Weavers of New Hope by Violet Oakley American, 1874 - 1961 oil on canvas, 1920 Gift of Northeastern Bank of Pennsylvania, 84.2 Born in Bergen Heights, New Jersey, Violet Oakley was a multi-talented artist and muralist; she worked in several media, including stained glass, illustration, poster designing, charcoal and pastels, sketching, inking, watercolors, and oil. She came from a family of artists - both of her grandfathers were members of the National Academy of Design. Oakley was a pacifist, a feminist, and had deep religious convictions, which often were applied to her artworks. Her greatest national recognition came in 1905, when she completed 43 murals in the Pennsylvania State Capitol. A student and later faculty member at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, she studied with the famous illustrator and writer Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute. Oakley also trained in New York and Europe, developing lifelong relationships with artist friends. Several of these friends were part of the artists’ colony at New Hope, Pennsylvania, including Ethel and Don Davenport, the weavers featured in this painting.

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