Born in Fountain City, Indiana, Leota Loop spent her career as an active artist in Brown County, Indiana. She began studying art at age 10 from Olive Rush at the Fairmont Academy. She also studied with William Forsyth, Theodore Steele, Will Vawter and Randolph Coates--all associated with the Brown County art colony.

In 1937, Indiana governor Townsend purchased her still life painting, "Iris and Peonies," for the Governor's Mansion. She taught art classes in Nashville and was for many years the art chairman of Tri Kappa Sorority. She organized the Junior Art Clubs of the Indiana Federation of Art Clubs and exhibited state wide.

Reportedly her first paint brushes were chicken feathers. She used ink for paint and grocer's wrapping paper for ground.

Source: Paul Sternberg, "Art by American Women"

Leota Williams Loop (1893-1961)

Leota Williams Loop was born in 1893 in Fountain City, Indiana to Orpha (Beeson) and Lee Williams, a hardware salesman. As a child, Loop used chicken feathers and ink to paint on the heavy paper from her mother’s grocery packages. At the age of ten, Loop began studying under American artist Olive Rush (1873-1966) at the Fairmount Academy. Around the same time, the young artist sold her first work, a watercolor sketch of a surveyor working near her home in Elwood, Indiana. Loop was paid a silver dollar for the work.

In 1908, Loop exhibited paintings on pillow tops and a selection of sketches done in pen, pencil and watercolor at the Vawter Art Shop in Elwood, Indiana. The Call-Leader described the young artist’s work as “unusually clever” and further noted that the work, “…speaks well of the artistic ability of Miss Williams.” As a teenager, Loop began earning money by painting floral designs on dresses and by giving art lessons to neighborhood children. In 1910, Loop left Elwood to study art at Valparaiso University. In 1912, Loop worked as an art teacher. The work of her students received favorable attention during an exhibition in the window of Leeson’s store. The Call-Leader said, “The pictures not only show great talent in the young people but much hard work by the teacher.”

In 1914, Loop married Glenn R. Loop and settled in Kokomo, Indiana where she resided for the next 30 years. Their son Max W. Loop was born in 1916. The artist balanced her painting career and homemaking by dedicating three days a week to her painting. In 1925, Loop exhibited three works entitled, The Chelsea Tea Pot, The Little Red Oak and Spring Flowers, at the 28th Annual Exhibition of Indiana Artists held at the Public Art Gallery.

In 1933, Loop’s work was exhibited in the winter show at the Woman’s Department Club. Lucille E. Morehouse, the art critic for the Indianapolis Star described Loop’s work entitled “Phlox” as, “…a masterful list of realistic flower painting.” Of the artist, Morehouse declared, “Leota Williams Loop is still entitled to be among the first flower painters of Indiana.” The critic who had followed Loop’s career for many years felt that, “… [Loop] is worthy of high praise for her accomplishment in the field of flower painting.”

“…Kokomo’s own portrayer on canvas of gardens and flowers…,” Loop gave a talk on garden planning and pictures at the Howard County Garden Club in 1935. A member of the Brown County colony of artists, Loop took up a cabin-studio in Nashville, Indiana. In 1938, the artist had a one-woman exhibition at the H. Lieber Company Galleries. Morehouse praised Loop’s, “color arrangement, design and technical handling of the pigment…” in Peonies and Snowballs and Peonies and Iris. In addition to large carefully composed floral arrangements Loop exhibited several landscapes entitled, October, Through the Cornfield, and May Apples on Parade. In 1939, Loop’s painting entitled Heavenly Blue Morning Glories, won the Margaret George Bidwell Memorial Prize at the Hoosier Salon in Chicago.

In 1941, the Annual Exhibition of Brown County Artists was held at H. Lieber Company Galleries. The Indianapolis Star found “attractive bits of realism,” in Loop’s winter landscape entitled The First Snow. The Star said that Delphinium, was Loop’s best work in the exhibit with “…long spikes of dark blue and light blue blossoms…viewed against a creamy tan background.” In 1943, the Hoosier Salon Patron’s Association opened the season with an exhibition of work by Loop and Sister Rufinia at the Hoosier Art Gallery in the State Life Building.

In 1946, Loop’s Angel Trumpets, received the Jesse Mae Holcomb Memorial Prize of $100 during the 22nd Annual Hoosier Salon. Morehouse declared, “You could not wish to have more exquisite painting of white than Mrs. Loop has put upon her canvas in her ‘Angel Trumpet’s’ with their richly colored gray-green leaves. I am guessing the Angel Gabriel would like to toot one of those big white flowers when the ‘last trumpet’ sounds.”

In 1948, Loop exhibited 18 large-scale floral paintings at the Hoosier Salon Art Gallery. The critic for the Indianapolis Star noted Loop’s, “careful drawings in almost every instance.” In 1951, she was awarded a purchase prize of $200 for her work large-scale work entitled “Asters,” at the 19th Annual Exhibition of the Indiana Artists Club. The exhibition was held at the L.S. Ayers & Co. Auditorium.

In 1952, Loop became president of the Brown County Art Gallery. The following year, Loop was elected president of the Business and Professional Women’s Club. In 1961, Loop presented the state of Indiana with a large peony painting in recognition of the state flower. The work was accepted by Governor Matthew Welsh.

During her lifetime, Loop exhibited at the Mary A. Burnet Galleries of the Women’s Department Club, at the Indiana Artists exhibit at L.S. Ayres & Co., and in the Lieber’s and Lyman’s Galleries in Indianapolis. She was the state chairman for the Tri Kappa sorority and a member of the Brown County Art Gallery Association.

Leota Williams Loop died in 1961. She was 68 years old.

Sourced from newspapers.com:

“Brown County Artists,” Brown County Democrat (Nashville, Indiana), Sep 22, 1960, 3.

“Clever Work,” Call-Leader (Elwood, Indiana), Dec 1, 1908, 1.

“Society and Personal,” Elwood Daily Record (Elwood, Indiana), Dec 13, 1910, 5.

“Art Exhibit,” Call-Leader (Elwood, Indiana), Mar 21, 1912, 1.

“Elwood Short Notes,” Star Press (Muncie, Indiana), May 1, 1914, 7.

“88 Paintings by 39 Hoosier Artists…,” Palladium-Item (Richmond, Indiana), Jan 16, 1925, 1, 14.

“In the World of Art,” The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), Dec 24, 1933, 44.

“Howard County Garden Club,” Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Indiana), Dec 9, 1935, 23.

“Down in the Hills o Brown County,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), Mar 27, 1938, 63.

“Leota Loop at Lieber’s,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), Oct 9, 1938, 27.

“Mrs. Loop Dies; Noted as Artist,” Edinburg Daily Courier (Edinburg, Indiana), Sep 11, 1961, 1.

“ART,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), Nov 23, 1941, 21.

“Salon Patron to Open Season,” Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana), Sep 14, 1943, 18.

“22d Annual Hoosier Art Salon Opens at Block’s Auditorium,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), Jan 21, 1946, 3.

“Three Hoosiers Interpret Their Favorite Subjects,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), Nov 7, 1948, 58.

“3 Local Artists Win I.A.C. Prizes,” Brown County Democrat (Nashville, Indiana), Oct 11, 1951, 1.

“Art Gallery Draws Visitors From Near And Far,” Brown County Democrat (Nashville, Indiana), Aug 28, 1952, 10.

“BPW Installed Officers” Brown County Democrat (Nashville, Indiana), May 7, 1953, 1.

“Brown County artist presents state flower painting to Governor,” Brown County Democrat (Nashville, Indiana), Mar 16, 1961, 1.


Written and submitted by Megan Bongiovanni, Research Associate, Hawthorne Fine Art, New York, NY