ABOUT
Born in Cambridge, Fran was educated at Cranbourne Chase School, Wardour Castle, near Tisbury, Wiltshire.
She began her creative journey in 1970 at the age of 19. Having been taught how to develop & print B/W photos by a friend, she began working as a photo grapher’s assistant then a photographic stylist [collecting props for editorial & advertising photo shoots]; a career that would prevail for much of her young adult life. This led directly to her running a linen hire business, supplying fabric backdrops f or hire and a period of creative education and learning that culminated in Fran commissioning woven linen fabrics from mills in Ireland, Scotland & Belgium, to sell to trade & retail. These linens were used in Interiors, for clothing and also starred in th ree films : Mr Turner, Mr Holmes and Brightstar. In 1999 Fran established the Linen Shop to sell her beautiful woven natural linen fabrics, initially from home, before moving into retail premises in the centre of Horsham in 2012. She closed the Horsham premises in 2016 to spend more time concentrating on developing her painting career
From her light and airy home studio, Fran now dedicates much of time to creating artwork in a contemporary abstract style, working across a broad range of media including acrylic and graphite on both stretched and un-stretched canvas, board, paper, card, and, occasionally, her own linen fabric.
Fran spent much of the 2020-2021 lockdowns undertaking research, experimenting and exploring her process and materials. She created several visual journals, completed the Pure Foundation back to basics programme and also got involved in a zoom artists group run by Rowena McWilliams at Smallhythe Studio, all of which has inspired and motivated her artwork.
Inspired by the lockdown restrictions, Fran has also become fascinated by the concept of repurposing and has spent a lot of time in her studio contemplating past work and re using this to support her creative process and methodology, toward creating new work.
Fran has written extensively about her art journey in her journal, the first printed edition of which is now available to view and read HERE.
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