Times (November 16, 1930): B19: "The torso by Miss Sharpless rises...far above the balance of the exhibition."
  9. Arthur Millier, "Beach Exhibits Studied as Votes Scrap Brews," Los Angeles Times (August 7, 1938): C7.
  10. Joe Mozingo, "Welcoming Back 'Lady of the Lake': Echo Park: Some Residents See the Restoration of the Landmark Statue, Commissioned in 1934, as a Symbol of the Community's Renewal," Los Angeles Times (October 10, 1999): 1.
  11. "Echo Park Statue - Los Angeles, CA". The Living New Deal. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  12. ""Nuestra Reina de Los Angeles" (1934-35) by Ada May Sharpless". Public Art in Public Places. September 27, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  13. Klenow, Erin (June 2016). "The Real Echo Park". Sunset. 236 (6): 26, 28 – via ProQuest.
  14. "Cabrillo Model Completed: Statue to Stand in Santa Ana Museum," Los Angeles Times (January 19, 1933): A8.
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