User:Pocobio/sandbox

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 * caption      =
 * birth_name   =
 * birth_date   = June 30, 1906
 * birth_place  = Athol, Kansas, USA
 * death_date   = June 24, 1976
 * death_place  = Lawrence, Kansas
 * nationality  =
 * other_names  = "Poco" Frazier
 * occupation   = sculptor
 * years_active = 1935-1976
 * known_for    = sculpture, educator, athlete
 * notable_works =

Bernard Emerson Frazier
( 1906-1976)  Bernard Emerson Frazier (often referred to as Bernard “Poco” Frazier) was a renowned Kansas sculptor and educator. His fluid style and emphasis on subjects pertaining to the Great Plains should qualify him to be considered a significant participant in the American Regionalist art movement of the 20th century. He completed over fifty large scale public architectural sculpture projects in the Central United States during the period of 1950s through 1970s.

The most notable of these being the marble “Justice” figure in the Supreme Court Building in Topeka, Kansas ; the carved limestone relief sculptures on the Federal Office Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ; the three welded copper sculptures “Communication Trio” of the Oklahoma Publishing Company in Oklahoma City ; the large and impressive mosaic relief “Be still and Know That I Am God” on the First Methodist Church in downtown Wichita, Kansas ; the carved limestone Missouri State animal "Mighty Mo” in front of the Jefferson Federal Office Building in Jefferson City, Missouri and the bronze doors of the University of Kansas Memorial Campanile in Lawrence, Kansas. He completed many smaller projects during earlier years of WPA and won national awards for ceramic sculpture and other works which were often then included in important American museum, corporate and private collections from the mid 1930’s forward.

Early Life
Frazier was born on a farm in north central Kansas outside of the village of Athol, Kansas in Smith County, Kansas. His parents Clarence Frazier and Isa (Phettaplace) Frazier (both born on the Kansas prairies) were of Scottish and Welsh ancestry (respectively) and both descendants of intrepid pioneer families that had been farming on the successive frontiers of the continent since at least the early 1700’s. Perhaps owing to natural clay deposits which Bernard and his siblings used for their games, four out of five of the Frazier farm children ended making their careers as artists or artisans.

Bernard Frazier achieved his first notoriety in life as a cross country runner while attending the University of Kansas. He won six individual championships in the Big Eight Conference and established long held records in the one mile, two mile and five mile from 1925-1929. He later ran for the Illinois Athletic Club in Chicago and won three A.A.U. championships in distance runs. He competed in the 1928 Olympic trials held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His nickname, Poco, was earned from his college sports days, because at the height of 5’ 5” he was very short for such a successful distance runner.

He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1929 earning a degree from the only recently established school of design and then moved to Chicago to apprentice in the sculpture studios of both Lorado Taft and Fred Torrey working on numerous monumental public sculptures they were involved in. During this period in Chicago he attended classes at the National Academy of Art, the Chicago School of Sculpture, the Chicago Institute of Art and at Moholy Nagy’s The New Bauhaus. During this period he completed several WPA projects including historical commemoration plaques and bronze lettering for Washington D.C. monuments

Early Career
In 1935 he returned to the University of Kansas and constructed twelve dioramas (also sponsored by the WPA) for the University of Kansas Natural History Museum depicting scenes of the paleontology, anthropology and natural history of the Great Plains. In 1935 he received a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to become the Sculptor in Residence at the University of Kansas. During this period he carved stone and wood and worked in native clays making sculptures that were exhibited across the country. His works won numerous awards in juried sculpture competitions during the ensuing years. Major awards for ceramic sculptures include:

1940-42  Frazier was assigned to the faculty of the University of Kansas to establish it's first regular classes in sculpture and subsequently established a full sculpture department there. During these years he also led a group of KU architecture students in the discussions of the co-ordination of sculpture and architecture. He became friends with Loren Eiseley (also a professor at KU at the time) and accompanied professor Eiseley on several anthropological excursions to the southwest to assist him by making molds on Native American rock carvings that Eiseley was studying at the time. 1943-50 In 1943 he was offered the opportunity to become the Director of the the recently established Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Among his many accomplishments while there was the inauguration of the " Annual National Exhibition of Painting by American Indians" the first national juried exhibition of contemporary Native American Art. His connections with and support for the Native American artists he encountered during these annual exhibitions lasted throughout his life. Also while there he taught sculpture classes, lectured continued working on his own sculpture.
 * 1941 - 1st award for "Prairie Combat" Ceramics of the Western Hemisphere, Syracuse Museum of Fine Art
 * 1944 - 1st Award for "Rebecca" Annual National Competition, Springfield Missouri Museum of Art
 * 1948 - 1st Award for "Fractious One" Delgado Museum Art, National Competition (now New Orleans Museum of Art)
 * 1948 - 1st award for "Untamed" and "Patriarch" 13th Ceramic National Competition, Syracuse Museum of Art
 * 1950 - 1st Award for "Yearlings" National Arts Competition, Wichita Arts Association
 * 1960 - Purchase Award for "Wounded Falcon" for permanent collection Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Notable Public Sculpture

 * Missouri State Animal- Symbolic Bear ( Nicknamed "Mighty Mo") Carved monolithic limestone outside the west doorway of the Jefferson State Office Building, Jefferson City Missouri.
 * Bronze Doors- World War II Memorial - Six panels high relief - * Silence * Meditation * Sorrow * Aspiration * Courage * Achievement (south doors) Campanile Building, University of Kansas
 * Bronze Doors- Kansas Historical Theme - Six panels high relief - "Sovereignty Series" * Indian & Explorer * Hunter * Cattleman * Homesteader * Citizen *