Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton

Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton (March 25, 1889 – July 26, 1971) née Mary-Russell Ferrell, was an American artist, author, educator, ethnographer, and curator. She is one of the principal founders of the Museum of Northern Arizona. She was a member of the Philadelphia Ten and exhibited her art at the group's annual shows from 1926 to 1940. She was a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, the American Watercolor Society, and the American Federation of Arts. She was known for her advocacy of the arts, Native American rights, and women's rights. For her advocacy of Native American arts, she received a certificate of appreciation from the United States Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board in 1935. In 1981, she was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life Mary-Russell Ferrell was born on March 25, 1889, in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the second daughter of Joseph and Elise (née Houston) Ferrell, though her elder sister died of diphtheria when Mary-Russell was two.

In 1904, Joseph Ferrell died, leaving Elise and Mary-Russell in a dire financial situation. A family friend offered to pay Mary-Russell's tuition at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, where Mary-Russell began in 1904.

During this time, Elise Ferrell remarried businessman Theodore Presser. In her early career, Mary-Russell lived with the Pressers, but she did not get along with her step-father. In an effort to improve the relationship, Elise used a family connection to gain Mary-Russell membership of Dr.Charles Shaw's 1909 expedition to the Selkirk Mountains. This journey inspired Mary-Russell's love of the American West, and gave her the nickname "Fairy," which stuck with her for decades.

In April 1926, the Coltons permanently moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, which had become a temporary home during their trips. As an artist and the curator of art at the museum, Colton often worked with Native American artists to bring recognition and acceptance of their work into the international art community.

Colton retired from her position as Curator of Art and Ethnology in 1948 due to her declining health. She was appointed to chair the new Art Committee at the museum. She held this position until 1958. Colton believed in the (incorrect) Vanishing Race Theory, and so "conducted her work with a sense of urgency."

Colton championed traditional methods, materials, and forms. She objected to "introducing native peoples to outside art influences" that would lead to the separation from their roots, and that the commercialization of Native American art was degrading its quality. She used her financial influence to encourage the use of traditional materials, such as vegetable dies rather than commercial ones. Colton also saw that certain materials had been altered; for example, Hopi no longer grew cotton, so the quality of cotton textiles had decreased with imported cotton, and imported Merino sheep had degraded the quality of wool textiles. Colton worked with Hopi traders and artists to help them address these issues. Colton referred to the exhibition as a scientific experiment in changing Hopi arts by educating both the Hopi and the larger art market. Her works were critically acclaimed in almost all of the Philadelphia Ten exhibitions.

Colton was among the first women inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 1981.

Published works Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell. Hopi Dyes, Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona, 1965. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell and Harold Sellers. "Petroglyphs, the record of a great adventure", Washington D.C. American Anthropologist, 1931. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell; Nonabah Gorman Bryan; Stella Young. Navajo and Hopi Dyes, Salt Lake City, Utah: Historic Indian Publishers, 1965. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell. Art for the schools of the Southwest, an outline for the public and Indian schools, Museum Bulletin, No. 6, Flagstaff, Arizona, Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, 1934. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell and Edmund Nequatewa. Truth of a Hopi and other clan stories of Shung-Opovi, Museum of Northern Arizona. No. 8, Flagstaff, Arizona, Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, 1947. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell. "Hopi silversmithing, its background and future", Plateau, Vol. 12, No. 1, Flagstaff, Arizona, Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, 1939. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell. "Letter to the Editor", Coconino Sun, August 12, 1927. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell, and Harold Sellers. The Little Known Small House Ruins in the Coconino Forest, Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association Vol. 5. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, American Anthropological Association, 1918. Colton, Mary-Russell Ferrell. "Technique of Major Hopi Crafts", Museum Notes. Vol. 3, No 12. Flagstaff, Arizona, Museum of Northern Arizona, 1931.