Born: April 26. 1902
Died: October 10, 1987
Charlotte Geffken was an occupational therapist at Ray Brook State Hospital. She had an extensive art background before studying with Anthony di Bona, from whom she learned woodcarving, casting and sculpture. She organized the Art Department at New York State Hospital at Ray Brook, and taught arts and crafts there for 30 years. Her photo, as instructor, appears in an album of Ray Brook photographs in the Adirondack Collection of the Saranac Lake Free Library. She exhibited her work at ten annual Saranac Lake Art League shows, the Saranac Lake Study and Craft Guild, the Lake Placid Club, and at three Paint & Palette Festivals.
Anthony di Bona left his art work to Geffken; she sold some, and donated the rest to colleges and museums.
She established a scholarship program at Saranac Lake High School and funded an internship program for the National Sculpture Society. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has a bust of Dr. Edward R. Baldwin by Anthony Di Bona that was donated by Geffken.
An $5000 prize for sculpture is awarded in her name each year.
Source:
- "Original Art at Saranac Lake Free Library, 1991," brochure
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
From 1968 to 1970, Charlotte Geffken donated a number of works by Anthony DiBona and herself to a number of colleges and museums; this is one list of donations from that period. Courtesy of Janet Dudones
Charlotte Geffken Ray Brook, N.Y.
1968 Contributions:
| Castleton State University, Castleton, Vermont. | |
| Lithograph - "Elemental" - Anthony di Bona, N.S. | $ 75.00 |
| Lithograph - "Salty Kov" - Anthony di Bona, N.S. | 75.00 |
| Wood Engraving - "Ramshakle Barn" - Asa Cheffetz, N.A. | 150.00 |
| Wood Block - Roman Oxen" - Hazel Brill Jackson, N.A. | 75.00 |
| Lithograph - "Landscape" - Harris Kewon | 50.00 |
| Sculpture - 10 heads - Anthony di Bona, N.S. | 950.00 |
| Sculpture - "Flight" - Anthony di Bona, N.S. | 1,000.00 |
| Mongoose - Nature's Own Sculpture | 50.00 |
| Scrapbook of the Artist. | — |
| Southern Vermont Art Museum, Manchester, Vermont. | |
| Oil - "Landscape" - Edward Adam Kramer, N.A. | |
| Watercolor - "The Race" - Anthony di Bona, N.S. | 50.00 |
| Watercolor - "6th Ave. El., New York"- Gilmer Petroff, N.A. | 50.00 |
| Howard Pittrick Museum of Historical Medicine,1100 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, Ohio | |
| Portrait bust - Rene H. T. Laennec- Charlotte Geffken | 750.00 |
| Bronze bas-relief - Edward L. Trudeau - Anthony diBona, N.S. | 100.00 |
| College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 22nd Street, Philadelphia, Pa. | |
| Portrait bust - Rene H. T. Laennec- Charlotte Geffken | 750.00 |
| Low bas-relief - Edward L. Trudeau - Anthony diBona, N.S. | 100.00 |
| University of Vermont. Burlington. Vermont | |
| Portrait bust - Rene H. T. Laennec- Charlotte Geffken | 750.00 |
| Low bas-relief - Edward L. Trudeau - Anthony diBona, N.S. | 100.00 |
| Low bas-relief - Dr. Fred Heise - Charlotte Geffken | 75.00 |
| Bronze bas-relief - Dr. Edward L. Trudeau- Anthony diBona, N.S. | 100.00 |
| Total: | $5,300 |
