Nancy B. Frank ~ about

NANCY B. FRANK  about

Nancy B. Frank has worked successfully in mediums as varied as jewelry, pastry, furniture, and photography, but she feels she has finally hit her stride as a painter of horses
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"I wasn't just a horse crazy kid, I thought I was a horse, snorting as I trotted 'round the playground. When pasing a horse farm half hour from our home, I cried, Mommy, look, horses! Little did I know that one day I would be living in the beautiful San Juan mountains of southern Colorado, riding a horse of my own, who just happened to be born in the very barn I had passed as a child."

Although ultimately Frank earned an M.F.A. in photo printmaking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after studying painting at Ohio Wesleyan University, she routinely shied away from horses as a suitable subject matter So many people like me love the power and grace of a horse, but for years Frank felt trying to capture that would be cliché.

This all changed during a horse back riding trip to Uruguay in the fall of 2006. When the gauchos were bringing in the horses after a mid day siesta, Frank caught over 50 images in a matter of minutes with her digital camera. Until this time, the artist's two primary disciplines-B&W photography and painting-had not come together in the studio. Color digital photography changed that.

Frank found herself finally painting horses in the way she-with her photographer's eye and horse lover's heart- truly saw them. Her extra large canvases are close-up, tightly cropped paintings of mane and reins, bits and bridles. From them one senses both the power and restlessness of the animal, and the intimacy of his relationship to his rider. "What amazes me most about the partnership with a horse is that he not only kindly allows us to mount him, but that he is an incredible teacher."

This is what creates the tension in Frank's paintings. While the human isn't physically visualized, his presence is felt. Human and equine, guacho and caballo, the spirit of both is not submissive but it shines with light and life from the canvas.

Having re-discovered her passion, Frank sees no end in sight. She has already made travel plans for her next horse series, and for the one after that.

Nancy currently shows her work in the Telluride Gallery of Fine Arts, Telluride, Co. Please visit their website at www.telluridegallery.com to view some of her most current and a few past works.