Three times Peg and I have seen Karen Haas wearing clothing and some details characteristic from a hundred years ago or so. She loves reaching back into the past and bringing historical women to life while sharing local history from Western Washington and beyond.
When Peg heard that Karen Haas was putting on a historical performance of Abby Williams Hill, we just had to go for the one-hour performance. Karen assumes the attitudes and characteristics of the individuals she projects. She dresses like her characters, and reacts much as they would, which makes the characters come alive and seem like a new friend.
Abby Williams Hill (1861-1943), lived much of her life here in the Tacoma area. She was an American artist mostly known for her landscape painting of Yellowstone and the American Northwest with much of it based in Washington State. She was also an advocate for children’s rights. She attended the initial 1905 Congress of Mothers in Washington, D.C., and founded the Washington State Congress, a forerunner of the Parent-Teacher Association. She was a “very” determined woman.
A must read: “The Abby Williams Hill Memorial Collection is a collection of approximately 150 oil paintings and ink drawings created by Abby Williams Hill between 1886 and 1934. This includes 36 of the paintings that Hill created during her commissions for the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railways, portraits and scenery painted during her visit to the Flathead Reservation in Montana in 1905, and scenes from national parks in the western United States. Images of each piece, along with extensive descriptive information, are available online. To view the paintings in person, please email us at abbywilliamshill@pugetsound.edu.” The University of Puget Sound was the receiver of her paintings and the history of her life.
There is a collection of the works of Abby Williams Hill that include research materials collected and created by Ronald Fields, emeritus professor of the Art Department faculty at the University of Puget Sound, for his book, “Abby Williams Hill and the Lure of the West”. Karen and everyone there was surprised and glad that Professor Fields was in the audience.
Karen provided information on the development of Abby Williams Hill’s career in the Pacific Northwest and her progress through other National Parks. The Hill family lived in Tacoma because Doctor Hill had his practice in Tacoma.
The first National Park she took her four children to camp out in was Yellowstone, the first US National Park. She was commissioned to provide paintings of National Parks to bring people into the parks by new railroad routes, beginning with Yellowstone. She and her family went on to other National Parks to paint the sights to encourage railroad patronage. Hill was an advocate of camping with her family.
Hill spoke several languages, and was friends with Native Americans beginning with the Sioux Nation. She also took her children to Europe, despite the oncoming crash of national banks.
Karen crammed a whole world of information into a one-hour presentation. Everyone there wished she had gone on for another hour. Karen Haas is someone to look to for historical presentations, complete with clothing and items characteristic of her subjects. She has presented several productions in Franke Toby Jones halls. Look for her presentations. You’ll be glad you did.
At the end of the presentation Karen hustled to the back of the room to greet Ronald Fields, emeritus professor of the Art Department faculty at the University of Puget Sound, for his book “Abby Williams Hill and the Lure of the West”.
