With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Gladys Edgerly Bates
Sculpture
1896 – 2003
The Bates bought the historic 1729 Burrows homestead on Grove Avenue, which became a gathering place for Mystic Art Association artists.
- Biography/Description of Work
Born in Hopewell, NJ, she studied at the School of Industrial Arts in Trenton, and then with her sister, Beatrice Edgerly Macpherson, at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC. In 1916 she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. A Creson Scholarship enabled her to travel to Europe. She met and later married fellow art student E. Kenneth Bates. The couple moved to Mystic and became members of the Mystic Art Association. Bates was versatile in a variety of media, including stone, terra cotta, and cast stone. She was a member of the Philadelphia Ten, a group of ten women artists (later expanding to thirty) based in Philadelphia who exhibited together from 1917-1945. Bates had a long and successful career as a sculptor, winning the Third Purchase Prize at the Artists for Victory Exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1942.
- Sources view
Curbstones Clapboards & Cupolas: Four Self-guided Walking Tours. 1995. Mystic: Mystic River Historical Society.
King, Noelle Warden. 2013. Mystic as Muse: 100 Years of Inspiration, Exhibit catalog. Mystic: Mystic Art Association, p. 72-73.
Mystic Local Historic District inventory, accessed at http://lhdct.org/district/list/mystic-historic-district/P50 .
Ransom, David F. 1979. Mystic River National Register Nomination No. 79002718. National Park Service.
Town of Groton Assessor's Records & GIS viewer: http://maps.groton-ct.gov/apps/GrotonViewer/ .
University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC. (2013). 1934 Connecticut Aerial Photography Index. Retrieved from http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/mash_up/1934_aerial_index.html .
Trulia.com. Real estate photographs for 15 Grove Avenue, Mystic. Accessed 1/25/2016 at http://www.trulia.com/property/1062337593-15-Grove-Ave-Mystic-CT-06355#photo-1 .
WPA Archite- Associated Resource(s)