Grace Chamberlain Vibberts

 

Grace Vibberts was born in New Britain Ct. at the family home on Franklin Square on March 9, 1878. Grace was born to Judge Valentine Burt Chamberlain and Anna Smith Chamberlain.  She was the fourth of ten children.

Grace attended The Normal School in New Britain, Conn. and subsequently taught kindergarten for one year before she married.

In 1900 Grace Chamberlain married Frank Gerald Vibberts in New Britain, at her mother’s home on Franklin Square.

For a time the couple lived in Manchester, Conn. where Frank began a distinguished career in banking.

After their second child was born, Frank purchased a new home as a surprise on Sunnyledge, a neighborhood in New Britain where Grace’s family lived. Her brother, Valentine Burt Chamberlain, Jr. lived next door, her sister Ruth Chamberlain North lived across the street and another sister, Louise Chamberlain Hart was just around the corner. Her brothers Rod and Fred and sisters Bertha and Cornelia Chamberlain and Margaret Chamberlain Germond lived nearby. In the late 1930’s her sister Anna Chamberlain Ferry and husband Fred joined the clan.

Grace and Frank had five children: Eleanor, Frank Gerald Vibberts Jr.,  Anna , John Chamberlain, (Jack) and Grace Sophronia, (Phronsie).

About 1930 Frank and Grace bought a summer home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., in a family neighborhood known as Hart Haven, where they summered the rest of their lives.

Grace first began painting about the age of forty in 1918. She studied art under Guy Wiggins ,American Impressionist, at the Lyme Art Colony located at the Florence Griswold home in Old Lyme,Ct., now known as The Florence Griswold Museum. She also studied under Sanford Ballard Dole Low, who later became the first director of the museum now known as the New Britain Museum of American Art. Grace  also studied under Hartford artist Walter O. R. Korder, a prominent portrait painter, muralist and art teacher. Grace primarily painted in Connecticut and on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

Grace was a devoted mother to her five children. Before she died on February 4, 1945 she had become a distinguished and prolific artist painting in both watercolor and oil.

“Francis Brook”

Phronsie V. Conlin Collection