Carole Doyle Peel
1934-2016
Carole Doyle Peel, the southern California-born Berkeley artist known especially for portraits and still lifes died on December 25, 2016 at Raksha Care Homes in Albany, California, where she spent her last few months. She was 82.
Raised the younger of two daughters in South-Central Los Angeles, Peel showed a precocious talent for art by age seven, and credited her life-long love and appreciation of education to the California public school system, which served her well from elementary school through her Master of Arts degree at the University of California, Berkeley (1964). Notwithstanding the tumult on the Berkeley campus in the 1960s, Carole described the two years of her graduate study as “paradise” under the mentorship of professors Erle Loran and Robert Hartman. Carole acknowledged her mother, an expert seamstress, to be her first art instructor, followed by her high school art teacher whose influence inspired Peel to teach herself.
Peel’s passions were drawing, teaching and traveling. Peel taught at UC Berkeley after graduation, at UC Berkeley Extension program for several years and at California College of the Arts (CCA) from 1968 until 2014, when she retired with the status of professor emerita. She also taught privately in her studio home. Peel influenced generations of CCA students and alumni who studied draftsmanship with her on the college’s Oakland campus. Peel’s teaching was enhanced by annual trips to Paris, London and New York, where she would study work of historical masters and contemporary draftsmen in museums and galleries, taking catalogues back to share with her students and to influence her compositions. Her students were extremely important to her and there was frequently a symbiotic relationship between her studio work and her CCA classroom instruction.
Peel described herself as a classical artist who deliberately made portraiture in the historical tradition accessible to her Berkeley community. Her portraits can be found in the homes of many Bay Area collectors. She was particularly admired for her skill in creating finely designed compositions in graphite. Reviewing Peel’s work in 1983, Carole Fowler wrote of Peel that “Using just the pencil, she creates portraits and still lifes of astonishing detail, richness and texture. It is hard to believe that she can extend a single type of pencil to such a wide range and variety of expression. She ‘plays’ the humble instrument as though it’s a Stradivarius.” Peel continued to find ways to make demands on the fine art of drawing throughout her life. Peel’s active and productive career in the arts spanned over 50 years; her last portrait commission was in 2015. She worked as long as she could hold a pencil or paint brush.
The artist was predeceased by her older sister, Wilma Mae Doyle Pierce. She is survived by her brother-in-law, Donald K. Pierce, two nieces, Lynda Pierce-Estes and Kathi Cooper Eastman, and two great nieces, Stacey Cooper and Dani Estes.
A memorial celebration of Peel’s life and an exhibition of her work is planned for spring 2017. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Carole Peel may be made to benefit California College of the Arts, c/o The Advancement Department, 5212 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94618. Contact: Jennifer Jansen, 510-594-3763; jjansen@cca.edu