Grace Leslie Dickerson (1911-2001)

Grace Leslie Dickerson was born on August 27, 1911, at Brookside, her parents' home, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sometimes referred to as Bass Castle, Brookside was a grand home built by her grandparents and is now the site of the St. Francis College library. Grace Dickerson graduated from the Fort Wayne Art Institute in 1932 and received degrees from St. Francis College (1950) and the Instituto Allende at San Miguel de Allende in Mexico (1958). Grace also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cranbook Academy of Fine Arts in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and under Guy Pène DuBois. She worked in oil, acrylic, sculpture, and ceramics. Her art was exhibited throughout the Midwest and in New York, Chicago, Paris, and Mexico. For many years she taught at Harmar School (1950-1951), the Arcola School (1955), and St. Francis College. From 1962 onward, she also gave lessons in her home studio. In addition to being a fine artist, craftswoman, and art instructor, Grace was an illustrator. She provided the illustrations for her own book, Sketchbook of San Miguel de Allende (1964), and a children's biography, Little Turtle by Jean Carper (1959). Grace Leslie Dickerson died on July 11, 2001, in Fort Wayne. She is entombed in the city of her birth.

The cover of Little Turtle (1959), written by Jean Carper and illustrated by Grace Leslie Dickerson. Little Turtle (ca. 1747-1812) was a leader of the Miami Indians and born in what is now Whitley County, Indiana, west of the present-day Allen County and Fort Wayne. One of the men sent against him was a near contemporary, Josiah Harmar (1753-1813), for whom the Harmar School in Fort Wayne is named.

Text and captions copyright 2012 Terence E. Hanley