Vera Allison

Vera A. Allison (1902–1993) also known as Vera Gaethke, was an American Modernist jeweler, and abstract painter. She was a co-founder of the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco, a non-profit, arts educational organization. Allison had lived in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Mill Valley in California; and in San Cristobal, New Mexico.

Early life and education Vera Allison was born December 5, 1902, in San Francisco.

In 1929, she married painter and printmaker George Gaethke (1898–1982), and they had a child.

Career After graduation, she travelled in Europe and painted in oil and watercolor. Other founding members of MAG included Merry Renk, Irena Brynner, Florence Resnikoff, Byron August Wilson, Peter Macchiarini, Virginia Macchiarini, Francis Sperisen, and Bob Winston. In 1962, Allison was part of an annual members group exhibition with the Society of San Francisco Women Artists (now San Francisco Women Artists) arts organizations at SFMoMA, where she won an award for her jewelry. In 1976, she served as a jury member for the 30th Annual Art Festival (1976) in Civic Center, San Francisco.

End of life, death, and legacy She remained active in the arts into the late 1970s. In 1986, Allison moved to New Mexico to live with her daughter. She died on August 20, 1993, in La Lama (now Lama Foundation) in San Cristobal, New Mexico at the age of 90.

Exhibitions

1947, Vera Allison and George Gaethke, Gump's gallery, San Francisco, California 1950, solo exhibition, Barry Lambert Gallery, Santa Rosa, California 1952, Jewelry by Peter Macchiarini, Vera Allison, and Irena Brynner, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California 1962, Annual Exhibition of the Society of San Francisco Women Artists, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California 1966, The Art of Personal Adornment, the Museum West of the American Craftsman Council, San Francisco, California