Mrs. Susan Stuart Goodrich Frackelton (1848 - 1932)

In the 1870s, Susan Frackelton studied landscape painting under one of Wisconsin’s earliest professional artists, Henry Vianden. These lessons later influenced her compositions used on her ceramics and china painting.  As one of the American Arts and Crafts Movement’s most renowned ceramists, Susan Frackelton’s salt-glazed stoneware and her china painting brought her the most acclaim.
 
As a ceramic teacher and china painter in Milwaukee, Frackelton taught many women the skills needed to develop their talents into a profitable living. Her own work as an artist and expertise on ceramics brought her national recognition with her work exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition; the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition earned her nine medals. She also won awards at other expositions throughout the United States and Europe during the 1880s and 1890s.
 
In 1887, Frackelton organized the Milwaukee Artist’s Association. This evolved into the Milwaukee Art Institute in 1916. She was president of the Wisconsin School of Design (formerly the Milwaukee Museum of Fine Arts / Milwaukee Art School) in 1888; this later became the Wisconsin Art Institute in 1889.
 
Susan Frackelton was the author of "Tried by Fire" published by D. Appleton & Co., New York, New York; copyrighted in 1885. In 1886 and 1888, Frackelton was issued patents for the invention of the gas kiln.
 
Today Frackelton’s decorated plates, cups and vases are considered real treasures and are included in the collections of the Wisconsin State Historical Society Museum, the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Museum of Wisconsin Art.