by Gail Evans-Hatch, October 2013
Grace Hasseltine Russell b. 1/22/1858, Yreka CA, married James Davis Fountain 12/11/1878. art mentor: William Samuel Parrott (1843-1915) in Portland, OR. Grace painted in style of 19th century Hudson River School artists using small brushstrokes and the impasto technique (landscapes). Attended Joaquin Miller's bandit lunches in the Bay Area; Japanese poet Yonejiro (Yone) Noguchi part of this community (he inspired Ezra Pound and the Imagist movement). Grace may have been part of women's groups who tried to preserve Joaquin Miller's "Miller's Hights"home/community to be a bohemian community of artists. Grace was challenged to be a professional artist and business woman when women artists were only beginning to open occupation doors previously closed to them. younger sister (also an artist) Mable Russell Lowther, living in Ashland, OR, went to be with 84 year old ailing Grace. Grace's ashes are buried in the Hill-Dunn Cemetery, with other family members (many headstones there were carved by her father James.
Grace's grave headstone: "artist of God's Natural Beauty" "22 Jan 1858 -- 3 Feb 1942"