Harry Dixon (metalsmith)

Harry Dixon
Born
Harry St. John Dixon Jr.

(1890-06-22)June 22, 1890
near Fresno, California, U.S.
DiedSeptember 4, 1967(1967-09-04) (aged 77)
Santa Rosa, California, U.S.
EducationCalifornia College of the Arts
OccupationsMetalsmith, jewelry designer, sculptor, educator
MovementArts and Crafts movement, Modernism
Spouse(s)Margery Wheelock (m. 1916–?; div.)
Florence Marguerite Fullmer (m. 1953–1967; his death)
Children2
RelativesMaynard Dixon (brother)

Harry St. John Dixon Jr. (June 22, 1890 – September 4, 1967) was an American metalsmith, jewelry designer, sculptor, and educator in San Francisco and Santa Rosa, California.[1][2] He is known for his work in copper, and his modernist jewelry.

Early life, family, and education

Harry St. John Dixon Jr. was born on June 22, 1890, on a ranch near Fresno, California.[1] He was the son of Constance (née Maynard) and Henry "Harry" St. John Dixon.[1] His father was a former Confederate officer turned rancher and lawyer.[3] His family was of aristocratic Virginia Confederates that had found a new home in California after the American Civil War.[2] He was the youngest of eight siblings, which included brother Maynard Dixon.[1] Their family initially moved in 1891 to Alameda, California, followed by a move to San Francisco, and in 1902 a move to Sausalito, California.[2]

Dixon attended the newly opened School of the California Guild of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Berkeley, California starting in spring 1909.[2] He apprenticed coppersmithing under Dirk van Erp Sr. in Oakland, California; and in the summers he studied under Isabel Percy West and took jewelry classes.[2][4][5]

In 1916, Dixon married Margery Wheelock, and they had two children.[6][7] The Wheelock marriage ended in divorce. He remarried in 1953 to Florence Marguerite Fullmer, who worked in jewelry and metal crafts after their marriage.[1][8][9][10]

Career

For six years he worked at Lillian McNeill Palmer's Palmer Copper Shop in San Francisco, making custom wrought iron light fixtures.[2] In 1912, Dixon started teaching at his alma mater, the California College of the Arts.[1] He used natural design motifs in his early metal artwork, which was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement.[5][11]

During World War I, Dixon joined the National Guard with the coastal artillery.[2] However he was given an honorable discharge because he was poor at calculating the artillery trajectory.[2] After his leave he worked at Union Iron Works, a shipyard company in San Francisco, for 18 months doing heavy labor.[2] He returned to the Union Iron Works shipyard during World War II, when he was already in his 50s.[1]

After World War I, Dixon opened his own metal shop on Tillman Place in San Francisco, and resumed teaching at the California College of the Arts.[2] He continued working within the Arts and Crafts movement after war, and continued after the period of the movement.[11] In 1940, Dixon joined the San Francisco Art Students League.[2] Dixon was an early member of the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco.[1] He was president of the Coppersmith Union Local 438, AFL San Francisco, from 1943 until 1945.[1]

In the 1953, Dixon and his second wife moved to Santa Rosa, California and opened a metal shop at 849 West College Avenue.[1][2] The City of Santa Rosa commissioned Dixon for a public sundial memorial for Luther Burbank.[1] Dixon was also commissioned for the large metal cross at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Santa Rosa.[1]

He served as an instructor at the Mendocino Art Center in 1962,[1] and taught metal arts at Pond Farm near Guerneville, California. Notable students of Dixon's include C. Carl Jennings.[12]

Dixon died on September 4, 1967, at his home in Santa Rosa.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Harry Dixon Dies at 77". The Press Democrat. September 6, 1967. p. 2. Retrieved February 11, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hubbard, Anita Day (December 10, 1961). "Master Metalsmith Has Museum Display By Harry Dixon". San Francisco Examiner. p. 69. Retrieved February 11, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Erzin, Jeff (2020). Confederate Veterans in Northern California: 101 Biographies. McFarland. p. 43. ISBN 978-1476681030.
  4. ^ Haslam, Malcolm (1989). Arts and Crafts. Ballantine Books. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-345-35936-0.
  5. ^ a b Congdon-Martin, Douglas (1998). Arts & Crafts: The California Home. Schiffer Publishing. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-7643-0629-7.
  6. ^ "Wheelock and Dixon marriage". Morning Tribune. April 2, 1916. p. 27. Retrieved February 11, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Obituary for Margery W. Dixon". Nevada State Journal. November 8, 1968. p. 10. Retrieved February 11, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Anderson, Craig (July 28, 1992). "Obituary for Florence Dixon". The Press Democrat. p. 5. Retrieved February 11, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ California. California Magazine, Inc. 1988. pp. 114–115.
  10. ^ Martell, Marci (January 25, 2024). "Photos: Florence and Harry Dixon were Santa Rosa's esteemed metalwork artists". The Press Democrat. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  11. ^ a b California Design 1910 [Exhibition]. California Design Publications. 1974. p. 86.
  12. ^ "Oral history interview with C. Carl Jennings, 1994 Dec. 20, Overview". Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. December 20, 1994.
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