{{Short description|American visual artist (1893–1986)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Hazel Gowan Salmi | birth_name = Hazel P. Gowan | birth_date = {{birth date|1893|11|11}} | birth_place = Rockport, Mendocino County, California, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1986|4|22|1893|11|11}} | death_place = San Pablo, California, U.S. | education = California School of Design (BFA),<br /> Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design,<br />University of California, Berkeley,<br /> California College of Arts and Crafts | occupation = Visual artist, arts administrator | known_for = Founder of Richmond Art Center, painter, flower arranger, leather worker | spouse = Martin Emanuel Salmi (m. 1916–1964; his death) | children = 1 }} '''Hazel Gowan Salmi''' (November 11, 1893 – April 22, 1986) was an American visual artist, educator, and arts administrator.<ref name="EdanMiltonHughes">{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Edan Milton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eC4jAQAAIAAJ |title=Artists in California, 1786-1940: L-Z |date=2002 |publisher=Crocker Art Museum |isbn=978-1-884038-08-2 |pages=972 |language=en |chapter=Salmi, Hazel}}</ref> She was a painter, as well as the founder and director of the Richmond Art Center.<ref name="EdanMiltonHughes" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Falk |first=Peter H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MYRAQAAMAAJ |title=Who Was Who in American Art 1564–1975: 400 Years of Artists in America |date=1999 |publisher=Sound View Press |isbn=978-0-932087-55-3 |pages=2879 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bancroft |first=Ann |date=October 11, 1976 |title=She Turns People on the Arts |work=Oakland Tribune |issn=1068-5936}}</ref> She lived in Point Richmond, California for many years.<ref name="EdanMiltonHughes" />
== Early life and education == Hazel Gowan Salmi was born on November 11, 1893, in Rockport, an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California.<ref name="Moore">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTPT9Zgv2jcC&q |title=Moore's Who is Who in California |date=1958 |publisher=John M. Moore |pages=640 |language=en |chapter=Salmi, Hazel Gowan |via=Google Books}}</ref> She was the child of Stella Bella (née Brown) and Ernest Albert Gowan.<ref name="Moore" />
She graduated from California School of Design (later known as San Francisco Art Institute) in 1912.<ref name="EdanMiltonHughes" /> She continued her arts education at Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco, the University of California, Berkeley, and at California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts).<ref name="EdanMiltonHughes" />
In 1916, she married Martin Emanuel Salmi.<ref name="Moore" /> They had one son.
== Career == In 1921, Salmi decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area permanently, settling in Point Richmond, California. There were no art classes or resources, so she started to teach art classes. In 1936, Salmi began teaching classes under the Emergency Education Program (EEP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).<ref name="Open Space-2019">{{Cite web |date=16 December 2019 |title=Featured Organization: Richmond Art Center |url=https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2019/12/featured-organization-richmond-art-center/ |access-date= |website=Open Space |publisher=SFMOMA |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1938, the City of Richmond granted Salmi an old Health Department building to use for classes and exhibitions.<ref name="Open Space-2019" />
In the 1940s, Salmi and other artists petitioned the City of Richmond to include a permanent art center as part of the new downtown Civic Center development. In 1950 Richmond Art Center became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richmond Art Center Profile |url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/94-6104204 |accessdate= |website=GuideStar}}</ref> The Richmond Art Center's new facilities building opened in 1951,<ref name="1951opening">{{cite news |date=Dec 2, 1951 |title=Art Center Draws 22,000 in Richmond |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=34610395&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjI0NjI1NDYxOSwiaWF0IjoxNjAzOTA5NzE5LCJleHAiOjE2MDM5OTYxMTl9.f4U6bHWlG1Z7yDp5nMgOXFoJ7KGimxuIyDMCpTWam-w |accessdate= |work=Oakland Tribune |publisher= |via=Newspapers.com |issn=1068-5936}}</ref> as part of the downtown Civic Center development. From 1936 until 1960, Salmi worked as the founding director of the Richmond Art Center.<ref name="SalmiRetires">{{cite news |last1=Doyle |first1=Bill |date=June 30, 1960 |title=House That Hazel Built' Honors Her |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/332076245/?terms=Richmond%2BArt%2BCenter |accessdate= |publisher=Oakland Tribune |issn=1068-5936}}</ref>
She died at age 92 in a convalescent hospital in San Pablo, California.
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmi, Hazel}} Category:1893 births Category:1986 deaths Category:19th-century American women artists Category:19th-century American art educators Category:American women art educators Category:Artists from San Francisco Category:American arts administrators Category:People from Mendocino County, California Category:People from Richmond, California Category:San Francisco Art Institute alumni Category:Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design alumni Category:20th-century American artists Category:20th-century American women artists Category:20th-century American art educators