Grace Hudson Museum
The Sun House
431 S. Main
Ukiah, CA 95482

gracehudson@pacific.net

Public Hours:
Wed - Sat
10:00 - 4:30 PM
Sunday
Noon - 4:30 PM
Closed Holidays

Museum Assistant
Bette Fairbairn
Receptionists
Maxine Hendricks
Jackie Leach

The Painter Lady
by Searles Boynton DDS


Proceeds from the sale of
the "Painter Lady" book
go entirely towards the
maintainence of this
web site. You can help!
Visit the GHM Store
or contact the Museum
at (707.467.2856)
for information.

Thank You!

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     Ukiah, California

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Sun House | The Hudsons | Hart Gallery

The Museum

The Sun House

Since its inauguration in 1986, the Grace Hudson Museum has become an increasingly important cultural and educational resource for Northern California. The Museum's collections consist of more than 30,000 inter-related objects, with significant holdings of Pomo Indian artifacts (particularly basketry) ethnographic field notes, unpublished manuscripts, historic photographs and the world's largest collection of Grace Hudson paintings. The Museum's exhibitions and public programs are thematically shaped by, and linked to, its collections with their focus on Western art, history and anthropology. The Museum also houses a gift store with exhibition-related merchandise and high quality books, children's items, local crafts and t-shirts. The Museum sits on the four acre Hudson-Carpenter Park containing picnic tables shaded by ancient oaks and a basketry garden featuring the plants used by Pomo Indian weavers to create their baskets.

The Sun House, the Hudsons' charming 1911 redwood Craftsman bungalow home, is adjacent to the Museum. It is interpreted for the public with docent led tours leaving from the Museum. Designed by John and Grace Hudson and furnished with the Hudsons' eclectic possessions, the Sun House allows visitors a glimpse into their Bohemian lifestyle. The Sun House is California Historical Landmark #296 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Grace Hudson Museum is a division of the City of Ukiah's Community Services department. The City owns and operates the Museum with a professional staff and the support of the Sun House Guild.

The Carpenter Family (Grace 2nd from right) Grace Having Fun

John and Grace in their Studio

Grace and John Hudson

Grace (1865-1937) was born to well-educated pioneer parents in Potter Valley, California, Mendocino County. She showed an early talent for portraiture that was developed by professional training in San Francisco in the late 1870's. In 1891, soon after her marriage to John, she painted a portrait of an Indian child, "National Thorn", that was first in a numbered series of over 684 oils, the last completed in 1935. Nearly all her native subjects were local Pomo peoples, although in 1901 she painted 26 canvases during a year's sojurn in the Hawaiian Islands. Hudson's reputation as an Indian painter was national during her lifetime; today her work enjoys renewed interest and recognition for its fine and sympathetic portrayals of native peoples.

John Hudson (1857-1936) was Nashville born and raised. He went to medical school and practiced medicine for a few years before emigrating to Northern California in 1889. His interest in Tennessee archaeology soon grew into a fascination with the native peoples of Mendocino County, and Hudson gave up his medical practice within 5 years of his marriage to Grace Carpenter. Hudson spent the rest of his life as a collector-scholar, amassing significant collections of California Indian basketry and other ethnographic artifacts that are prized today in the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum in Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. The extensive manuscripts and correspondence of John Hudson form the heart of the museum's research collection.

The Ivan B. and Elvira Hart Gallery

The photos in this section are among those on permanent display in the new Ivan B. and Elvira Hart Wing of the Grace Hudson Museum. Visit "Expanding Our Cultural Legacy" for photos and information about the Hart Gallery expansion.

(Click on photos in this section for enlargements)

The Hopi sun sign, symbol of eternal life, was adapted by the Hudson's as their family emblem, and is perpetuated as the museum logo.

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