Ann Weaver Norton

Ann Weaver Norton (1905 – February 2, 1982) was an American sculptor and writer of children's books.

Norton was born in Selma, Alabama, the daughter of William Minter Weaver II and Edith Vaughan Weaver. She showed early talent for art, and in an attempt to earn money to attend art school she wrote and illustrated three children's books – Frawg (1930), Boochy's Wings (1931), and Pappy King (1932) – while vacationing at the family summer home near Sardis. She attended Smith College. She studied at the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League of New York, and the Cooper Union, and spent five years as an apprentice under Alexander Archipenko and John Hovannes, among others. She received Carnegie Traveling Fellowships in 1935 and 1940 before moving to West Palm Beach, Florida in 1942 to teach at the Norton Gallery and School of Art. She married its founder, Ralph Norton, in 1948. After her death she was buried at Live Oak Cemetery in Selma. Norton was the subject of a biography, Monumental Dreams: The Life and Sculpture of Ann Norton, published in 2014.

Norton was known for her "megalith" sculptures, vertical constructions of handmade bricks or wood, many of which are displayed at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens on the grounds of her former home in West Palm Beach. Besides the Norton, other collections which own examples of her work include the Detroit Institute of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, and the Musée Rodin.