Ann Grimmer

Artist Details

• First Name Ann
• Maiden Name Radville
• Surname Grimmer
• Spouse’s Full Name Vernon Grimmer; graduate of School of the Art institute of Chicago; studied architecture at the Armour Institute of Tehnology; architect and product designer married 1936 during World War II, designed battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines for the Austin Company During the post-war era he designed houses and golf courses for WC Tackett & Associates in addition to schools, motels, commercial buildings, the interiors of the Zephyr train and Betty Crocker kitchens for Art Swanson & Associates
• Names and Birth Years of Children Margot nationally known dancer, choreographer, artistic director and dance teacher.
• Birth Date February 17, 1910
• Birth Place Harrisburg, Illinois
• Death Date February 17, 2011
• Ethnicity Lithuanian-American
• Active In Glencoe, Illinois
• Categories Ceramicist, Charcoal, Collage, Drawing, Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Muralist, Painter-Acrylic, Painter-Oil, Pastelist, Sculptor, Watercolorist, Woodworker
• Training 1928-1932: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
• Relevant Travel 1940: Mexico
• Exhibitions History 1930s: Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois [6 times]
  
  1934: Century of Progress Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  New Horizons in Painting and Sculpture, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
  
  New Horizons in Sculpture Show, Chicago, Illinois: Who Can Understand A Woman
  
  North Shore Art League, Winnetka, Illinois
  
  North Shore Artists exhibition, Woman's Club of Evanston, Evanston, Illinois
  
  Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
  
  Chicago Public Library, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Glencoe Public Library, Glencoe, Illinois
  
  Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, Illinois
  
  Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois
  
  New Trier High School, Winnetka, Illinois
  
  1933: Taos, New Mexico
  
  1933: Arcadia, California
  
  Evanston Women's Club, Evanston, Illinois
  
  1964: Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, The Artists iNstitute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: St. Tropez Scene; There's Always Tomorrow
  
  2010: Balzekias Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Chicago, Illinois
• Awards 1940: won traveling fellowship from the Art Institute of Chicago
  
  first prize: North Shore Art League's Show: There's Always Tomorrow
  
  first prize: Art Exhibition of North Shore Artists,  Woman's Club of Evanston: St. Tropez Scene
  
  1965: first place, New Horizons in Sculpture Show, Chicago, Illinois: Who Can Understand A Woman
  
  1967: Best In Show, All Glencoe Art Fair: The Torso
• Other Occupation(s) 1935+: Graphic designer and commercial artist, The Curt Teich Company
  
  1948: started teaching in the adult evening education program of Nettlehorst School in Chicago, Illinois
  
  1958-?: Teacher, the Recreation Center, the YWCA and the Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, Illinois
  
  making models of houses and doing interior design, Arthur Swanson & Associates (an architectural firm)
  
  For 10 years she drew renderings of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches and Jewish Synagogues for renovation projects for Fred LeRoy & Associates
  
  1940s: costume design for the company of dancer Anne Rudolph
  
  1971-1987 under the name ARG she was the costume designer for the Margot Grimmer American Dance Company, Highland Park, Illinois
  
  1968: designed a group of 1960's fashion with the theme of automobiles for an industrial film for General Motors
  
  In later years she became a published poet; in 1998 she contributed several of her poems to a book of photographs called "Dancescapes" by San Francisco photographer Norinder Dolgra
  
   
• Biography daughter of Lithuania immigrants Anna Radvilla Petratis and Rokas Radvillas (Radziwill)
  
  Rokas was from Vilnius. He was a university graduate and merchant by profession. He immigrated to the US in 1890 to escape conscription into the Russian army and entered the country via Ellis Island. He became an accountant and then a supervisor for the Salina County Mining Company in Southern Illinois. Anna was from Siaulias and immigrated to the US in 1908 because at age 26 she was unable to make a match due to the lack of a dowry. She was a tailor in Lithuania and sold her sewing machine for passage to the US entering at Baltimore. From there she boarded a train to Southern Illinois to her half great uncle Rokas, who reluctantly became her sponsor. A year later they married.
  
  biography by her daughter