Irene Thompson Fletcher was born in Hooper, Utah in 1900. She was the wife of Calvin Fletcher, chair of the art department at Utah State College, and an accomplished modern artist. She died in Logan, Utah in 1969.

She was Calvin Fletcher's student at Utah State College from 1925 to 1926 where he, Sandzen, and Nordfeldt influenced her painting style. The Fletchers and seven other artists were members of the Modern Art Movement of Utah, an informal organization that Don Goodall, organized in 1941.

Fletcher had a one-woman show at the Logan Public Library in 1940. She received the purchase prize at the Utah Institute of Fine Arts Exhibition of 1947. Irene Fletcher's work was exhibited at the Utah State Fair and at the Utah Institute of Fine Arts. Woman in a Red Sweater (1936), Laid Off (1938), and The Mask (1940) are examples of her work.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from the Springville Museum of Art.

The Calvin Fletcher student group is an impressive one, a good example of this is the artistic accomplishment of a young Hooper, Utah widow who took classes from the Logan master in the mid-1920s. Her name was Clara Irene Thompson (b. Oct. 17), and she was Fletcher's charming "star" pupil in 1925-26. In fact, her "personality endeared her to everyone, especially to the teacher." Zettie Fletcher, the professor's second wife, had died giving birth to her sixth child, and with Sarah Ann Fletcher's two children that made eight, that is until December 24, 1926 when Calvin Fletcher and Irene Thompson were married, her six children bringing the total to 14! Irene Thompson Fletcher had also taken classes from Harry Reynolds and she would also study with Floyd Cornaby and (in summers) with Gaylen Hansen, B.J.O. Nordfelt, Otis Oldfield, Ralph Pearson, Lee Randolph, and Birger Sandzen. And like Calvin, from these teachers (and from her husband as well), she was to develop a thorough-going understanding of "modern" style and then an admirably controlled and often gracious sense of artistic interpretation beyond the initial appearance of things in nature.

Biography courtesy Springville Museum of Art.

Newspaper Articles

"Art Of The Depression: Colorful Works That Reflect Hope." The Deseret News, September 25, 1988.

"The Palette Of Artists." The Deseret News, September 25, 1988.

Books

Olpin, Robert, S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, Donna Poulton, and Janie Rogers. Utah Art, Utah Artists. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2001.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Painting and Sculpture. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1991.