The Zella Conan Exhibit showcases Monterey’s past in living color, featuring watercolor paintings of Monterey’s Path of History. Each artwork transports you to a bygone era, showcasing the town’s historic adobes, cobblestone streets, and coastal beauty. Through these delicate strokes, Conan captures the timeless essence of Monterey’s heritage, inviting you to stroll through history’s vivid canvas. Conan lived in Carmel, CA when she painted the Path of History paintings on display.

Zella Key was born in Greencastle Indiana on February 24th 1896. In 1917, she married Nevada radiologist Claude Piersall. In Reno, she studied watercolor under American watercolorist Lorenzo P. Latimer in a group called “The Latimer Club.” 

Zella also studied with Warren Brandon, Maynard Dixon, Rex Brandt, Elliot O’Hara, Edgar Whitney, And George Latimer.

She participated in many group shows and had several solo shows: two at the University of Nevada sponsored by he National League of American Pen Women, one at the Ebell Club of Southern California, and one at the Century Club of Reno.

By the 1930’s she divorced Claude and began working out of San Francisco, where she met and married Raymond Conan.  She was living in Carmel when she painted the watercolors on display.