Amelia Ruth Coats (1872–1949) was an American printmaker known for her small, detailed etchings, mostly from the first quarter of the twentieth century.Don R. Severson, Finding Paradise, Island Art in Private Collections, University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 142–3. They consist primarily of Hawaiian landscapes featuring idyllic settings. They are typically undated and without information about the size of the edition. Kiawe and Canoes, in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art is typical of her oeuvre.
Biography Coats migrated to Hawaii in the early 20th century, appearing in arriving passenger rolls in August 1903, when she was aboard the from Vancouver to Honolulu."Passengers Arrived," The Independent (Honolulu HI): (31 August 1903). She lived for the rest of her life in Hawaii, dying in 1949 and having her ashes scattered at sea from a traditional Outrigger. She worked as a stenographer and learnt the art of printmaking while in Hawaii. She specialised in etching and wood blocking and taught printmaking classes.
She purchased land in the Palolo Valley in 1905."Waited All Night to Get Palolo Lots," The Hawaiian Star (24 April 1905): 1."Lilo na Aina o Palolo," Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, 43(17)(28 April 1905). In 1915, she was part of a large party from Honolulu's Trail and Mountain Club that traveled to Maui to hike up Haleakala, led by Alexander Hume Ford."Haleakala Hikers Had Hard Trip," The Maui News (9 January 1915): 5.
Her artwork was part of a group show of Honolulu Printmakers at the Honolulu Academy of Arts in November 1930, along with works by Alexander Samuel MacLeod, Huc-Mazelet Luquiens, John Melville Kelly, and Kate Kelly."Honolulu Print Annual," Arts Magazine 6(1931): 20. "Miss Amelia Coats" donated two prints to the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1933.Bulletin, Honolulu Academy of Arts(1933): 14. In a 1934 Hawaii directory, Amelia R. Coats is listed as a clerk for the United States Geological Survey at Spreckelsville on Maui.Post-Husted Directory Co., Honolulu and the Territory of Hawaii Directory (1934): 605.
Her prints are in the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs collection of the New York Public LibraryNew York Public Library, catalog listing for "Amelia Coats." and the Honolulu Museum of Art.Honolulu Museum of Art, wall label, Kiawe and Canoes, accession 6044
Footnotes
References
Severson, Don R., Finding Paradise, Island Art in Private Collections, University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 142–3.