The Carmel Arts and Crafts Club was an art gallery, clubhouse founded in 1905, by Elsie Allen, a former art instructor for Wellesley College. The club was located at Monte Verde Street in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where the Golden Bough Playhouse is today. The clubhouse served as the Carmel community cultural center. It held dramatic performances, poetry readings, lectures, and was a summer school for the arts. Between 1919 and 1948 Carmel was the largest art colony on the Pacific coast.
History
Many of the local artists living in the area got together and formed a club that became the Carmel Arts and Crafts Clubhouse on Casanova Street. Their first meeting was held at the home of Elsie Allen in 1905. The club was established to attract artists to the art colony that became Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Allen was elected president, Jane Powers, wife of Frank Hubbard Powers as vice president, Louis S. Slevin as treasurer, and Mary Braley as secretary. Josephine K. Foster was elected president on September 4, 1906. The club was incorporated under the name of Arts and Crafts Club of Carmel. Activities held at the club included dances, card parties, plays, lectures, music recitals, and art exhibitions. The club sponsored summer classes for artists.
In 1906, the Carmel Development Company provided the club with their first building on Ocean Avenue. Their first art exhibit was held in this temporary building. Foster formed a committee to raise money to build a permanent site for the clubhouse. It raised money by holding a "Dutch Market" with booths to sell goods and food at the park across the Hotel Carmelo. Those in charge of the booths were: George Sterling's wife, Sydney J. Yard's wife, Michael J. Murphy's wife, and others. Sinclair Lewis acted as master of ceremonies. By July 1907, a lot and the clubhouse building costing $2,500 was completed on Monte Verde Street south of Eighth Avenue.
Every summer Jennie V. Cannon travelled to the Monterey Peninsula, and in 1907 purchased real estate in Carmel, where she joined the local art colony, participated in its birth and development, and exhibited at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club.
Harold Sutton Palmer spoke at the club in March 1907 as well as musical selections by Mabel Gray Lachmund, Peral Tuttle, Sallie Ehrmann, and a reading by Fanny M. Yard, wife of watercolor artist Sydney J. Yard. Her husband, Sydney Yard exhibited at the club as well. Other early events included the Café-chantant and bazar to raise funds to pay for an art exhibition held at the clubhouse; entertainment for the Manzanita Club, which included music and dancing followed by dinner and speeches.
On July 16, 1908, the first annual breakfast of the club was held at the clubhouse. George Sterling was toastmaster for thirty-two members of the club. Mary E. Hand was introduced as president of the club, which she held for sixteen years.
On September 24, 1911, the Club put on the play The Land of Heart's Desire, produced by Herbert Heron, at the Forest Theater amphitheater in Carmel. From July 4-5th 1916, the Club presented The Piper, by Josephine Preston Peabody at the Forest Theater. Four Carmel artists acted and painted scenery: Arthur Honywood Vachell, Mary DeNeale Morgan, William F. Ritschel, and Laura W. Maxwell.
Percy Gray Gray was very active in the Carmel art colony, often staying for several months at a time, and exhibiting with the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club (1913, 1923) and the Carmel Art Association (1927-1928, 1932–1943). William Frederic Ritschel exhibited at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club between 1913 and 1924 and continued as a frequent exhibiting member for more than two decades at the Carmel Art Association, where he received numerous awards and served as president and on the board of directors. John O'Shea relocated to Carmel In 1917, and frequently exhibited at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club.
The last exhibition held by the club was the Eighteenth Exhibition from September–October 1924. The art community saw a decline in the sale of paintings.
In 1924, the Club expanded its offerings by unveiling a second theater located on the Monte Verde Street side of its property, while retaining the small performance hall on Casanova Street for more intimate productions. This strategic move allowed the Club to cater to a broader range of performances and create diverse experiences for its audience.