Page 11 - Feb2020

HO WAS
HO W WASAS
HO
W W W W WHOHO W WASAS
ELLIE G GAILAIL
ELLIE
ELLIE GAIL
N N N N NELLIEELLIE G GAILAIL
OULTONTON??
OULTON?
M M M M MOULOULTONTON??
OUL
Opening Reception for the art
exhibit Who Was Nellie Gail Moulton?
Artist, Pioneer, and so much more.
Name of Artist: Nellie Gail Moulton
Date of Event: March 13
Time of Event: 6 - 8 PM
Where: Casa Romantica, 415 Avenida
Granada, San Clemente, call 949-498-2139
Description of Event: Opening reception
of Who Was Nellie Gail Moulton? Friday,
March 13 from 6-8 PM. Curated by
Maurine St. Gaudens Studios, Who Was
Nellie Gail Moulton? is the first
comprehensive exhibition in over 50 years
of artwork created by Orange County
pioneer, artist, and philanthropist Nellie
Gail Moulton. The opening reception is
free and open to the public.

The exhibition, a first in over 50 years is
daily from March 13 - May 31, 2020.
The name Nellie Gail Moulton may be
familiar to Orange County residents, but
who was the woman whose name has
become synonymous with California
history?
Trailbailzer, powerful, confident, Nellie
Maud Gail (1878-1972) was born in Irving,
KS. Her family was one of many pioneer
families who moved westward in the late-
1800s. The family settled for a time in
Seattle, WA, where Nellie worked as a
young school teacher. In 1902, her father
John Gail accepted a position as
Postmaster for the town of El Toro and
Manager of El Toro Mercantile Store,
located in present-day Lake Forest, CA.
The Gail family were actively involved in
their new southern California community,
and in 1908, Nellie married Lewis F.
Moulton, a co-owner of Rancho Niguel
that spanned over 13,000 acres in south
Orange County.
Nellie Gail Moulton was passionate
about painting en plein air, and among
her most favorite subjects were the rancho
landscapes and the tenant farmers tending
their sheep and cattle. As one of the first
female artists on the scene when Laguna
Beach attracted a colony of artists, Nellie
was a founding member of the Laguna
Beach Art Association (which later became
Laguna Art Museum) in 1918, and served
as their president from 1948-49. Having
befriended and trained with fellow
notable California artists such as William
Wendt, Anna Hills, Frank Cuprien, and
Edgar Payne, her work represents her
affinity for nature and the California
landscape.

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