Ruth Wilcox: Verona BurkhardPainting the Deer Lodge mural
Biography
Verona Lorraine Burkhard was born into a family of artists. Her mother was a fashion artist and her father a painter. They were studying in Paris when she was born. Her grandfather was a sculptor who had created several noted works in New York. After growing up in New York she studied at the Art Students League under Boardman Robinson and later at the Cooper Union. After completing her Western murals in Deer Lodge, Montana and Powell, Wyoming, Burkhard returned to New York to study with Frank Mechau at Columbia. Failing to win a competition for murals at the Los Angeles Terminal Annex, in 1941 she was chosen to create murals on the theme of Mayan and Aztec civilization. This work does not survive, but the Smithsonian American Art Museum holds Burkhard's studies for them. Her mural for Kings Mountain, North Carolina was also completed in 1941. After working in Washington, DC in the 1940s Burkhard moved to Grand Junction, Colorado in 1949. She became a driving force for the arts community in Grand Junction, recognized in 1966 as a "Colorado Woman of Achievement". She worked in various media, opened an art school and remained an active artists throughout the 1970s.Lake Powell Fantasy, 1960
Critical Analysis
Although Verona Burkhard experimented with different media, her strongest focus seems to have been on Western themes. This isn't surprising, given her early mentors. Boardman Robinson became the head of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and Frank Mechau was an influential figure among Western artists. Both were noted muralists, as became Verona Burkhard.
