Biography

Born October 17, 1917 in San Francisco, California. 
Married to Julius Chase, September 10, 1939.  Divorced in 1973 
One daughter, Catherine Anne Chase, born August 11, 1947
Married to C. Jay Hollander, 1974
Deceased December 29, 2000, Oakland, California

Education:
Lick-Wilmerding Elementary
Lowell High School, class of 1934
California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute)
University of California at Berkeley, class of 1938
Stanford University, Teaching Credential
University of California at Berkeley – post graduate work
California College of Arts and Crafts, (now known as the California College of the Arts), MFA - January 24, 1961. 

A native San Franciscan, Adele Stimmel was the second child of Anna D. Elkin of New York City and Bernard Benjamin Stimmel of San Francisco.  She grew up in San Francisco’s Forest Hill area graduating from Lowell High School.  She received her art education at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) and the University of California at Berkeley with graduate work at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley and the California College of Arts and Crafts (now known as the California College of the Arts).  She holds a teaching credential from Stanford and an MFA from the College of Arts and Crafts. 

She married Julius Chase and resided in Oakland, California, first at 540 Alcatraz Avenue, then at 2222 Arlington in El Cerrito, and later at #1 Quail Avenue in the Berkeley Hills where she had her art studio complete with a potter’s wheel and full-sized kiln for almost thirty years.  Records indicate she obtained her first business license in January 1947 under the name of Chase Originals Ceramics at 2374 San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley.  She was a member of the Civil Air Patrol and the Ninety Nines, an international organization of women pilots. Due to her interest in theatrical arts she was also a member of the Screen Extras Guild.  Later after her divorce and re-marriage to Jay Hollander, she moved to Point Richmond and lived at 501 Cliffside Court where the house was designed to provide large spaces for her painting and other studios.  In 1998 she moved to St. Paul’s Towers on Lake Merritt in Oakland where she exhibited her hand-pressed tiles and paintings, and continued to paint in a studio located in the Jack London Square Produce District at the Fourth Street Lofts building at Fourth and Alice Streets until her death in December of 2000.

Adele received her initial training in ceramics from William Bragdon of the California Faience Company in Berkeley.  Mr. Bragdon was one of the first six ceramic engineers trained in the United States.  An outstanding artist-craftsman, he pioneered art pottery in the Bay Area; casting, glazing and firing works for Jacques Schnier, Elah Hale Hays, Brents Carleton and Benjamino Bufano, as well as other well known sculptors.  His firm produced tile for Julia Morgan for the Fairmont Hotel, Hearst’s San Simeon, the Berkeley Women’s Club, and produced a Mormon font of twelve life-size oxen.

Techniques:
In constructing her tile works she continues to use the techniques taught her by William Bragdon of California Faience in Berkeley who executed Julia Morgan’s tile designs for San Simeon.  She spent six years with Mr. Bragdon, learning techniques of mold making, casting, designing for clay, pressing and eventually producing her own commercial line of small sculpture, figurines and bowls.  Returning to school she received her MFA in ceramics at the California College of Arts and Crafts mastering glaze and firing techniques.  Adele’s early training in sculpture and architecture soon turned her interest to architectural murals.  In her own workshop and studio, she produced her own glazes and did her own firing.  Much of her early work is in Faience glazes on terra cotta clays which give her work an exceptional richness and warmth of surface.  Between architectural commissions she continued to produce mounted carved tiles for art galleries and personal collections in the Bay Area. 

Studied with:
Sculptors:  Edgar Walters, Jacques Schnier, Elah Hale Hays  
Elliot (Franz) Sandow assisting on a bas-relief for the Orinda Filter Plant in Orinda, California;
Ceramicists:  Rex Mason, Lillian Bouchen, Vernon Coykendall, William Bragdon;
Eric Stearne (scenic designer), Helen Greene (costume designer);
Painters:  Margaret Peterson O’Hagan, Chiura Obata, John Haley, Harry Krell;
Alton Raible (serigraphy), Pablo O’Higgins (lithography); and etcher Kathan Brown.

Exhibitions of sculpture and ceramics:
San Francisco Art Association
San Francisco Women Artists
Designer-Craftsmen of Northern California, Richmond Arts Center, Richmond, California
Western Association of Art Museums
Utah National Ceramic Annual
California State Fair
Alameda State College in Hayward, California
Bay Window Gallery, Mendocino, California
Local festivals in San Francisco, Berkeley, Napa, Livermore, Sausalito and Walnut Creek, most notably the Upper Grant Avenue fair in San Francisco
Prieto Memorial Collection, Mills College, Oakland, California
In 1967, Ms. Chase was invited to participate in the formation of a collection of outstanding ceramics as a permanent memorial to the work of Antonio Prieto to be housed in a new gallery at Mills College in Oakland, California.  Two pieces are included in that collection.

Other Exhibits:
Artists Equity Touring Exhibition (drawings)
Attic Gallery, San Francisco – Two man show
Oakland Art Association, 1972, - Two man show, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California
Oakland Art Association Painting Annual, 1973 – St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California
Orinda Library, 1973 – Invited artist, one man show, Orinda, California
Lafayette Sun Offices, 1974 – Invited artist, Lafayette, California
San Francisco Art Commission Library Touring Exhibition, 1967 (drawings)
San Francisco Art Festival – 1970-73 (Invited artist)
Marin Society of Artists (paintings)
California College of Arts and Crafts Alumni Show (paintings)
Artists Equity Exhibition, Kaiser Building Gallery, Oakland, California
San Francisco Women Artists Painting Annual, 1973 – Kaiser Building Gallery, Oakland, California
Temple Emanuel Museum, 1972-73 – One man show
Zellerbach Gallery – San Francisco, California (ceramic wall plaque and paintings)
Winblad Gallery (paintings)
Invitational “Gold Spike” Album Touring Exhibition
St. Paul’s Towers, residential community (ceramic tiles and paintings)
Studio One, 1974 – One man show, Oakland, California
Center for the Visual Artist, 1974 – Invited artist
Athene Gallery, 1974 – Oakland, California
Artists’ Cooperative, 1976 – San Francisco, California

Representation of work:
Pot Pourri, Lincoln Square, Oakland, California
Pro-Arts Gallery Store, Oakland, California
Oakland Art Association, Oakland, California

Awards and Commendations:
Awards of Merit, twice - San Francisco Art Festivals
Honorable Mention – California State Fair
Voted Best Entry – Livermore Annual Art Exhibit
Best Ceramic Entry – Sather Gate Show, Berkeley, California
Honorable Mention – New Approaches Show, 1963, Marin Society of Artists
Best in Show Award – Annual Painting Show, 1968, Marin Society of Artists
Merit Award – Annual Painting Show, 1969, Marin Society of Artists
Merit Award – Artists Equity Exhibition, 1970, Kaiser Gallery, Oakland, California
First Prize – Oakland Art Association Painting Exhibition, 1973, St. Mary’s College, Morage, California
Commission Award, 1973 for the Hall of Justice, County of Alameda, Hayward, California

Commissions:
Painted Murals
Backstage Nightclub, Bay and Jones, San Francisco, California
Howard Tours Travel Agency, Oakland, California

Portraits
Three sons of Mrs. Gertrude Blanchard
Mrs. Joseph (Gloria) Selby

Sculptured Tile Murals
Medical Arts Center, San Leandro, California
Doctors’ Hospital, San Leandro, California
Newark-Fremont YMCA, Fremont, California
Edgewater Apartments, Hayward, California
Building at 3500 Mowry Blvd., Fremont, California
Alameda County Hall of Justice, Hayward, California (1976-77)
Roman Bath, Young Tile Company, San Leandro (1976)
Outdoor Mural (3’ x 10’) designed to complement a Japanese Garden, El Cerrito, California.