CONSTANCE LEWALLEN

LEWALLEN--Constance M. (nee Ehrlich), passed away peacefully in San Francisco on April 24 after a short illness. An art historian, curator, mentor, and teacher, Connie was widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities on art of the 1960s and 70s, especially West Coast Conceptualism, and as a tireless champion of Bay Area artists. But her family came first: she was a devoted mother to Jonathan Lewallen (Michele) and Nina Lewallen Hufford (Jim) and adored her grandchildren, Delcie Lewallen, Ella Lewallen, and Oliver Hufford. Born in New York City on July 25, 1939, the only child of Irving Ehrlich and Mildred Dutra, Connie was raised on the Upper West Side and, despite spending most of her life in California, remained ever a New Yorker. She was a proud graduate of Ethical Culture and Fieldston; she earned her BA from Mount Holyoke College and her MA from Cal State San Diego. She began her career working with Klaus Kertess at New York's Bykert Gallery. In Los Angeles in the 1970s, she worked with Jean Milant at Cirrus Editions and Larry Gagosian at the Broxton Gallery before cofounding ThomasLewallen Gallery and the Foundation for Art Resources. After moving to San Francisco in 1979, Connie embarked on a distinguished career as a curator at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). She curated nearly 80 exhibitions for the MATRIX program showcasing local artists and bringing the work of important national and international artists to the Bay Area, many for the first time. As senior curator, she organized important touring exhibitions, including A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s, Ant Farm 1968-1978 (with Steve Seid), Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982), Joe Brainard, A Retrospective, and State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970 (with Karen Moss). Notable among her many other projects was the award-winning Jay DeFeo: Selected Works 1952 to 1989 at the Goldie Paley Gallery in Philadelphia. In addition to numerous exhibition catalogs, Connie authored Bruce Nauman: Spatial Encounters (with Dore Bowen) and 500 Capp Street: David Ireland's House. At the time of her death, she was organizing a Fluxus exhibition for BAMPFA and was an editor-at-large for The Brooklyn Rail. Although art was the center of her life, Connie also loved traveling, dancing, going to movies with friends, watching the Golden State Warriors, and completing the Times Sunday crossword puzzle. Connie's first marriage, to artist Donald Lewallen, ended in divorce, as did her second to gallerist Thomas V. Meyer, although the two remained close friends until her death. She was the widow of poet, art critic, and fellow New Yorker Bill Berkson, with whom she lived life to the fullest in the 20 years they had together before his death in 2016. She was stepmother to Moses Berkson (DeeDee Gordon) and Siobhan Mora-Lopez (Hector), and step-grand-mother to Henry Berkson and Lourdes and Estella Mora-Lopez. Connie's family and countless friends on both coasts and across the world will miss her boundless energy, generosity, and love.