Olive Rush House and Studio

Olive Rush was a prominent painter, illustrator, muralist, and art teacher who moved to Santa Fe during its development as an important artist colony in the early twentieth century. Rush was born in 1873 in Fairmont, Indiana, to a prominent Quaker abolitionist family. She worked and exhibited widely on the East Coast before settling in Santa Fe in 1920. Rush purchased an old adobe farmhouse on Canyon Road, which remained her home and studio until her death at 93 in 1966. She remained an active member of the Society of Friends throughout her life and founded the Santa Fe Quaker Meeting, which often gathered at her home. Rush left her home to the Santa Fe Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers), who preserved it and worshipped there until 2020 when they purchased a much larger meeting house. In 2023, the Rush home was purchased by the Olive Rush Memorial Studio Inc., which preserves it and operates it as an artist house museum called the Olive Rush Studio & Art Center.

From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.