Flora Blanc Reeder (New York, November 14, 1916 – Fort Worth, September 26, 1995) was an American drama teacher and painter. She was the director of the Reeder Children's School of Theater and Design in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

. As a painter she was a member of the

Fort Worth Circle The Fort Worth Circle was a progressive art colony in Fort Worth, Texas. The colony was active during the 1940s and much of the 1950s and formed around younger artists, most of them native Texans under-30, who embraced themes not traditionally seen ...

, a group of artists active in the 1940s and 1950s.

Early life and education

The daughter of Edward Blanc and Martha Elliot King, Flora Blanc was born in New York in 1916. She received her formal art training at New York's Art Students' League as well as the elite

Brearley School The Brearley School is an all-girls private school in New York City, located on the Upper East Side neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan. The school is divided into lower (kindergarten – grade 4), middle (grades 5–8) and upper (grades 9– ...

, and in France, where she met

Edward Dickson Reeder Edward Dickson Reeder (6 February 1912 – 8 May 1970) was an American artist and member of the Fort Worth Circle. Early life and education Reeder was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He was the eldest child of Dean W. and Edwina Reeder. Reeder ...

, a young artist from Fort Worth. The two went on to pursue their talents in New York and Paris, and studied at

Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York during the years surrounding World War II. It moved back t ...

under

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of th ...

. Blanc and Reeder married in New York in December 1937, and in 1940 the couple moved to Fort Worth, where Blanc painted and conducted acting classes for the Our Lady of Victory College. Blanc and Dickson performed with the Little Theater and forged close friendships with other local artists, eventually leading to the formation of the

, who would congregate at the Reeders' home on a regular basis to discuss their practices and engage in exchanges. In the spring of 1945, Blanc enrolled in a TCU course that explored multi-disciplinarity in the arts, taught by Lorraine Sherley. For the course's final assignment, Blanc produced the play '' Aucassin and Nicolette,'' with a cast of twenty children from the neighbourhood. Dickson designed the sets, the artist

Bror Utter Bror Alexander Utter (August 26, 1913 – May 6, 1993) was a painter, printmaker, and art teacher who lived and worked his entire life in Fort Worth, Texas, but his art achieved national recognition. He worked in an array of styles ranging from ...

designed the lighting, and Brooks Morris, Jr., conducted the score.

Career

This production led for the opening of the Reeder-Irwin School in August 1945, with a student body of thirty-five kids and Ike Horowitz serving as first board chairman.

Zane Irwin The name Zane may be a given name or a surname. Its western usage derives from the Venetian form of ''Gianni'' or an alternate spelling of the German and Jewish name ''Zahn''. An Arabic name Zain, Zayn, or as it is often anglicized Zane, is an Arab ...

taught dance and other instructors, including Blanc, taught drama, painting, and music. Tuition was levied through instruction/enrolment trades. The school changed its name to the

Reeder Children's School of Theater and Design Reeder may refer to: * Reeder (surname) Places * Reeder Township, Anderson County, Kansas * Reeder Township, Missaukee County, Michigan * Reeder, North Dakota * Reeder, Manitoba See also * Reader (disambiguation) A reader is a person who rea ...

in 1948, and adopted a curriculum that was similar to New York's King-Coit School which Blanc attended in her youth. The Reeder school closed in 1958, after staging an additional thirteen plays, in order to provide the artist couple more time to focus on their respective practices.

Personal life

Blanc died in 1995 in Fort Worth.

References

External links

*
The Reeder Children's Theatre Presents...Memories of Fort Worth's Reeder School
'' presented by Special Collections,

The University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of ...

Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanc Reeder, Flora 1916 births 1995 deaths American women painters 20th-century American painters American printers 20th-century American women artists Brearley School alumni Drama teachers Atelier 17 alumni