Paulina Peavy’s (1901-1999) provocative art spanned most of the twentieth century. A radical innovator, Peavy would become the first established fine artist to be publicly associated with the movement known as astroculture.
In 1927, Peavy attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, where she joined a community that included members of the first American abstract art movement, Synchromism, as well as Hans Hofmann, for whom she served as a teaching assistant.
She was deeply immersed in the study of ancient cultures, especially the Egyptians, probing the reaches of available esoteric literature and philosophy, thereby joining the ranks of other women channeler-artists including Hilma Af Klint, Georgiana Houghton, Emma Kunz, Agnes Pelton, and Ithell Colquhoun.
Peavy’s art was featured in the 1936 exhibition Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and a selection of thirty of her paintings was shown at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco in 1939. Since the rediscovery of her work in 2014, a number of solo and group exhibitions have been organized including Paulina Peavy: An Etherian Channeler, curated by Laura Whitcomb, at Beyond Baroque in Venice, California (2021), and Paulina Peavy: Astrocultural Messenger, at Andrew Edlin Gallery (2023). Her work was also featured in Greater New York at MoMA/PS1 (2021, and Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2022), Paulina Peavy: Etherian Channeler, a 224-page monograph written by Whitcomb, was published in 2023.
Born 1901, Colorado City, CO; Died 1999, Bethesda, MD.
EDUCATION
1919-23
Bachelor of Science degree in Vocational Education, Oregon State College
(Oregon State University), OR
1927-1932
Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1932-42
Art Educator, Board of Education, Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Paulina Peavy: Astrocultural Messenger, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2022
Paulina Peavy, The ADAA Art Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
2021
Paulina Peavy: An Etherian Channeler, curated by Laura Whitcomb, Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA
2019
Paulina Peavy/Lacamo: They Call us Unidentified, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2018
Paulina Peavy: A Message to Paulina, Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE), Reston, VA
2016
Paulina Peavy: The Artist Behind the Mask, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2003
Exhibition of paintings, New Morning Bakery, Corvallis, OR
2002
Exhibition at Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, Corvallis, OR
1961
Exhibition at Crown Gallery, New York, NY
1956
Exhibition of twenty-three paintings, Lacamo Gallery, New York, NY
1946
Genesis, Atomic Forces of Nature, Lawrence Terzian Gallery, New York, NY
Paintings in rotunda of Roxy Theater, New York, NY
1945
Exhibition of paintings at Jurart Gallery, New York, NY
1944
Exhibition of paintings at Staten Island Museum, Staten Island, NY
1943
Paulina Peavy, Argent Gallery, New York, NY
1942
Special exhibition of last supper mural accompanied by public lecture and music, private residence, Long Beach, CA
1941
Debut exhibition of last supper mural, San Diego Fine Arts Gallery (now San Diego Museum of Art)
1939
Exhibition of thirty paintings, Temple of Religion, Golden Gate International Exposition, Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA
1935
Exhibition at Delphic Studios, New York, NY
Exhibition at Gumps Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Exhibition at Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1934
Exhibition at Stanford University Art Gallery, Stanford, CA
Exhibition at Gumps Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1930
Watercolors at Peavy Studio of Art and Architecture, San Pedro, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Modern Art presentation on BCAM, Level 3, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Open Ended: SFMOMA's Collection, 1900 to Now, SFMOMA, CA
Lavinia, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021
Greater New York 2021, MoMA PS1, New York, NY
Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art, curated by Robert Cozzolino, Toledo Museum of Art, OH, Speed Museum, KY and Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
2018
April 14, 1561, (Group Exhibition) Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
Duende, Artists Translation Spirits, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY
2017
Clestrial Mechanics, Artworks Advisory, New York, NY
1967
Display of art and poetry at convention of the Congress of Scientific Ufologists, Hotel Commodore, New York, NY
1948
American Cancer Society display, Fifth Avenue department store windows, New York, NY
1945
Summer group show, Jurart Gallery, New York, NY
1936
Independent Artists Group, Laguna Beach Art Association, Laguna Beach, CA
Independent Artists Group, Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Annual Exhibition, Foundation of Western Art, Los Angeles, CA
July group show, Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles (Annual Exhibition), Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
1935
Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles (Annual Exhibition), Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
May group show, Palos Verdes Library, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Annual sculpture exhibition, Palos Verdes Library, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
San Francisco Art Association Annual Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1934
Group watercolor show, Laguna Beach Art Association, Laguna Beach, CA
1933
Professional Juried Division, Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona, CA
Annual Exhibition, Laguna Beach Art Association, Laguna Beach, CA
1927
Eisteddfod art exhibition, San Pedro, CA
AWARDS
1985
Bronze medal at the 28th Annual International Film & TV Festival of New York, The Artist Behind the Mask
1984
Silver Award at the International Film & TV Festival of New York for Male Sex
1983
Bronze Award at the International Film & TV Festival of New York, Is the Moon a Burned-out Sun
1982
Bronze Award at the International Film & TV Festival of New York, Mountain of Myrrh
1981
Bronze Award at the International Film & TV Festival of New York, Paulina, Artist-Philosopher, An Artist of Vision
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2023
Whitcomb, Laura. Paulina Peavy: Etherian Channeler, Andrew Edlin Gallery.
2019
Kaplowitz, Jane. “Best of 2019: Artists’ Artists,” Artforum
O’Neill-Butler, Lauren. “Paulina Peavy and Lacamo,” Artforum
Rudick, Nicole. “Art on a Higher Frequency: Paulina Peavy Attended a Séance and Tuned into the Future,” Art in America
Deters, Alexandria. “Spirituality in Insanity, Revelation from Beyond; Paulina Peavy and Lacamo’s Cosmic Interpretations at Andrew Edlin Gallery,” eazel.
2018
Jenkins, Mark. “Paulina Peavy’s postcards from the cosmos,” The Washington Post
1958
Nebel, Long John, WOR Radio interview, New York, NY
https://youtu.be/v8piJgSijHo?t=2h28m20s
https://youtu.be/v8piJgSijHo?t=3h13m26s
1946
Madra, Margaret. “In Awe of Creative Powers, Impressionistic Painter of Biblical Parable Has Theories on Atom,” Brooklyn Eagle
1943
Riley, Maud. “Electronics’ in Paint,” Art Digest
“Mystic Symbolism,” The New York Times.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
National Gallery, Washington DC
Oregon State University, Covallis, OR
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA