Arists and Writers
Edith Franklin
Edith Davis Franklin was born on December 2, 1922 in Toledo, Ohio. She graduated from Scott High School in 1940. She received her degree from The University of Toledo at the age of 65. She was a prominent potter and versatile artist as well as an activist in the Toledo art community through her role in the development of arts organizations. In 1958 she was the first female artist to have a solo show at the Toledo Museum of Art. She was a member of the Craft Club of Ohio, the Athena Art Society, on the Crosby Gardens Board, as well as involved with the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. Edith was a mentor to young artists and won many awards. She died on August 31, 2012.
Claire Kirsner
Mary Claire Bame Kirsner was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1939. She attended McKinley Elementary School and DeVilbiss High School. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1980 from The University of Toledo, and did post graduate studies at Bowling Green State University. Kirsner has worked in several studios in her career and has had her work published in in books as well as numerous medical magazines and journals. She has shown her paintings, etchings, jewelry and sculpture throughout the United States and Paris, France. She has taught at the Toledo Museum of Art and has been actively involved with The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. Kirsner has also been active in the Jewish community and credits her husband, Allan Kirsner, MD, with encouraging her to follow her passion for the arts.
Anna Kline Stauber
Anna Kline Stauber was born in Lithuania in 1911, and her family came to Toledo in 1912. Her parents, Jessie and Reuben Kline, ran a dry goods store for sixty years at Adams and 11th Street. Her education included Jefferson Elementary, Woodward High School, The University of Toledo, and a degree in Journalism from The Ohio State University in 1932. She worked for Variety, the show business paper, as a reviewer of the new educational films from 1935-1995. She married Fred Stauber and they had a son and daughter. She had been a member of B'Nai Israel since 1936, and was involved with Girl Scout Troop #4. She died on May 24, 2007.
Kay Weprin
Kay Weprin was born in Toledo on September 12, 1944. She graduated from The University of Toledo with a Bachelor in Fine Arts and a Masters of Art Education. She taught art at Washington Local Schools for 22 years, and has also taught for The Temple on Sylvania Avenue. She has published articles in magazines and on websites, and her art can be found in numerous corporate and private collections throughout the area, including the Sylvania Public Library and The University of Toledo Visual Arts Center. Her work is currently represented at the Hudson Gallery in Sylvania, Ohio. She represents the Toledo Jewish community through her artwork in various exhibitions. Kay is active in the Athena Art Society, the Toledo Federation of Art Societies, and the Toledo Art Museum Ambassadors.