Artist. One of America's foremost female sculptors. She was one of eight children born to Everett Ami Walker and Rebecca J. Lindsey. They moved to Moulton, Iowa when Nellie was a year old. It was there that she learned stone carving at her father's monument works as he made tombstones. At age 17, Nellie created her first limestone piece, a bust of Abraham Lincoln, working only from an engraving and taking just 24 days to complete the work. It was displayed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and is now housed at the Garrett Memorial Library in Moulton. Nellie moved to Chicago in 1900 to study at the Chicago Art Institute, where she also taught for five years before opening a studio of her own at the Midway Art Studio. She also studied in Paris. Nellie who was not quite 5 feet tall, was known as "the lady who lived on a ladder" because she preferred large works of art. She never married. Her legacy includes many monuments, busts and bas reliefs, mostly in the Midwest. In 1907 she completed a statue of Senator James Harlan for the nation's Capitol. In 1913, she created a statue of Chief Keokuk, which stands in Rand Park in Keokuk, Iowa, overlooking the Mississippi River. Her Polish War Memorial was finished in Chicago in 1927. At the Iowa State Capitol is her Suffrage Memorial Panel, a bas relief honoring pioneering suffragists, which was dedicated in 1936. Because of failing eyesight Nellie retired from the greater part of her work in 1948. She was named to the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1987.
Artist. One of America's foremost female sculptors. She was one of eight children born to Everett Ami Walker and Rebecca J. Lindsey. They moved to Moulton, Iowa when Nellie was a year old. It was there that she learned stone carving at her father's monument works as he made tombstones. At age 17, Nellie created her first limestone piece, a bust of Abraham Lincoln, working only from an engraving and taking just 24 days to complete the work. It was displayed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and is now housed at the Garrett Memorial Library in Moulton. Nellie moved to Chicago in 1900 to study at the Chicago Art Institute, where she also taught for five years before opening a studio of her own at the Midway Art Studio. She also studied in Paris. Nellie who was not quite 5 feet tall, was known as "the lady who lived on a ladder" because she preferred large works of art. She never married. Her legacy includes many monuments, busts and bas reliefs, mostly in the Midwest. In 1907 she completed a statue of Senator James Harlan for the nation's Capitol. In 1913, she created a statue of Chief Keokuk, which stands in Rand Park in Keokuk, Iowa, overlooking the Mississippi River. Her Polish War Memorial was finished in Chicago in 1927. At the Iowa State Capitol is her Suffrage Memorial Panel, a bas relief honoring pioneering suffragists, which was dedicated in 1936. Because of failing eyesight Nellie retired from the greater part of her work in 1948. She was named to the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1987.
Bio by: Gary Craver
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