Biography
1937
Born on October 6th in Breckenridge, Minnesota. to Fritz William Scholder
IV and Ella Mae Haney.
1950-54
The Scholder family moves to Pierre, South Dakota. Scholder studies art with Oscar Howe
at Pierre High School.
1954
Scholder is Art Editor of the Pierre High School annual Gumbo and
President of the Junior Class.
1955
The Scholder family moves to Shawano Wisconsin. Scholder wins scholarship
to Mid-Western Music and Art Camp where he is elected President of the art camp and recieves Outstanding
Artist Award.
1956
The Scholder family moves to Ashland, Wisconsin. Scholder attends Wiscon
State University in Superior.
1957-1958
The Scholder family moves to Sacramento, California. Scholder attends Sacramento
City College, studies painting with Wayne Theibaud, and completes an Associate
of Arts degree.
1958
Marries Peggy Stephenson in Ashland, Wisconsin.
1959
Birth of son, Fritz William Scholder VI. Scholder serves as Art Editor
on the Statesman, Sacramento City College Annual.
1960
Granted a Bachlor of Arts degree from Sacramento City College.
Wins first prize in the Tenth Southwestern Painters' Festival Show at the Tucson Art Center.
1961-1962
Awarded a scholarship by the Rockefeller Foundation to participate in the Southwestern
Indian Art Project at the University of Arizona. In the summer of 1961 he
was a student and studied with Lloyd Kiva New and Charles Loloma. In the second summer
Scholder was invited to be a faculty member.
Scholder and his family move to Tucson where he begins studies toward a MFA degree. He majors in
painting with a minor in sculpture while acting as a teaching assistant in design and drawing.
Receives a John Hay Whitney Opportunity scholarship.
At the Houston Museum of Fine Arts' competition, The Southwest: painting and sculpture he wins
the Ford Foundation Purchase Award. The jurors are James Johnson Sweeney, Alexander Calder and
James Brooks.
During this period Scholder meets Dr. Frederick J. Dockstader, director of the Museum of the
American Indian in New York.
1963
First visit to New York City.
Wins First Prize for a Painting by an American Artist at the West Virgina Centennial Painting
Exhibition held by the Huntington Art Museum. Juror: James Johnson Sweeney.
Recieves the Edwin B. Hopkins Purchase Award of the Thirteenth Annual Southwestern
Drawing and Print Exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts.
1964
to be continued . . .
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