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Birth:          31 Jan 1887 Los Angeles, Cal.
Death:          2 Apr 1960 Prescott, Yavapai Co., Ariz.

Notes
info on ancestry.com from David Percy Blodgett
1900 in Los Angeles, Cal.
1910 in Los Angeles, Cal. teacher
1920 in Los Angeles, Cal. unm no occ
findagrave entry for father describers her as "famous artist Claire (AKA: Clara) Dooner 
Phillips"
US Passport Apps on ancestry
Luckritz Fam Tree on ancestry
http://www.bluecoyotegallery.com/ClaireDoonerPhillipspaintingsandart.htm

Although Claire Dooner Phillips(aka Clara Dooner) was born and raised in California, 
she had deep ties to Arizona.  Her father, Pierton William Dooner, was a Canadian 
who first came to the territory shortly after the Civil War.  He first arrived in Tucson 
where he edited and published the Tucson Weekly Arizonan.  A few years later he 
became the owner and publisher of the Prescott Arizona Miner.   In 1872 he left 
Arizona for Los Angeles where he became a partner in a drugstore.

Over the next several years P.W. Dooner became a wealthy man, primarily through 
investments in real estate.  At one time he allegedly owned one of the corners of 
Hollywood and Vine.  In 1878 he married a Michigan native named Cynthia and they 
had two daughters. Clara, the second, was born in 1887.

Clara inherited her father's keen intellect. This combined with her family's resources 
afforded her the opporunity to attend the best schools.  At Stanford University she 
was a charter member of the Omega Chapter of the Tri-Delta Sorority.  After 
graduating Phi Beta Kappa she attended Columbia University where she studied under 
Arthur Dow.  

Dow, whose star pupils included artists Max Weber and Georgia O'Keefe, was a strong 
advocate of abstraction.  He taught the use of five basic composition principles to 
create freely constructed images. Dow held a strong bias against traditional academic 
teachings at the time, along with a firm belief that "beauty is not representation".  

Although a slight modernist slant can be seen in her paintings and etchings, it is not 
known how much Dow's teachings influenced Dooner Phillips.  After Columbia she 
returned to southern California where she taught at Hollywood High School.  She was 
also active in the local arts scene, exhibiting in group shows of the Women Painters of 
the West and the California Art Club.  In 1918 she became a charter member of the 
Laguna Beach Art Association. 

In 1922 Clara Dooner Phillips moved to Prescott, Arizona.  The relocation was most 
likely made for her health reasons although there may have been other factors 
involved. Her mother, who she had lived with until the age of thirty-four, had died the 
year before. By now making her living full time as an artist, she maintained her ties to 
southern California many years after leaving, exhibiting there in 1923 and 1924.  She 
listed her permanent residence as 1919 Canyon Drive in Los Angeles until 1926.  

The following year she married Kervin Ryan Phillips in Flagstaff.  Phillips, a Mississippi 
native who moved to Prescott for his health, would later craft the hand carved, gilded 
frames for nearly all of his wife's paintings. 

Sometime after her arrival in Prescott she changed her first name from Clara to Claire. 
Her reason for doing so is lost to history, though compared to the reinventions many 
other artists went through after arriving in Arizona, the slight modification of a first 
name seems rather innocuous.  

Phillips would remain in Prescott for the rest of her life.  Residents at the time recalled 
a refined, elegant woman, "a real lady", always composed and well dressed.   

Most of Phillip's works in the 1920's and 30's were in oil, primarily northern Arizona 
landscapes.  Figures were a rarity in her scenes. In the the early 1940's she began 
doing etchings, primarily landscapes of the Colorado Plateau.  The etchings were 
popular as wedding presents for many Prescott area newlyweds in the 1950's. 

Claire Dooner Phillips died on April 2, 1960.  Two years later Kervin Phillips died and 
the entire estate of $88,000 was left to Prescott College.  The funds were used to 
build the Clara Dooner Phillips Memorial Fine Arts Center, which was dedicated in 
May, 1971.  Today the facility is known as the Davis Learning Center of Embry Riddle 
Aeronautical University. 

Parents
DOONER Pierton William (Mar 1844 - 6 Oct 1907)
TURNER Cynthia Maria (14 Jan 1853 - 18 Oct 1921)

Siblings
DOONER Clarence (18 Mar 1877 - 4 Aug 1877)
DOONER Mabel (21 Apr 1879 - 22 Nov 1973)
DOONER Stella (8 Feb 1882 - 15 Jun 1883)
DOONER Clara [chg to Claire] (31 Jan 1887 - 2 Apr 1960)

Marriage To  PHILLIPS Kervin Ryan (25 Feb 1878 - 8 Jun 1962)
    m. 1923 Flagstaff, Ariz.

Notes

Parents
 PHILLIPS William Henry ()
WILKERSON Loucinda Callie ()

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