Laura Anne Fry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Laura Anne Fry
Laura Ann Fry "Woman of the Century"
Born	January 22, 1857
Died	1943

Laura Anne Fry (born January 22, 1857 – died 1943) was a talented American artist. She was great at wood carving, making pottery, and painting on china. Laura worked at famous places like the Rookwood Pottery Company and the Lonhuda Pottery Company. She was a painter and a teacher there. She even invented a new way to paint pottery and got a special patent for it! Later, she led the Art Department at Purdue University for 25 years. Under her leadership, the pottery program became very well-known.

Early Life and Art Training

Laura Anne Fry was born in White County, Indiana. This was close to Lafayette. Her father, William Henry Fry, and her grandfather, Henry Lindley Fry, were also artists. They taught her how to carve wood.

Her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father got a job teaching at the McMicken School of Design. When Laura was 12, she started training there too. She went back to the school many times until the mid-1880s.

She first learned drawing and modeling from Louis Rebisso. Later, she studied china painting with Maria Eggers. She also learned life drawing from Thomas Satterwhite Noble. People believe Fry learned most of her pottery skills in New Jersey and Europe. The exact details are not known. In 1886, she also spent time at the Art Students League of New York in New York City.

Laura Fry's Art Career

This glazed earthenware vase was made by Laura Anne Fry for the Rookwood Pottery Company in 1883.

Fry was a very skilled woodcarver. One of her first public artworks was a carved panel of lilies. This panel won first prize in a competition. The prize was $100 in gold! Her design was used to decorate the organ screen in Cincinnati Music Hall. This hall is famous for its wood carvings.

For several years, she ran a wood-carving school. It was part of the local Chautauqua Assembly. In 1893, Fry won an award for her wood carving. This was at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

She briefly opened her own art studio. There, she did carving, designed furniture, and painted china. But it was hard to make enough money. So, she closed her studio. In 1881, she started working at the Rookwood Pottery Company. This company was started by Maria Longworth Nichols Storer a year before.

Fry worked at Rookwood for seven years. She helped create new pottery shapes. She also decorated pottery and taught students. She taught them how to model clay and design ceramics. Laura was one of the first members of the Cincinnati Pottery Club. This group of women started in 1879. They wanted to try new things with pottery. This group helped create the American art pottery movement.

In 1891, Fry was offered a job at Purdue University. She became a professor of industrial art. She left in 1892 to work for Lonhuda Pottery Company. This company was in Steubenville, Indiana. She returned to teach at Purdue in 1893. She led the Art Department until she retired in 1922. Under Fry's leadership, the department's pottery program became very well-known.

Her Creative Innovations

While studying pottery in Europe, Fry improved a technique called "scratch-blue." This method was first created by Hannah and Florence Barlow at the Doulton factory in London.

During her time at Rookwood, Fry invented a new way to apply colors to clay. She used a mouth-held tool to spray underglaze pigments. These are colors put on before the final glaze. This allowed her to blend colors smoothly on damp clay. This method became the standard way to create backgrounds at Rookwood.

She received a patent for her invention in 1889. A patent is a special right that protects an invention. After she left Rookwood to work at Lonhuda, Rookwood kept using her technique. So, she sued them to stop. However, a judge decided against her. The judge said her technique was just a new use for a tool that already existed.

Laura Anne Fry passed away in 1943. Her important papers are kept at Purdue University.

See also

In Spanish: Laura Anne Fry para niños