Velma Adams, printmaker, painter and sculptor, was born on her parents' ranch in Fruita, Colorado on 4 April 1902. She attended high school in Kansas City, Missouri and continued her education at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, the Art Students League in New York, and the Grand Central School in New York. Her teachers and mentors included Frank Tolles Chamberlin, Loren Barten, George Biddle, Leo Katz, and Julia Wendt.

Adams was a member of and exhibited with the California Art Club, the California Society of Etchers, the Printmakers Society of California, the Southern Printmakers Society, the Women Painters of the West, and the Los Angeles Art Association. She won numerous honors including awards at the Ebell Club Annuals in 1939 and 1948; the California Art Club in 1940 and 1947; the Southern Printmakers in 1941; the Women Painters of the West in 1944; and National League of Pen Women in 1949.

Her work is represented in the collections of the Southwest Museum, Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Appalachian Museum of Art, Mt. Airy, Georgia.

Velma Adams died in Los Angeles, California on 13 November 1990.

Source:
Artists in California, 1786-1940 and Women Artist in America