Jody Klevit

Jody Klevit received a B.S. at Temple University and taught elementary school before moving to Oregon in 1964. She was a docent at the Portland Art Museum, a founder of PAM’s Native American Art Council, and served on the boards of Chamber Music Northwest, Friends of Chamber Music, New Rose Theater, and the Oregon Jewish Museum. She was a member of Labor Arts Forum and a consultant for the Saward Art Collection and the Pittock Mansion Society. She is the author, with Ginny Allen, of Oregon Painters: The First Hundred Years (OHS Press, 1999). In 2021, Klevit and Allen published a second edition of Oregon Painters, renamed Oregon Painters: Landscape to Modernism (1859-1959). Jody passed away on March 9, 2023.

Author's Entries

  • Clyde Keller (1872-1962)

    Painter Clyde Keller, born in Salem on February 22, 1872, showed early signs of artistic talent. By age twelve, he was enrolled in a drawing class at Willamette University under the tutelage of artist Mary Bridges. He would return to the university as a young man to continue his art …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Darrel Austin (1907-1994)

    Darrel Austin, an Oregon artist who gained a national reputation, was born in Raymond, Washington on June 25, 1907. His family moved to Portland in 1909. As a young adult, he attended the University of Portland, where he studied with Emil Jacques, a Flemish artist. He took private lessons in …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Maude Walling Wanker (1882 - 1970)

    Artist Maude Wanker is perhaps best known for her prowess in watercolor. She was a founding officer of the Oregon Amateur Watercolor Society and the Master Watercolor Association, serving as president of both organizations. Born in Oswego (now Lake Oswego) in 1882, Maude Walling showed artistic ability as a …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Oregon Society of Artists

    Founded in 1926 by fifteen artists, including sculptors and architects, the Society of Oregon Artists included many art educators from the Portland Art Museum and the University of Oregon. The first exhibition in 1927 displayed the work of sixty-six artists. In 1929, the group incorporated as the Oregon Society of …

    Oregon Encyclopedia