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Note: al dinner given to Laura Blackshear February, 1945, in Athens, Ga. as "The Woman of the Years." Not only all Athens but people from all over the State came and sent messages appropriate to the occasion.
ANNIE LAURA EVE BLACKSHEAR In "Who's Who in Art" published by the American Federation of Arts. Annie Laura Eve Blackshear, born Oct. 30th, 1875, is listed as "Painter, Illustrator, Lecturer, Teacher, Writer." Also for years she was radio commentator over W.S.B. on art topics for the Georgia State College of Agriculture, and she wrote and produced plays and pageants for this institution and for the Georgia Federation of Women's Clubs. Laura Blackshear's ability to be so versatile may be explained by her boundless energy, her keen acquisitive mind, her rare talent and skill, and a personal charm and force that makes possible anything she attempts. PAINTER AND TEACHER. After graduation from the Tubman High School in Augusta, Ga. Laura Blackshear continued her education at Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens where she won the highest art award. She then went to New York and became a pupil of Twachtman Chase, Gifford, Breckenridge, Garber and others in the schools: Woman's Art School, Cooper Union, Art Students League, New York School of Art, and later studied in Summer School of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the University of Ga. in Athens. Fortified with several certificates, awards and diplomas from Georgia and New York, she began her singularly active career as Art Director for Piedmont College, Demorest, Ga. serving there seven years, then she became Director of Art and Music at Nacoochee Institute, Sautee, Ga. and at Jones Normal School at Eclectic, Alabama. She returned to Athens to become General Secretary of the Y.W.C.A., before being elected some twenty years ago to the position of Illustrator of the Ga. Agricultural Extension Service, an office she formerly combined with that of Instructor in Poster Design in the Summer School of the University of Ga. She is a member of the Southern States Art League, was several times president of the Ga. Art Teachers Association, Vice-President of the Association of Georgia Artists, several times president of the Athens Art Association, and was Auditor and Georgia Sponsor of the Southeastern Arts Association. She is also a member of the Writer's Club of Columbia University in New York. In addition to her full schedule of professional work for the Ga. Extension Service, Laura Blackshear, in odd hours has continued her creative painting, which has been shown in the traveling exhibits of the Southern States Art League, the Association of Ga. Artists, in the Southeastern Arts Association, and in several independent exhibits. She has painted portraits of note: that of Dr. Spence for Piedmont College, Gov. Hoke Smith, Mr. Lever, Congressman, and Mr. Walter Brown for the Georgia State College of Agriculture, also Judge T. F. Green, Law School, University of Ga.One of Miss Blackshear's paintings "Mammy and Her Pickaninnies" shown in an exhibit at Houston, Texas, attracted the attention of the French critic Clement Morro who reviewed it with a reproduction of the painting in Sept. 30th, 1930 issue of "La Revue Moderne," Paris, France. To quote from the translation of this review: "This artist represented at the Houston Exposition by the group of which we have a reproduction here, is not only a skillful painter, a portraitist apt at seizing and portraying the psychological expression in a face, but is also one of the leaders of the artistic movement in the State of Georgia."
ILLUSTRATOR, WRITER, LECTURER. As Illustrator for the Extension Service of the University of Georgia, Laura Blackshear has pioneered in the field of visual
instruction for the agricultural development of her state. Her illustrated charts supplied to all the specialists in the Extension Service have been used and are continuously used in every county in the state, and her illustrated bulletin of 48 pages published by the Extension Service has been used by numerous State Universities to initiate this type of visual aid in Extension work. Requests for this bulletin have come from foreign countries interested in adopting this plan of visual education. Miss Blackshear's full time occupation as Illustrator for the Ga. Extension Service is often so augmented by the 4 H-Club Institutes, Farmers and Women's Conferences held at the University that she has to employ a number of assistants to meet the extra demands made upon her department. Since she also plans and paints the settings for the Agricultural Extension exhibits for the annual State Fairs held in Atlanta, again she must call in extra aid in the painting of huge murals as background for the various exhibits. Besides the previously mentioned bulletin, Miss Blackshear has written numerous articles for publication, such as "Professional Education in the Arts for Teaching and Vocations," published Sept. 1936 in Proceedings of Western Arts Association "Delineation and Aid in Education." "Re-discovering Principles of Classic Greek Design," "Classroom
Practice in Design," published by Georgia Education Association, "Wealth in Ga. Clay," magazine section of Atlanta Journal March 1, 1931, "The Framing and Placing of Pictures," Southern Ruralist, "Charts for Visual Instruction" 1924 Blackboard Magazine. It is characteristic of Laura Blackshear that she is a perennial student, her intellectual curiosity is never satisfied and whenever "something new is added" to the demands of her job, such as putting on pageants and plays, giving radio talks and writing specialized articles, she enrolls in such courses at the University of Ga. as will supply for her the necessary information for the new task. She took courses in pottery to better write on the wealth in Georgia Clay; she studied Journalism at the University in Athens and also by correspondence at Columbia University, New York, together with courses in play writing and pageants, which enabled her to write and produce pageants for the Ga. State College of Agriculture of such beauty and distinction that they were in demand for repeat performances given in Savannah for the Ga. Education Association and in Atlanta for the National Education Association. In addition to her radio broadcasts and teaching lectures mentioned, Laura Blackshear has given numerous art and historical lectures to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Ga. Federation of Women's Clubs, the Garden Clubs of America, and to various other organizations. Clement Morro's review aptly sums up her activities when he says: Thru her writings, thru her teachings, thru her official career, as well as thru her attention to and interest in exhibitions in the Southern States, Annie Laura Eve Blackshear has become one of the most conspicuous figures in American Art circles. But this biography would be but a colorless photograph unless, like a true portrait painter I show the soul that animates the picture. Laura Blackshear's vivid personality expresses itself in her honesty with herself and others, in her loyalty to her friends and to every obligation. She is a great lover of beauty in nature and in character and she especially loves people, as shown both by her warm hospitality and by her devoted unselfish service to those in need or in sorrow. She exceeds the Golden Rule by loving her neighbor more than herself; her deep religious faith supplies the power of her life and "the light which cannot be hid."
Released Nov. 3, 1952 for inclusion and publication in the Blackshear family record book now being assembled by Perry L. Blackshear of Atlanta, Ga. Written and delivered by:
Signature Floyd Blackshear Rogers (F.B.R.) (Mrs. Jonathan Clark Rogers
Note: 1. Annie Laura E. Blackshear never married. A biographical sketch presented at the testimoni
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