Signed lower center, in fabrics bowl, 'Ruth Mae McCrane' (American, 1929-2002) and dated upper center, in calendar, February 1989. Ruth Mae McCrane taught art for 33 years while painting in her spare time. Upon her retirement, she devoted the remainder of her life to her own work, chronicling in vivid colors various aspects of African American secular and religious activities in Depression-era East Texas and Louisiana. McCrane exhibited widely and with success including at the African American Museum in Houston, the Museum of African-American Life and Culture in Dallas and at the National Blues Museum in St. Louis among others. In 1961, Ruth Mae McCrane was named a fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters in Geneva, Switzerland.