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Fund-raiser May 8 for Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer An event that is very important to the perpetuity of the Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery is set for Saturday, May 8. The
gala is held every four years to renovate and maintain the gallery
built with funds left by the New York-trained artist for the
preservation of her life’s work. Clark, who spent the first 15 years of
her life in Holly Springs, then her last years, left a body of work
that includes about 1,200 paintings, according to Bea Green. The
art gallery was built after Clark’s death to house her life’s work and
was left as a public trust to the people of the State of Mississippi. The gala this year includes silent and live auctions with the last item of the live auction to be a painting by the artist. Clark
was born in 1875, given art lessons in Memphis, then trained under
William Merritt Chase, one of the most famous American artists,
teachers and painters of the Impressionistic period. After
leaving Holly Springs, Clark was educated in Washington, D.C., where
she made her debut and lived with her mother and grandmother. Later
Clark, her mother and grandmother moved to New York where she painted
for 30 years. They spent the summers in Shinnacock Hills, now named
Long Island, where she studied six years in the summer with Chase. When
she returned to Holly Springs, after the sudden deaths of Chase in 1916
and then her mother and grandmother, Clark never painted again. She was
so attached to her paintings that she refused to sell them, saying they
were the children she never had. She donated one painting to the Brooks
Art Gallery in Memphis. The Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery is the only
gallery in the world to house only the works of a single individual. She
studied at the Art Students League in New York, then under Chase in the
summers after he founded a summer school at Long Island. Clark was
considered Chase’s premier student, Green said. She returned to Holly
Springs in 1923. “She devoted her whole life to painting with support of her mother and grandmother - both widows,” Green said. Kate
Freeman Clark was an only child. After moving back to Holly Springs,
the artist lived in the family home, Walthall Place, and was the
organist at Christ Episcopal Church and belonged to the Thursday (book)
Club. Clark became very reclusive in late life
and was a cat lover. All her works were stored in New York until after
her death. She provided in her will for the construction of the art
gallery to house her works. She was the
great-niece of Major General Edward Carey Walthall and her father was
elected to the state legislature. Edward Carey Walthall was loved and
respected in Washington and his funeral is one of the largest ever held
in the Capitol, Green said. The Walthall family
moved to Holly Springs from Virginia in the 1840s and constructed a
three-room cabin in 1847-48. An addition to the back was made in 1858. Proceeds from the last gala were used to install museum lighting which Green said make Clark’s paintings “dance off the walls.” Other
projects in past years included installing shelving for all Clark’s
paintings and for framing and restoration of the artist’s works. The
gala begins at 6 p.m. with the auctions and dinner starting at 7 p.m. A
three-course meal of beef and pork tenderloin, potatoes and fresh
vegetables will be served. The evening includes
dinner, dancing, an open bar and entertainment by The Bouffants.
Tickets are $80 each and include dancing, dinner and an open bar.
Reservations are requested and can be obtained by calling Ann Callicutt
at 662-252-1563, who is also serving as contact person. Reservations
are requested by Monday, May 3. “It’s really a fun night and tickets are only $5 more than four years ago,” Green said.
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