Born in Gladstone, IL on Jan. 4, 1869. Gearhart was a self-taught artist except for a few lessons from Henry Rankin Poor and Charles H. Woodbury. Upon settling in Pasadena in 1888, she studied at the State Normal School (now UCLA). She then taught Englsh history at Los Angeles High School for many years. She painted watercolors until about 1916 and then found her forte in woodcuts Her studio at 18 West California Street in Pasadena was headquarters for the Printmakers Society of California. Her failing eyesight in the 1940s curtailed her artistic output. A spinster, she died in Pasadena on April 6, 1958. Her colored wood block prints are highly prized by print collectors. Member: Laguna Beach AA; Prairie PM. Exh: Walker Bldg (LA), 1911; Kanst Gallery (LA), 1912 (solo); LA High School, 1916; USC, 1920; PM Society of Calif., 1920-41; LACMA, 1923; Ebell Club (LA), 1923; Friday Morning Club (LA), 1925; Pasadena Art Inst., 1925; In’tl PM (LA), 1926, 1929; Ilsley Gallery (LA), 1933; Washington (DC) Arts Club, 1935 (solo); Stendahl Gallery (LA), 1938; Cowles Museum (Spokane), 1990 (retrospective). In: CSL; LACMA; Toronto Museum; Rhode Island School of Design; Delgado Museum (New Orleans); Smithsonian Inst.; Library of Congress.
Source: Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940, American Art Annual 1919-31; American Magazine of Art, Sept. 1930; Who's Who in American Art 1936-41; Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Fielding, Mantle); Artists of the American West (Doris Dawdy); Women Artists of the American West; Southern California Artists (Nancy Moure); Pasadena Star News, 4-7-1958 (obituary).