Mount Vernon, New York In 1945, she married her high school classmate, Claude Walker, who had been enrolled the
United States Army during
World War II. She was active in showing her work at the Mount Vernon Art Association, from the late 1940s until the early 1950s. In 1949, her painting "Springtime Still Life" won first place at the Mount Vernon Art Association. The studio, named
Artes Gemma, had up to 60 employees.
Peggy Guggenheim bought Gemma's art and exhibited it in her
museum in Venice. Gemma's success gave the papier-mâché industry in Mexico a boost.
California and late life In the mid 1960s, Taccogna married the American artist
Fred Sexton (1907–1991), after his divorce from artist
Gwain Noot Sexton. The family moved to
Palos Verdes, California in 1966. Taccogna separated from Sexton in 1968 because of allegations of pedophilia and sexual abuse. The couple divorced in 1969 in Los Angeles, California. For the next decade she lived in various places in the United States, including Las Vegas, Long Beach, and
Del Mar. Taccogna moved to a condo in
Torrance, California in 1994, and she continued teaching art classes until her death. == Death and legacy ==