Eunice Parsons

Eunice Lulu Parsons (August 4, 1916 – November 16, 2024), also known as Eunice Jensen Parsons, was an American modernist artist known for her collages. Parsons was born in Loma, Colorado, and lived in Portland, Oregon. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Portland Museum Art School, where she also worked as a teacher for over 20 years.

Early life and education The daughter of Florence Alta (Weed) Parsons and Brainerd Parsons, Eunice Parsons was born in Loma, Colorado, on August 4, 1916. Her family lived briefly in Montana, but when she was age four, her family moved to Chicago. In 1934 and 1935, she attended children's art classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She was married to Allen Herbert Jensen from 1936 to 1960, and they lived in Portland, Oregon, raising three children there. From 1950 to 1954, she studied at the Portland Museum Art School. Her sketchbooks from that trip demonstrate her early inclinations in "color, line, and shading, all developing into a unique and distinctive style".

Career Parsons joined the faculty of the Portland Museum Art School as a painting instructor, where she was known as a "blunt but brilliant" teacher. a cooperative which exhibited artists' work between 2006 and 2017.

She exhibited new collage works, Eunice Parsons, La Centenaire, at the Roll-Up Photo Studio Gallery in Portland to celebrate her centennial year in 2016. That exhibition had also included artists LaVerne Krause, Maude Kerns, Mary Henry, Sally Haley, and Hilda Morris.

Critical reception Called an American master of collage, Parsons uses torn and cut paper, words and phrases to create "striking and evocative collage works." Marc Andres of Portland Community College described Parsons' process of creating collage as one of creation and destruction, adding that it is "at once both extremely spontaneous in its generation and equally methodical in its resolution". Blair Saxon Hill compared her artistic style to that of European artists like Kurt Schwitters or Miró.

Exhibitions Marylhurst University – The Art Gym Willamette University, Hallie Ford Museum of Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Portland Community College, Helzer Art Gallery, Portland, OR Russo Lee Gallery, "Early Northwest Masters: A Survey", Portland, OR

Awards and honors In 2001, Pacific Northwest College of Art presented an honorary Master of Fine Arts to Parsons, as well as displaying "Eunice Parsons, a Fifty Year Retrospective" at the college's Felman Gallery. In addition, philanthropist Stephen Wiener donated an endowment for student travel scholarships in Parsons' name.