Mary Crovatt Hambidge (1885-1973) was an aspiring actress and a professional whistler on Broadway when she met Canadian-born Jay Hambidge (1867-1924), an artist, illustrator and scholar. Their relationship would prove to be both a romantic and an artistic partnership.
The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences, formed during the mid-1930s, provides an artists’ community situated on 600 rural acres in the north Georgia mountains where hundreds of visual artists, writers, potters, composers, dancers and other artists have pursued their crafts.
“Dynamic Design” details Jay Hambidge and Mary Crovatt Hambidge’s cross-cultural and cross-historical explorations and examines their lasting contributions to 20th century art and cultural history. Virginia Gardner Troy illustrates how Jay and Mary were important independently and collectively, providing a wider understanding of their lives within the larger context of late 19th- and early 20th-century art and design.
In the book, Troy explores how this dynamic duo’s ideas and artistic expressions have resonated with admirers throughout the decades and reflect the trends and complexities of American culture through various waves of cosmopolitanism, utopianism, nationalism and isolationism. The Hambidges’ prolific partnership and forward-thinking vision continue to aid and inspire generations of aspiring artists and artisans.
