Elmer Lucille Allen (born in Louisville, Kentucky, August 23, 1931) is a ceramic artist and chemist who graduated from Nazareth College (now Spalding University) in 1953. [1] Both her father and brother were named Elmer and the family chose to name her Elmer Lucille. [2] She became the first African-American chemist at Brown-Forman in 1966. [3]
Allen was born on August 23, 1931, as Elmer Lucille Hammonds, to mother Ophelia Guinn Hammonds and father Elmer Hammonds. [4] She was born in the Depression era in Louisville, Kentucky, at a time when it was still a segregated city. In an interview she stated that she "never went to school with whites" until she was a junior in college. [1]
She took her first art class, a sewing class, in seventh grade at Madison Street Junior High School. She stated in an interview that the first artist she identified with was her teacher, Ms. Hattie Figg, who taught painting at the junior high. She learned many functional crafts in junior high, such as shoe repair, printing, sewing, and carpentry. She also learned various crafts at the Plymouth Settlement House and Presbyterian Community Center. She was also a Girl Scout, and this activity fostered her interest in art.
She graduated from Central High School in 1949, at a time when African-American women had very few opportunities available to them. She attended Louisville Municipal College, a co-ed, all Black school (part of University of Louisville) from 1949 to 1951 and then switched to Nazareth College where she was one of only a few Black students. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Nazareth College in 1953. [5]
In 1969, Elmer Lucille Allen, a scientist and artist from the Chickasaw Little League created the Chickasaw Little League. The little league was in operation for 3–4 years and was made to accommodate the children who lived in the Chickasaw neighborhood who could not participate in the little league held in Shawnee Park. [6]
Elmer Lucille Allen became involved in the Louisville arts scene in 1980s. She helped form the Kentucky Coalition of African American Arts and was a founding member of the Arts Council of Louisville. [1]
Allen retired from Brown-Forman in 1997, after which she devoted more time to her art. Starting in 1981 she began to study art at the University of Louisville, receiving her Masters of Creative Arts with a focus in ceramics and fiber in 2002. [7] Allen's textile work incorporates shibori dyeing techniques. [8]
Speaking of her ceramics, Allen states, "I make the things that I want, and I have always liked teapots." She enjoys the fact that if she made something she did not like, she could simply start over again. Her platters are typically dark and molten, while her teapots are colorful and graphic. She states, "When I rented my first studio in 2005 at Mellwood, I knew that I was truly an artist." [9]
In 2004, she became the first recipient of the Kentucky Arts Council Governor's Award in the Arts for Community Arts. [10]
In 2019, the Imagine 2020 Mural Festival commissioned artist Brandon Marshall to create a mural celebrating the life Elmer Lucille Allen. [11]