(1872-1916) was born in Wisconson. As a young girl, Mears worked on sculptures in the woodshed at home creating a 9' tall statue entitled Genius of Wisconsin which was chosen for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The sculpture was later executed in marble. Mears, who began her studies at the Art Students' League in New York, became one of the favorite pupil of Augustus Saint-Gaudens who supported her studies in Europe, in Paris with Puesch, Merson, Charpentier and Colan, and later in Italy for galleries run under the direction of Saint-Gaudens himself. In 1904 Mears won a silver medal at the St. Louis Exposition for her sculpture Fountain of Life. She became a member of the National Sculpture Society in 1907 and is represented in private as well as public collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Madison Art Association, Milwaukee Public Library, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Mears' public work is located at Eau Claire, Wisconsin (Adin Randall Fountain,1914) and the Hall of Fame in Washington, DC (statue of Frances Willard).

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