Self-Portrait in Three Parts

What are our surroundings?
Where are our surroundings?
Who surrounds us?
Why do surroundings matter?
When do surroundings change?
How do our surroundings impact how we interact and interpret the world?

WHO: Eve Drewelowe

WHEN: 1899-1988

WHAT: American Painter

FAMOUS FOR: Wide range of bold and vibrant portraits, landscapes, and abstracts.

IN HER OWN WORDS:
"I was a regular farm girl who loved to climb my favorite trees. My mother loved children and much of her thinking revolved on our baby generations, I who declared 'I wouldn't know what to do with a child' was regarded as a monster.'"

ARTIST'S HISTORY:
Drewelowe was born in New Hampton, Iowa on a working farm. She grew up as the eighth of twelve children and spent her early years exploring nature and helping with farm duties. She was always interested in art but was not permitted to take art classes until she received a scholarship to attend the University of Iowa. In 1923, she received her first degree, a BA in graphic and plastic arts. Drewelowe then continued graduate studies in 1924 and was the first graduate to earn UIowa's master of arts degree and the first in the nation as well. She spent most of her adult life in Boulder, Colorado, traveled extensively, and kept detailed sketchbooks to inspire her paintings.

IOWA CONNECTIONS:
Iowa-born and raised, Drewelowe's connections to the state remained strong after she earned her master's of arts degree. Upon her death in 1988 she gave all her papers and artwork to the School of Art and Art History at UIowa where they remain today. In honor of her legacy and Iowan roots, a gallery in the Visual Arts Building at the School of Art and Art History at UIowa permanently bears her name.

ARTIST'S WORK:
Inspired by the landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, the people in her life and her travels, Drewelowe's bright and bold works have a distinctive style. Bold line work as well as a blend of realism and abstraction show a lifetime of experimentation that created over 1000 artworks. She used her paintings as expressions of creativity and recordings of her surroundings.

ARTIST'S WORLD:
Throughout Drewelowe's life, women artists were not taken very seriously. Self-described as 'feisty,' she fiercely pursued her art-making despite societal expectations of motherhood and typical marriage. Though she displayed many of her artworks during her lifetime, only more recently has her career and life been tied to feminist ideology.

Students will learn about the life and influence of artist Eve Drewelowe, who was the first woman and student to receive a master's of art degree and her legacy in Iowa. Using Drewelowe’s artworks,  Autobiographical writing, 1980, A page of my past, 1933, The gold gown, 1940 and Maverick, 1984 as inspiration students will create a series of three self-portraits. One self-portrait will be writing describing their past, the second a self-portrait painting of their present, and the third a staged selfie photograph of their future. Students will then present their three portraits in a peer critique.

• SS.9-12.1: Compelling Question
• SS.9-12.2: Supporting Question
• SS.9-12.3: Sources
• SS.9-12.8: Conclusions
• SS-US.9-12.14: United States History
• SS-US.9-12.22: United States History
• SS-US.9-12.25: Regional, Racial, Ethnic and Gender Perspectives
• SS-WH.9-12.22
• SS-Psy.9-12.13
• SS-Psy.9-12.16

Students will analyze and discuss the artwork and life of artist Eve Drewelowe and her connections to the state of Iowa. ;Students will create a series of three self-portraits: the first a writing describing their past, the second a self-portrait painting of their present, and the third a staged selfie photograph of their future.;Students will present their three portraits to peers in critique.