Elementary school teacher and celebrated folk artist Frances Curry Brown

Talented educators very frequently earn acclaim in fields outside of the classroom. Elementary school teacher and celebrated folk artist Frances Curry Brown exemplifies this.

Frances Louise Netherland was born in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, on October 19, 1925, the daughter of Harley and Lenore (Spencer) Netherland. As a child, Frances was raised on her father’s farm in Jennings County, Indiana.

After her high school graduation, Frances earned her Master’s degree in Elementary Education at Ball State University located in Muncie, Indiana. She also earned a Doctoral degree at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. After her college graduation, Frances accepted a position as a third grade teacher in Liberty, Indiana.

When her son moved his family to Mississippi in the early 1970s, Frances began to create picture cards to send to her two-year-old granddaughter, Margaret. Over time, her art earned her a reputation as a gifted primitive artist. Known as Grandma Fran, the talented teacher typically painted scenes from her childhood in Indiana. Her pictures often depicted her life on the farm before electricity and plumbing.

Frances earned patronage from those in high places. In the late 1970s, former President Jimmy Carter indicated he was seeking artworks for his cabin. When he called for artists to submit their art pieces for a presentation, Grandma Fran’s art was chosen as one of the winners. In 1981, Luci Johnson Turpin, the daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, was traveling through the Ozark Mountains when she came across Grandma Fran’s works in a gallery. Over time, the president’s daughter commissioned two paintings from Frances. Today, Grandma Fran’s paintings hang in numerous galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian and the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC, and the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City.

In 2006, the former teacher was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Three years later, she was placed in a nursing home in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas. She passed away at age 87 on December 4, 2012, and was interred in Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater, Florida.

To read more about this amazing teacher and artist, see Leaving a Legacy: Grandma Fran.

“Moving Day” by celebrated folk artist Francis Curry Brown