by Christy Solo – Editor
To celebrate Women’s History Month this week’s All Things will shine a spotlight on three unique, talented and artistic Oregonians – Ebba Wicks Brown, Marian Wood Kolisch and Toni Pimble.
Ebba Wicks was born in Astoria in 1914 to Finnish immigrants John and Maria Wicks, she was the second woman in Oregon to receive an architectural license via examination.
J. Wicks was an architect and an original member of the Oregon State Board of Architect Examiners. By the time E. Wicks was 14 she had already developed an interest in architecture, helping him out in his studio.
After she received her bachelor of arts and bachelor of architecture degrees from the University of Oregon, she returned to Astoria to apprentice with her father. Together they designed many custom residences in the Astoria area over the next five years.
E. Wicks took and passed her exams in 1942 and received her license to practice architecture in Oregon. As construction slowed during WWII E. Wicks moved around a lot from 1941 – 1945 gaining experiences in architectural offices around Oregon and Washington. She was honing her skills in modern residential design.
She then moved to Michigan to attain her master of architecture and urban design, which she did with honors. E. Wicks then moved back to Astoria to work with her father at the newly named Wicks & Wicks Architects. By 1954 they had together designed several well-known buildings including Cochran’s department store and the Zion Lutheran Church.
The combined architectural style of father and daughter favored elements of International-style architecture including lack of ornamentation and open interior spaces. Together with E. Wicks youthful eye and J. Wicks love of architectural experimentation they created lasting buildings set apart from the typical Victorian style of Astoria.
E. Wicks married architect Ernest Brown whom she met in Michigan. When he joined the family’s Astoria firm it was again renamed, this time Wicks & Brown. Together the creative group designed churches, hospitals, residences, schools and commercial properties including the Captain Edgar Quinn house and the US Bank in Seaside.
After J. Wicks died, E. Wicks and Brown continued with new partners in the firm creating distinctive buildings such as the Daily Astorian Building, the Astor Public Library and Veterans Memorial.
E. Wicks retired in 1979 but continued aiding in community projects until her death in 2006.
Fun fact: A rare Ebba Wicks Brown designed home in Astoria just sold for a cool $1M (see photos). The sale was run by Sotheby’s International Realty (yes that Sotheby’s), so you know this home was truly a once-in-a-lifetime find.
We can only guess that Astoria real estate prices are normally pretty low, because $1M seems like a steal for a gorgeous 4-bedroom, 3.5 bath 3,462 sqft home designed by Oregon’s own Ebba Wicks Brown (see photos).
Next let’s meet photographer Marian Wood Kolisch an inspiration to anyone still looking for their own passion.
Kolisch was known for her portraits of individuals who helped shape cultural life in Oregon during the twentieth century. She created a record of artists, dancers, writers, historians and others.
But Kolisch didn’t begin this culture quest until 1976, at the age of 56. You go girl!
Marion Wood was born in Ontario, Ore. in 1920 and was a creative individual from the get-go. Her childhood dream was to be a writer, and she put in lots of practice before switching creative gears as a young adult when she caught the acting bug.
Kolisch lacked the funds to attend drama school, however, and had to take the more mundane path of attending secretarial school then working in a Portland law firm. Bored with secretarial work, she landed a job as the host of a daily news and entertainment broadcast which suited her creative needs much better.
Kolisch married in 1943 and temporarily shelved her big artistic dreams. She spent the next 30 years raising her children while keeping her finger on the art world’s pulse by volunteering at the Portland Art Museum.
In 1972 she took a photography workshop with Paul Miller in central Oregon and as if with a bolt of lightning, she was struck and lit up by her love of the art.
Kolisch continued to study photography including a workshop with Ansel Adams in Yosemite.
Her life’s work project documenting Oregon’s creatives began in 1976. She strove to photograph not only artists, but those who worked behind the artistic scenes. Kolisch’s goal was to show creatives via “environmental portraits”; that is photographing subjects in their own environments using available light.
Her subjects included Ursula K. Le Guin, Gus Van Sant, Ansel Adams, Henk Pander and many more. You can view an online gallery of her work on the Portland Art Museum Website. The museum holds most of her photographs in their permanent collection.
Our last featured creative is Toni Pimble, one of the first women to lead an American ballet company. Recently retired after 46 years, Pimble and her husband Riley Grannan purchased the Eugene Ballet Company in 1978 after meeting on a European ballet tour.
Pimble was born in Surrey, England, Grannan on a nut farm in between Eugene and Junction City. Grannan had begun his ballet training in Eugene and when the two decided to start their own company, Pimble was excited to become an Oregonian.
While starting their own company wasn’t easy, starting it in Eugene made it possible. As Pimble told Pointe Magazine, “despite the lack of major government support of the arts in the U.S., I found that making our own way and building a company from the ground up with support from the community gave us the ability to grow slowly but continually.”
As the artistic director and lead choreographer for the Eugene Ballet, Pimble found she had less time for dance, and her performance as the lead in 1982’s Firebird (which she also choreographed) was her last Prima Ballerina role.
Pimble did whatever it took to ensure the success of the Eugene Ballet, including sewing costumes early on.
As for the many ballets Pimble choreographed, most are story ballets, a form she favors. Her non-story ballets are most often inspired by specific pieces of music.
Over her 46-year history Pimble has received many awards, two Oregon Arts Commission Artist Fellowship Awards, a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer’s Fellowship Grant, and Boise City’s Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. Under her leadership, the Eugene Ballet is the only dance institution in Oregon to receive the Governor’s Arts Award in 1996. In 2020, she received the Oregon Arts Commission/Governor’s Individual arts award.
As an ode to their beloved artistic manager, the Eugene Ballet performed only pieces choreographed by Pimble for her final (24/25) season.
If you’d like to see Pimble’s legacy, you can purchase tickets for the Eugene Ballet’s 25/26 season online.
