Susan Frackelton, born in Milwaukee in 1848, was a local artist for most of her life, but was internationally known and honored. She was a major supporter of the Arts and Crafts movement in Wisconsin and taught local women how to paint their own pots as a hobby. Frackelton's main type of artistic expression was pottery and she later started to experiment with salt-glazed stoneware. Frackelton was honored for the first time for her ceramic expertise at the 1889 Paris Exposition and in 1893, she won many awards for her stone glazed stoneware at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She also organized a large exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1900 that incorporated decorative arts and discussions on women's issues. She was an inventor and developed a gas kiln. She also developed and marketed her own brand of ceramic paints and brushes. Later in life, she devoted her full attention to lecturing on women's issues. She died in Chicago in 1932.
