Isabel Sherer Bloom was born in 1908. In 1909, her family moved to Davenport, Iowa from Galveston, Texas. In 1926, Bloom attended the Art Institute of Chicago but transferred to the Vogue School of Fashion due to her passion for dress making. After college, Bloom worked for Singer and opened her own dress shop. However the dress shop did not last and she was forced to close the shop. In 1932, Isabel moved to the Stone City Art Colony in Anamosa, IA. The Colony was organized by American Artist Grant Wood. This is where she met her husband John Bloom but did not marry John until 1938. In during this time, Isabel took classes in ceramics and started teaching the subject of sculpting. She created her own distinct style, sculpting with wet cement and called it "direct cement." Isabel began to make these kits, like the one pictured above, so children and adults could make their own sculptures from home. The kit features molds for rabbit sculptures, sculptures at different steps of the process, tools used for sculpting, and a finished rabbit sculpture. For any use other than instructional resources, please check with the organization that owns this item regarding copyright restrictions.
2018.073.004 [Kit]
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Ownership of this resource is held by the Figge Art Museum and has been provided here for educational purposes only, specifically for use in the Iowa Museum Association's "Teaching Iowa History" project. It may not be downloaded, reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission from the Rights Holder. For information on U.S. and International copyright laws, consult an attorney.