Jamee Craig Aubrey of Santa Barbara lost her battle with cancer on July 13, 2019.
Jamee was born to George Aubrey and Dorothy Jean Craig in Evanston, Illinois on July 7, 1950. Jamee was raised in Santa Barbara where she graduated from San Marcos High School. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Washington, then spent an additional three years studying at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The next twenty years were consumed with raising her son and running a silkscreen and manufacturing business, Rhapsody, Inc., in Portland, Oregon. Several years ago, she sold her business, and returned to her home town where she was painting full time. In 2013, Jamee married the love of her life, John Rowbottam. Together they shared a passion for the arts and were very active in the art community in Santa Barbara.
Jamee lived her life with integrity, compassion and love. She saw the beauty in everyone she met and made them better people for knowing her. Her vision of the world around her was expressed through her drawing and painting, and in the many ways that she showed her love and caring for friends and family. She was a talented artist with many abilities. Gifted with not only an agile and intelligent mind, she had excellent skills with tools and visual thinking that she would apply in many situations. In Portland, to facilitate production, she built a warehouse for the screen business and devised a unique 2 story transport system to bring the heavy canvas roll materials up and into the workspace for cutting to size. Orders were primarily tote bags and tees, which were ordered by many large accounts across the country. Two regular clients were Saks and Ghirardelli’s Chocolate. All designs and graphics were created by her. She was a pioneer in gold foil print techniques.
In Santa Barbara, Jamee had been involved in Adult Ed, Santa Barbara Art Association, Goleta Valley Art Association, Los Padres Watercolor Society, the Printmakers’ Guild, had been Vice President and Publicity Chair of SCAPE (Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment) and California Art Club. Jamee also participated in Santa Barbara Studio Artists and had an Open Studio with them for four years. She has taught private art lessons and given workshops through the Santa Barbara Art Association.
Jamee is survived by her husband, John Rowbottam; her son Jonathan Lyles (Courtney); her mother, Dorothy Craig; her brothers Craig Aubrey, George Aubrey (Judith), Richard Perry, Jr., Bruce Perry, Scott Perry (Kristina), Mark Perry and her sister Katy (Perry) Mowrer (Greg); and many cousins, nieces and nephews all whom she loved dearly.
A celebration of life will be held in late August or early September. Place and time to be announced. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Visiting Nurses and Hospice or SCAPE.org.
