Coming Up for Air

Acrylic on Board

12"X12"

2020

Frances Donnelly Wolf was born in Brooklyn, New York. She was raised abroad in Iran, Germany, France, Pakistan and England. After graduating with a BA in South Asian history from SOAS of London University, Frances joined a trade journal publishing company in Boston, MA as a market researcher. She then became a regional planner for an architectural and engineering firm in York, PA. Several years later Frances enrolled in Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA where she gained a second BA in Studio art and History of Art. She then went on to receive a MA in History of Art from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA, with a thesis on seventeenth century Spanish portraiture. Frances' work is both representational and abstract. Taking her cue from the written word, through phrases and segments from poetry and prose, Frances describes ' I collect what appeals to me upon a first read. I collect what makes me catch my breath. In contrast to the poet or essayist who recasts and describes an image through the metaphor or words, mine is a qualified reverse emphasis. Rather than describe an image, one already created by another visual artist or of nature's own, into word form, I transcribe my response to, and understanding of, a set of words into an image of my own making'. Frances Wolf has exhibited her works widely in museums and galleries throughout Pennsylvania, including the Lancaster Museum of Art of Lancaster, PA, , the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, PA, the Lynden Gallery of Elizabethtown, PA, the Cab Gallery of York, PA, the Artists House Gallery of Philadelphia, PA and the Stanek Gallery of Philadelphia, PA. Frances has works in both public and private collections.