Mendocino Art Center presents sale, exhibition of Emmy Lou Packard works

MENDOCINO » The Mendocino Art Center presents the exclusive sale of Emmy Lou Packard’s original works, an online fundraising exhibition that can be found at mendocinoartcenter.org/exhibitions/emmy-lou-packard. The online sale will feature 35 of the Mendocino-based legacy artist’s works, starting Nov. 17 through Jan. 4.

In 2018, Packard’s estate made a major donation of her work to the Mendocino Art Center, which included more than 400 prints, both originals and reproductions, from her iconic workers series to lesser-known prints.

Packard, 1914-1998, was born in El Centro, Imperial Valley, and was one of the most famous American fresco artists and printmaking pioneers of the 20th century. Packard’s visual expression and courageous voice earned her international recognition as an artist and activist for peace.

Marked by an early encounter with Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, her trajectory evolved from assisting Rivera with mural painting, to her own painting and print exhibitions and fresco projects. This revolutionary influence allowed for her vocal and uncompromising disapproval of several issues, including human rights violations, WWII and the American-Soviet “Cold” and Vietnam wars.

Before her formal art education, Packard studied under Rivera in Mexico, from 1927-1928. She received her B. A. from UC Berkeley in 1936, and went on to study at the California School of Fine Arts.

In 1940, she assisted Rivera in creating the 1,650 square foot fresco at the Golden Gate International Expo, and returned with him to Mexico City, where she was a guest of Rivera and

Frida Kahlo. During WWII she worked for a Richmond newspaper as a writer and illustrator in California; during this time she also took on roles in human rights activism, fighting for the rights of women and children, and steadfastly supporting the leadership of Cesar Chavez.

In 1959, Packard married fellow artist Byron Randall and joined the movement of artists leaving the Bay Area and moved to Mendocino, where she lived for a decade. Packard’s studies of the Mendocino Headlands for her artwork eventually inspired her to become a key promoter in the establishment of the headlands as a state park.

The Mendocino Art Center remains open online for art classes, monthly exhibitions, events and the gallery store, but will be closed to inperson experiences through the end of the calendar year. For a limited time, all of Packard artwork is priced 10 percent off, with all proceeds benefiting the Mendocino Art Center.