(Amazing) Grace

I met Grace when I moved to Seal Place. Her ex-husband, our landlord, lived in the other half of our duplex. Behind the duplex was a garage (or maybe just a very large shed) that had been converted into a printmaking studio. Grace lived with her daughters a few houses up the street. She used the studio for her artwork, mostly creating silkscreen/serigraphs at the time. I knew her first as a respected Atlanta artist. She generously encouraged me with my own work, even convincing me to exhibit in the Atlanta Arts Festival. (That's another story.) I later learned that Grace was also an accomplished actress and performed in many Atlanta theater productions. At that time she still used her married name, MacEachron.

Cast photo for Stereopticon, by playwright Jim Peck, which premiered August 1976
at the Studio Theater of Atlanta's Memorial Arts Center, renamed the Woodruff Arts Center in 1982.
(I'll write of George Ellis in another post, a beloved character unto himself.)

Grace moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles in 1979. She secured an agent there following her first significant role in a major film—Martin Ritts' Norma Rae—released earlier that year. (It won two Oscars: Best Actress for Sally Field and Best Original Song.) Grace also dropped her ex-husband's name and began going by Zabriskie, her mother's maiden surname.

Grace Zabriskie with David Lynch on the set of Twin Peaks;
personal Polaroid via twinpeaksarchive.blogspot.com.
She kept the robe, pictured, as a keepsake from the final episode. 

Many know Grace from her hilarious portrayal of George Costanza's potential mother-in-law on Seinfeld. David Lynch fans know her best as a member of his longtime troupe of actors, most indelibly in his groundbreaking 1990-91 television series Twin Peaks. She portrayed mentally-precarious Sarah Palmer, wife of Leland, mother of Laura. In a November 2014 interview, Grace confirmed being aboard for Lynch's 2017 reboot of the series for Showtime. In the meantime, she continues accumulating credits in different projects. I admire that throughout Grace's acting career she has continued to create her own artwork in various media. A portfolio that was mostly printmaking in the days of Seal Place has expanded to include photography, collage, sculpture, and extensive woodworking, even furniture. (Some of her creations are viewable at www.gracezabriskie.com.) 

Amazing. 

Sources:
"'Stereopticon' Offers Penetrating Insights," by Helen C. Smith, The Atlanta Constitution, August 20, 1976
"Stereopticon," by Stuart Culpepper, Atlanta Gazette, August 18, 1976
"SLIFF 2014 Interview: Actress Grace Zabriskie," by Tom Stockman, WeAreMovieGeeks.com, November 6, 2014
twinpeaksarchive.blogspot.com