Birdie Boyles Art Exhibition at Kondos Gallery
Sacramento City College
October 27 – November 21, 2008

Birdie Boyles (1916-2008), a native Sacramentan, graduated from Stanford University and during World War II worked on the front lines for the American Red Cross, for which service she was awarded the Bronze Star.

After the war, she returned to Sacramento and worked as a research consultant for the State Department of Education. At this time she also began creating woodblock prints and became a leading member of the Sacramento arts community. She was a founding member of the Artist Cooperative Gallery (later named the Artists Contemporary Gallery), showed her artwork often at the California State Fair and the Crocker Art Museum, and was an early member of Creative Arts League of Sacramento.

It is with great enthusiasm that CAL took on the challenge of organizing an exhibition of her artwork, and underwriting a catalogue that will be a permanent record of her accomplishments. In its more than 50 year history, Creative Arts League has presented exhibitions that would not otherwise be seen in Sacramento. In the early days, that meant finding venues for exhibitions of local artists work. In the late 1950s, the group began a long relationship with Crocker Art Museum, organizing and underwriting contemporary craft exhibitions. We see this exhibition and catalogue of the artwork of Birdie Boyles continuing in the tradition of exhibiting work that might otherwise be overlooked.

Our partner in this endeavor has been the Art Department of Sacramento City College and in particular Chris Daubert, art instructor and Director of the school’s Gregory Kondos Gallery. In addition to opening up the Gallery for this exhibition, Chris also agreed to curate the show and assist in the publication of the catalogue. We could not have presented this exhibition without his help.

We would like to thank Birdie’s nieces, Christine Boyles David and Kay Sprinkel Grace, who have collected information about Birdie’s extraordinary life, and made available her archives. Thanks too to Patty Gregory, Pat Johnson and Charlene Noyes who documented the work that Birdie did for the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center (SAMCC). And this project could not have undertaken without the assistance of CAL members Lois and David Warren.

Creative Arts League would also like to thank Melza and Ted Barr and other generous donors whose contributions have made this exhibition possible. Those contributions also underwrote the publication of this catalogue – a document that will ensure that the artwork of Birdie Boyles will not be forgotten.

Susan J. Willoughby
Exhibition Chairman
Creative Arts League of Sacramento