Louise Blanchard Bethune (July 21, 1856 - December 18, 1913) was the first woman known to have worked as a professional architect in the United States. Born Jennie Louise Blanchard in Waterloo, New York, she had two educated parents (her father was a school principal; her mother a teacher) and as was common at the time, was herself educated at home. Her parents eventually moved…
Read moreNumerous paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe hang at the Milwaukee Art Museum which is not surprising as they are to be found in museums all around the world. Wisconsin, though, is her birthplace. Georgia O'Keeffe was born on a wheat farm just outside of Sun Prairie. She attended Town Hall School in Sun Prairie and by the age of ten was declaiming herself to be an…
Read moreAmerican fashion designer Ruth Harkness (1900-1947) stunned the world when she brought a live baby panda to the United States in 1936. Harkness, considered a party girl, accomplished something other experienced explorers and hunters tried and failed to do for almost one hundred years. Born in 1900 and raised in Philadelphia by a family that struggled to make ends meet, Ruth tried a variety of…
Read moreEva Hesse (January 11th, 1936 to May 29th, 1970) was a German-born American sculptor who is recognized for her pioneering work with non-traditional materials including latex, fiberglass, and plastics. Born a Jew in Nazi Germany, Hesse's family fled to the United States where Eva studied art at the School of Industrial Art, the Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, and lastly, the Yale School of Art…
Read moreDorothy "Dot" Parker was the quintessential 1920's flapper. She was also a brilliant writer, civil rights advocate and social critic. She was a founding member of the famous Algonquin Round Table at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City that included other contemporary celebrities such as Edna Ferber, Robert Benchley and Harpo Marx. Parker was the drama critic for Vanity Fair and…
Read moreAny visitor to the Art, Music and Recreation Department at the Central Library has walked by the colorful artwork of Ruth Grotenrath. The paintings were donated by her husband Schomer Lichtner, whose work also graces the entrance hallway. Ruth Grotenrath was born in Milwaukee in 1912 and was interested in being an artist as early as her days at Riverside High School. She received…
Read moreIn 1966, Roberta (Bobbi) Gibb did what no woman had ever done before: She ran the Boston Marathon, which men had been running every year since 1897. It was the first race she'd ever run, and she ran it again 1967 and 1968, winning both times, although women were not allowed to enter the race officially until 1972. Gibb received no official recognition for her…
Read moreBo Burnham is a comedy prodigy. Not like the old dial-up computer service Prodigy, with its garishly colored message boards and bizarre games, but like a child prodigy in the manner of Mozart (but with a bit more profanity and less powdered wigs). Bo released his first comedy album online in 2008 at the age of eighteen, and his career and skills have been soaring…
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