Muriel Fahrion: Difference between revisions

Muriel Fahrion
Muriel Fahrion
Born	Cleveland, Ohio
Occupation	Illustrator/Designer
Years active	1970s to Present
Employer	Outta Thin Air Studio
Known for	Care Bears,Strawberry Shortcake and Get-Along-Gang

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Muriel Fahrion is an American illustrator and the original designer of the Strawberry Shortcake franchise.^[1]

Early life and education

Muriel Norris Fahrion was born in Cleveland Ohio, grew up and went to school in Rocky River, Lakewood and Cleveland, Ohio. She was one of 7 children of John H. Norris and Catherine (Wunderle) Norris. She began drawing at the age of 4 and attended free classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art during grammar and high school. After attending Lourdes Academy in Cleveland, she earned a scholarship to Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, OH graduating with a major in illustration.

Career

Immediately following art school, Fahrion was hired by American Greetings as a greeting card designer. She worked in Juvenile & Humorous Planning in creative division where she created cute, whimsical and humorous illustrations to tie in with verses.

In 1977, while Fahrion worked in her department, she was asked to come up with a rag doll character with strawberry and daisy theme in colors of pink and green for a greeting card series. It was then Fahrion created the original graphic and color depiction for Strawberry Shortcake, her cat Custard along with Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie. The line was determined to be a licensing property after a presentation given to Bernie Loomis of General Mills. Moving to TCFC (Those Characters From Cleveland) in 1978 Fahrion continued on the Shortcake line eventually depicting 32 characters in the line. Her sister, Susan Trentel, also of Cleveland, crafted the first Strawberry Shortcake doll based on the Fahrion's original greeting card design. The line was launched in the winter of 1979 and 1980. This design made a big impact, and in two years, Strawberry Shortcake went from 12 card series to an entire selection of books, clothing, dolls, toy accessories, and home decor. The Shortcake group joined Herself the Elf, Holly Hobbie and Ziggy forming the new toy and licensing division "Those Characters from Cleveland" (TCFC), under American Greetings banner but located in separate building. TCFC became a well known think tank for toys and licensing. While there Fahrion also worked on drawings and ideas for numerous licensing items.

While working for Those Characters From Cleveland, Fahrion also worked on other toy design teams which included writers. She depicted the first concept art for characters in the of The Get Along Gang and Care Bears once tagged as licensable both properties moved to other design teams. Like the first Strawberry Shortcake doll, many of these were first prototyped by her sister Susan Trentel who began working at TCFC. Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Get-Along-Gang were all made into animations.

Fahrion took several years away from American Greetings freelancing for Fisher-Price, developing illustrations for the Puffalumps and working with Disney and Snoopy licensing.

American Greetings' toy division eventually was reduced in size and moved back to the corporate headquarters. Fahrion then became senior art director for Enesco in Chicago. After working a few years at Enesco, Muriel Fahrion moved to Oklahoma 1995 to become Creative Vice President at United Design in Norman, Oklahoma, where she headed up sculptors and paint designers she worked for United Design for seven years.

Moving to the small town of Medicine Park, Oklahoma She and her husband, Michael Fahrion, ran a freelance studio Big Rock Works until they both retired. Her husband developed cancer and was in remission but eventually he developed disabling medical problems and they moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. After her husband passed Fahrion relaunched her career under Outta Thin Air Studio in 2019 where she continues to create new characters under her own business. Fahrion is very active in the Tulsa art community belonging to Whiteside Portrait Artists, Rainbowland Art Studio Figure Drawing and Inkslingers of Tulsa. She travels and does talks, workshops and demos.

References

https://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/strawberry-shortcake-at-beloved-character-was-created-by-tulsa-s/article_c691e933-bc32-50c2-8586-42bbf6fdb37e.html

https://www.buzzsprout.com/216735/963405-coffee-house-interviews-muriel-fahrion'

^ Fahrion, Muriel (September 2005). "Muriel Fahrion". Oklahoma Living. (cached link) ^{[dead link]}

External links

[1] Fahrion, Muriel (September 2005). "Muriel Fahrion". Oklahoma Living. (cached link) ^{[dead link]}

[1]

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 ==Early life and education==
-Muriel Norris Fahrion was born in Cleveland Ohio, grew up and went to school in Rocky River, Lakewood and  [[Cleveland, Ohio]]. She was one of 7 children of John H. Norris and Catherine (Wunderle) Norris. She began drawing at the age of 4 and attended free classes at the Cleveland Museum of art during grammar and high school. After attending Lourdes Academy in Cleveland, she earned a scholarship to Cooper School of [[art school|Art]]  in Cleveland, OH graduating with a major in illustration.
+Muriel Norris Fahrion was born in Cleveland Ohio, grew up and went to school in Rocky River, Lakewood and  [[Cleveland, Ohio]]. She was one of 7 children of John H. Norris and Catherine (Wunderle) Norris. She began drawing at the age of 4 and attended free classes at the [[Cleveland Museum of Art]] during grammar and high school. After attending Lourdes Academy in Cleveland, she earned a scholarship to Cooper School of [[art school|Art]]  in Cleveland, OH graduating with a major in illustration.
 == Career ==
 [[File:ShortApple018.jpg|thumb|left|Strawberry Shortcake and Apple Dumplin']]
-Immediately following art school, Fahrion was hired by [[American Greetings]] as a [[greeting card]] designer. She worked in Juvenile & Humorous Planning in creative division where she created greeting card designs.
+Immediately following art school, Fahrion was hired by [[American Greetings]] as a [[greeting card]] designer. She worked in Juvenile & Humorous Planning in creative division where she created cute, whimsical and humorous illustrations to tie in with verses.
-In 1977, during her time as a greeting card designer, she was given the assignment of coming up with a rag doll character with strawberry and daisy theme for a greeting card line then Fahrion created the original graphic and color depiction for Strawberry Shortcake, her cat Custard along with Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie. The line was determined to be a licensing property from a presentation given to Bernie Loomis of General Mills.  Moving to TCFC (Those Characters From Cleveland) in 1978 she continued on the Shortcake line eventually depicting  32  characters in the line. Fahrion's sister, Susan Trentel, also of Cleveland, crafted the first Strawberry Shortcake doll based on the Fahrion's original greeting card design. The line was launched in the winter of 1979 and 1980. This design made a big impact, and in two years, Strawberry Shortcake went from 12 card line to an entire selection of books, clothing, dolls, toy accessories, and home decor. The line joined Herself the Elf, Holly Hobbie and Ziggy forming the new toy and licensing division  "Those Characters from Cleveland" (TCFC), under American Greetings but located in separate building became a well known think tank for toys and licensing. While there she also worked on drawings and ideas for numerous licensing items.
+In 1977, while Fahrion worked in her department, she was asked to come up with a rag doll character with strawberry and daisy theme in colors of pink and green for a greeting card series. It was then Fahrion created the original graphic and color depiction for Strawberry Shortcake, her cat Custard along with Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie. The line was determined to be a licensing property after a presentation given to Bernie Loomis of General Mills.  Moving to TCFC (Those Characters From Cleveland) in 1978 Fahrion continued on the Shortcake line eventually depicting  32  characters in the line. Her sister, Susan Trentel, also of Cleveland, crafted the first Strawberry Shortcake doll based on the Fahrion's original greeting card design. The line was launched in the winter of 1979 and 1980. This design made a big impact, and in two years, Strawberry Shortcake went from 12 card series to an entire selection of books, clothing, dolls, toy accessories, and home decor. The Shortcake group joined Herself the Elf, Holly Hobbie and Ziggy forming the new toy and licensing division  "Those Characters from Cleveland" (TCFC), under American Greetings banner but located in separate building. TCFC became a well known think tank for toys and licensing. While there Fahrion also worked on drawings and ideas for numerous licensing items.
-While working for Those Characters From Cleveland, Fahrion also worked on several other toy design teams which included writers. She depicted the first concept are of characters in the of [[The Get Along Gang]] and [[Care Bears]] both properties then moved to other design teams.  Like the first Strawberry Shortcake doll, many of these designs were first prototyped by her sister Susan Trentel who also worked at TCFC.Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Get-Along-Gang were all made into animations.
+While working for Those Characters From Cleveland, Fahrion also worked on other toy design teams which included writers. She depicted the first concept art for characters in the of [[The Get Along Gang]] and [[Care Bears]] once tagged as licensable both properties moved to other design teams.  Like the first Strawberry Shortcake doll, many of these were first prototyped by her sister Susan Trentel who began working at TCFC. Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Get-Along-Gang were all made into animations.
 Fahrion took several years away from American Greetings freelancing for [[Fisher-Price]], developing illustrations for the [[Puffalump]]s and working with Disney and Snoopy licensing.
-American Greetings' toy division eventually was reduced in size and moved back to the corporate headquarters.  Muriel Fahrion then became senior art director for [[Enesco]] in [[Chicago]]. After working a few years at Enesco, Muriel Fahrion moved to Oklahoma 1995 to become Creative Vice President at United Design in [[Norman, Oklahoma]], where she headed up sculptors and paint designers she worked for United Design for seven years.
+American Greetings' toy division eventually was reduced in size and moved back to the corporate headquarters. Fahrion then became senior art director for [[Enesco]] in [[Chicago]]. After working a few years at Enesco, Muriel Fahrion moved to Oklahoma 1995 to become Creative Vice President at United Design in [[Norman, Oklahoma]], where she headed up sculptors and paint designers she worked for United Design for seven years.
-She and her husband, Michael Fahrion, ran a freelance studio Big Rock Works in [[Medicine Park, Oklahoma]] until they both retired. her husband developed cancer and was in remission but eventually it returned and they moved to Tulsa Oklahoma Fahrion. After her husband passed Fahrion relaunched her career under Outta Thin Air Studio in 2019 where she continues to create new characters under her own business. Fahrion is very active in the Tulsa art community belonging to [https://www.facebook.com/groups/tulsaportraits/ Whiteside Portrait Artists], [https://www.facebook.com/rainbowlandstudios/ Rainbowland Art Studio Figure Drawing] and [https://www.facebook.com/groups/inkslingersoftulsa/ Inkslingers of Tulsa]. She travels and does talks, workshops and demos.
+Moving to the small town of [[Medicine Park, Oklahoma]] She and her husband, Michael Fahrion, ran a freelance studio Big Rock Works until they both retired. Her husband developed cancer and was in remission but eventually he developed disabling medical problems and they moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. After her husband passed Fahrion relaunched her career under Outta Thin Air Studio in 2019 where she continues to create new characters under her own business. Fahrion is very active in the Tulsa art community belonging to [https://www.facebook.com/groups/tulsaportraits/ Whiteside Portrait Artists], [https://www.facebook.com/rainbowlandstudios/ Rainbowland Art Studio Figure Drawing] and [https://www.facebook.com/groups/inkslingersoftulsa/ Inkslingers of Tulsa]. She travels and does talks, workshops and demos.
 == References ==

v t e Strawberry Shortcake
TV series	Strawberry Shortcake (Episodes) (2003–2008) Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures (Episodes) (2010–2015) Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City (2021-present)
Films	The Sweet Dreams Movie (2006) Berry Blossom Festival (2007) Let's Dance (2007) Rockaberry Roll (2008) The Strawberry Shortcake Movie: Sky's the Limit (2009)
Television specials	The World of Strawberry Shortcake (1980) Big Apple City (1981) Pets on Parade (1982) Housewarming Surprise (1983) The Baby Without a Name (1984) Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins (1985)
Other	Characters Video games Albums Muriel Fahrion Iconix Brand Group
See also: Care Bears, The Get-Along Gang, Popples, Holly Hobbie

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	United States