A Lifetime of Prayer on Canvas

Child Prodigy
Alice Asmar was born in Flint, Michigan of Lebanese and Greek descent. Her parents moved to Portland, Oregon when she was a baby, and she started drawing and painting at a very early age. Alice was considered a child prodigy, winning awards and recognition before the age of 10. The artwork of her early years was inspired by the splendors of nature, from the inscrutable pines and ancient sculptured rocks along the Oregon Coast to the mysterious ocean mists.

Alice grew up an only child in a sensitive and creative environment. One of her earliest memories was of tracing with her fingers the fascinating patterns in the oriental rugs that her parents had brought with them when they left Lebanon for America.

Art Springs Eternal
She Graduated magna cum laude from Lewis and Clark College in Portland and Obtained her Master's of Fine Arts Degree at The University of Washington in Seattle. Soon after graduating she accepted a job as an engineering drafter at Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. Her Assignment was clearing top-secret drawings for air-to-ground missiles. Alice worked for Boeing for less than a year. They offered her an engineering scholarship, but she decided to return to her first love - visual art.

In 1954, Alice received her teaching certificate from the University of Washington after which she taught art at Lewis & Clark from 1955 to 1958.

A World of Opportunity
After studying and traveling throughout the Near East, France, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Turkey, The Greek Islands, Greece and Lebanon, Alice set up studios in California, New Mexico, and Oregon. Today, she works in an 800-square-foot studio that she designed with four skylights located behind her home in Burbank, California.

Combining her inspiration from nature with a deep respect for native American culture, her work evolved into Southwestern themes of Indian Ceremonial Dance Dramas, Indian portraits, and landscapes.

Master of Many Media
Alice is distinguished for her many techniques, which include paintings in oil, casein, and acrylic; drawing in ink, pencil and pastel, collage, tapestry, books, lithography, etching, engraving on metal on plexiglas, portraits, murals, and banners. Her hand engraving of innovative designs for dinner and household wares for Nambe Mills in Santa Fe is recognized internationally.

Gracing the Great Halls of America and Abroad
Alice Asmar's works are in several hundred public and private collections in the United States and Europe, including the Smithsonian Institution, Franklin Mint, Portland Art Museum, Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs, Security Pacific International Bank of New York, The Public Art Museum of Gabrova, Bulgaria, Kaiser-Permanente, and the Dr. Nicholas Townell collection in Angus, Scotland.  National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.; Painting of Doves commissioned by Bangs Manufacturing Co., Burbank - 1992; Los Angeles City-Scape at sunset (Mural) Commissioned by Dr. Walter Jayasinghe - 1996.

Additional Info:
Studied with Edward Melcarth & Archipenko, University of Washington , MFA.