# Constance Abernathy > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Constance_Abernathy > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Constance_Abernathy.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Abernathy > Source revision: 1329251448 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American architect}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Constance Abernathy | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Constance Davies | birth_date = {{birth date|1931|06|20}} | birth_place = [Detroit, Michigan](/source/Detroit), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1994|06|18|1931|06|20}} | death_place = [New York City, New York](/source/New_York_City%2C_New_York), U.S. | education = [University of Michigan](/source/University_of_Michigan) | spouse = J. T. Abernathy }} '''Constance Abernathy''' ({{nee}} '''Davies'''; June 20, 1931 – June 18, 1994) was an American architect, jeweler, and associate of [Buckminster Fuller](/source/Buckminster_Fuller). == Architecture == Abernathy worked on a special project studying with [Buckminster Fuller](/source/Buckminster_Fuller) to create the geodesic dome [egg carton](/source/egg_carton) form of architecture and functioned as Fuller's secretary maintaining sections of his files and archives.[http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf109n9832&chunk.id=c02-1.3.11.17.7 cdlib.org website] retrieved May 12, 2009[http://www.thirteen.org/bucky/devarco.html thirteen.org website] retrieved May 12, 2009 Between 1966 and 1971, she directed Fuller's New York office.{{Cite web|title = Constance Abernathy|url = https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/people/18041533/bio#ch|accessdate = 2015-10-27|publisher = Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum}} == Jewelry == Beginning in 1977, Abernathy became a jeweler. In New York City she befriended and worked with many famous artists. Among her contemporaries were many well-known painters and sculptors such as [Larry Rivers](/source/Larry_Rivers), [Peter Reginato](/source/Peter_Reginato), [Peter Young](/source/Peter_Young_(artist)), [Ching Ho Cheng](/source/Ching_Ho_Cheng), [Ronnie Landfield](/source/Ronnie_Landfield), and [Dan Christensen](/source/Dan_Christensen). [Ching Ho Cheng](/source/Ching_Ho_Cheng) painted her portrait in 1977. In the 1980s, her works started to include precious gems and cast parts she created. Her big bead necklaces were collected by Clarice Cosby and many others.{{cite web|url=http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&moduleid=2&profile=people¤trecord=1&searchdesc=Constance%20Abernathy&style=single&rawsearch=constituentid/,/is/,/2/,/false/,/true|title=Museum of Arts and Design Collection Database|work=madmuseum.org|accessdate=14 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623201942/http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&moduleid=2&profile=people¤trecord=1&searchdesc=Constance%20Abernathy&style=single&rawsearch=constituentid%2F%2C%2Fis%2F%2C%2F2%2F%2C%2Ffalse%2F%2C%2Ftrue|archive-date=23 June 2016|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |url=http://66.223.50.26/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&newsearch=1&moduleid=1&profile=objects¤trecord=1&searchdesc=Related%20to%20 |title=Data Base, Museum of Arts and Design, retrieved February 4, 2009 |access-date=February 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219102715/http://66.223.50.26/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&newsearch=1&moduleid=1&profile=objects¤trecord=1&searchdesc=Related%20to%20 |archive-date=February 19, 2012 |url-status=dead }} Her works are in the collections of the [Cooper Hewitt](/source/Cooper_Hewitt%2C_Smithsonian_Design_Museum) and [Museum of Art and Design](/source/Museum_of_Arts_and_Design). == Other collaborations == Abernathy appears on recordings by [John Giorno](/source/John_Giorno) from the late 1960s and on the live album ''The Sound Pool'' by [Musica Elettronica Viva](/source/Musica_Elettronica_Viva), recorded in May 1969.{{cite web | url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/724974-Constance-Abernathy | title= Constance Abernathy | publisher=[Discogs.com](/source/Discogs.com) | accessdate=2022-09-25}} == Personal life == Born in [Detroit, Michigan](/source/Detroit), she attended [Cass Technical High School](/source/Cass_Technical_High_School) and [University of Michigan](/source/University_of_Michigan) Architecture school (class of 1953).{{Cite web|title = Constance Abernathy visual materials.|url = https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/650825829|website = ArchiveGrid|accessdate = 2015-10-27}} She married J. T. Abernathy, a potter and art professor at the University of Michigan, in the 1950s, but their union did not last long. She left [Ann Arbor, Michigan](/source/Ann_Arbor%2C_Michigan) for [Paris](/source/Paris) shortly after, arriving in the swinging scene of the Paris 1960s. She worked as an architect in [Europe](/source/Europe) and married a filmmaker.{{Citation needed|date = October 2015}} In the early 1990s, she was diagnosed with cancer and died as a result in 1994. Before she died, she had a farewell party for her closest friends; and she distributed her worldly possessions among them as her way of saying goodbye. She died two days before her 63rd birthday at home in her Chelsea apartment in [New York City](/source/New_York_City).{{cite web|url=https://superchargedamf.blogspot.com/2009/08/buckminster-fuller-constance-abernathy.html|title=Susan Supercharged|author=susan supercharged|work=superchargedamf.blogspot.com|date=August 2009 |accessdate=October 14, 2015}} ==Archive== * Abernathy's papers are available at the [Bentley Historical Library](/source/Bentley_Historical_Library), University of Michigan ==References== {{Reflist|refs = {{Cite web|title = Constance Abernathy visual materials.|url = https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/650825829|website = ArchiveGrid|accessdate = 2015-10-27}} }} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Abernathy, Constance}} Category:1931 births Category:1994 deaths Category:20th-century American architects Category:Architects from Detroit Category:American women architects Category:Cass Technical High School alumni Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning alumni Category:20th-century American women artists Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Constance Abernathy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Abernathy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Abernathy?action=history)). 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