EXCERPT FROM THERICKIEREPORT.COM

POSTED ON JULY 18, 2022 

 

With this unique exhibition we are inviting viewers to connect with

the beauty and power captured in each of Phoenix’s and Fran’s art works.” 

 ~ Suzi Hayes, Event Coordinator, Highland Beach Library

 

City Of Highland Beach Presents “Wild + Color” Exhibition Featuring Conservation Photographer Phoenix And Abstract Expressionism Artist Fran Mann Goodman. This exhibit is open now – September 26, 2022. Opening Reception Is Thursday, July 28 with additional Free workshops throughout the exhibit period.

 

From photographs of the majesty and frailty of Florida’s Everglades and South Florida to moody, emotional abstract paintings, both artists have come together to touch the hearts of viewers and inspire them to love and respect our essential environment and ourselves.

 

FRAN MANN GOODMAN

 

Fran's passion for color began when she was five years old, and her parents bought her kit after kit of paint by number sets to “decorate” their walls. Instead of adhering to the “rule” of applying the assigned number of given colors into the tiny spaces, Fran chose her own. She then attached papier-mâché to the painting’s overall design to add dimension.  She was formally trained at Chouinard Art Institute (CAL ARTS) in representational style. After school, due to a childhood trauma with her face, she shifted her interest from painting canvases to women’s faces. At age 21, she was resident makeup artist at a renowned international modeling agency in Toronto. As she did makeover spreads for Canadian magazines and billboards, Fran learned that so many women, even top models, were unhappy with their faces. This led to a 30-year career, passionate about making over women’s attitudes. Combining her unique beauty aesthetics, she designed workshops and support groups in the United States and Canada. The widespread media took notice, earning her national and international recognition. She was featured on talk shows, radio, women’s magazines and other print including The New York Times.

 

In 2012,, Fran returned to painting as an abstract expressionist, preferring to create feeling and emotion over defined images. In this genre, Fran has been known to ‘makeover’ her paintings, ones in juried shows, ones that had won awards. “Like I did with women’s faces, I see new possibilities, and just go for it,” she said.  “With all my paintings, I meld color with dimension through a complex of textures – free from intention, tradition, and norms. Layering devices burns a life force into even the smallest structures. The hues, light, dark, bold, pale, bond with one another and speak their own language. The strokes, obscure, defined, personify sameness and difference and how the two natures work in concert. The applications invite stories and interpretations,” said Fran.

 

“I approach a canvas with a desire to fuse color with dimension through a complex of textures — free from intention, tradition, and norms. Layering devices burn a life force into even the smallest structures. Infusing the canvas with various mediums —  pastes, gels, sand, pumice, paper towels and acrylic skins – I seek to “marry” the background with the foreground. The strokes, obscure or defined, personify sameness and difference and how the two natures work in concert. My fascination lies in how the colors dance with one another – how they strut and swirl and bend and swing and invite stories and interpretations.”  

 

This exhibit is a potpourri of Fran’s Dance!

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Fran’s paintings have been exhibited in over 30 galleries in New Jersey, the Chelsea district of Manhattan and Southern Florida and are in private collection in New York, Florida, Toronto, and Hollywood, California. She is a Signature Artist of the Boca Art Museum, the Art Education Fund Chair of the Delray Art League, the exhibition coordinator of the National Association of Women Artists for the Florida Chapter and the co-chair of the Art Program for the Boca Raton Branch of the National League of American Pen Women. A former instructor at Old School Square’s Creative Art School in Delray Beach, she holds online classes and runs workshops on abstract expressionism for beginners and professional artists. Recently her article “Putting the Wow Factor Into Your Paintings with Acrylic Skins” was featured in The National Association of Women Artists’ Magazine. 

 

PHOENIX

 

Known for her painterly approach to composition, light, color and texture, Phoenix, who only goes by her first name, is an internationally collected, award-winning conservation photographer. She is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards, including: two month-long Artist-In-Residence programs – Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Olive Stack Gallery in Ireland. Most recently, Cleveland Clinic Florida acquired 22 large, 24 x 36 inch, limited edition photographs for their permanent collection in the Women’s Center at Weston.  “Reflecting the intersection of art and healing, Phoenix’s fine art photographs of nature transport viewers to a deep meditative place of peace and healing,” said Angelica Guckes, Curator, Cleveland Clinic-Weston.

 

Phoenix established a love of nature and the art of seeing as a child during family vacations to national parks when she stood next to her father who was taking photographs. Although, she taught film-making and photography early in her career she left them for some 20 years. Rising above several “dark nights of the soul” life experiences, she returned to her love of nature and photography in the digital age,developing an exceptional talent and passion to help protect nature and wildlife.And, she has been the beneficiary of the healing power of both.

“With each image, it’s always my intent to raise awareness of endangered and threatened species and habitats that we stand to lose if we are not careful. The importance of nature is more than a scientific necessity for creating air, clean water and producing food. It is a sacred necessity for healing and bringing peace to the human soul,” said Phoenix.

 

Phoenix is an internationally collected, award-winning conservation photographerwhose works are in private and corporate collections worldwide. She is the recipient of a number prestigious awards, including: two month-long Artist-In-Residence programs – Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Olive Stack Gallery in Ireland; the Virtual Artist-in-Residence for the Center for Great Apes Art4Apes Exhibition; the featured artist for the first Endangered Exhibit – United Kingdom; two public art grants, nine public art awards, 22 solo exhibits. She serves on Public Art and Placement Advisory Board, City of Fort Lauderdale and the Citizen Review Panel for Broward Cultural Division, Broward County. Her works have graced national magazine covers and been featured in newspapers, magazines and blog posts worldwide. The immediate past president of the National League of American Pen Women-Fort Lauderdale for the past six years, she currently serves as Art and Scholarship Chair. A native Miamian, Phoenix lives and works in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is represented by the Collector’s Gallery in Venice, FL. When not traveling, Phoenix calls the Everglades her studio where she can be found teaching individual and small group photography classes and workshops. 

 

FREE WORKSHOPS 

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Take Your Photography to the Next Level – 

for Beginners to Advanced by Phoenix

Thursday,  Aug 4th     5:30 – 6: 30  pm

 

Painting a Picture of Abstract Expressionism 

with Fran Mann Goodman

Thursday, September 15th   5:30 – 6:30 PM 

 

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