Frances Poole
« BACK
FRANCES POOLE — Her first visit to a museum was with her family on a rare visit to San Francisco when she was ten years old. A whole new world opened up for her when viewing the art she saw there. She had considered herself an artist from a very early age and this experience fueled her desire to become a fine artist.
She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area as a teenager where museums were readily available. She learned to love the classical work of the great masters and decided to find a way to learn to paint like them.
Frances began her career working as a graphic designer in advertising agencies near San Francisco but eventually returned to school full time to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a fine artist. She felt fortunate to find an instructor who taught classical drawing and painting in the tradition of the Old Masters she had admired for so long. After acquiring a degree in fine art, she went on to receive her Masters of Fine Art’s degree at San Jose State University in California and has been exhibiting her work ever since.
Eventually she established her painting studio in Benicia, a small art community north of San Francisco. She began teaching Art Courses at Colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area while continuing her Art Career. She recently relocated to a desert community in Southern California where she currently resides and has her studio.
Her work is collected by a wide range of private collectors in the United States, England, Denmark, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. Her corporate collectors include The Sheraton Hotel, Neiman Marcus, and Bombardier Aerospace.
Frances is a member of the International Guild of Realism.
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS:
2008 Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
2008 Springfield Museum, Springfield, MA
2008 R.W. Norton Art Foundation, Shreveport, LA
1999 Long Beach Museum, Long Beach, CA
1991 Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX
1991 Crocker-Kingsley Museum, Sacramento, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
1998 Prism Gallery, Benicia, CA
1996 Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose, CA
1993 Olga Dollar Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992 D.P. Fong & Spratt Galleries, San Jose, CA
1992 Shasta College, Redding, CA
1990 D.P. Fong Gallery, San Jose, CA
1990 St. Francis Foundation, San Francisco, CA
1989 Art in Public Places, Concord, CA
1988 Branner Spangenberg Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2008-2010 “The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century”
Ten City Museum Tour, USA
2006 Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts, Dennis, MA
2006 Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2005 Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2003 Gremillion Fine Art, Houston, TX
2002 Chris Winfield Gallery, Carmel, CA
2001 Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA
1997 Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1994 Olga Dollar Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993 D.P. Fong & Spratt Galleries, San Jose, CA
1991 Touring Citation:
~ Stephen F. Austin State University, Nocagdoches, TX
~ Duncan-McAshan Visual Arts Center, Ingram, TX
~ Del Rio Council for the Arts, Del Rio, Texas
~ Shore Art Gallery, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX
1989 Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento CA
1988 Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA
PUBLIC & CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:
Alza Corporation, Mountain View, CA
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, Phoenix, AZ
Bombardier Aerospace, Seattle, WA
Neiman Marcus
Barnardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, CA
The Sheraton Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii
The Bentley Hotel, South Beach, FL
Buerger Media & Marketing Inc., Palo Alto, CA
The Corvallis Clinic, Corvallis, OR
Curtis Restaurant Equipment, Eugene, OR
Gallery Framing, San Jose, CA
The Leonardt Group, Seattle, WA
MC Management Consulting Services, Oak Park, IL
Northpoint Operations, San Francisco, CA
Quaker Fabric Corporation, Fall River, MA
Quinby Corporation, Portland, OR
Robert McCune Investments, Ashland NE
Mariweather Domaine Winemakers, Eugene OR
Draegers, Menlo Park, CA
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Beeler, Monique . “Still Life more lively, less still in Bedford exhibit.” Oakland Tribune, (December 21, 2001.)
Golonu, Berin. “Objects Considered.” Contra Costa Times, (November 17, 2001.)
Sivesind, Elizabeth. “Still lives continue to stir the imagination.” Contra Costa Times, (November 17, 2001.)
Burkhart, Dorothy. “Artists Link is Use of Color. “San Jose Mercury News, (1 June 1990.)
Cary, Lynn. “Kaleidoscope of Color at Exhibit.” Contra Costa Times, (17 June 1994.)
Fowler, Carol. “Dealer’s Exhibits Bring Unsung Artists to Light.” Contra Costa Times, (9 July 1993.)
Maclay, Catherine. “The Orderly, the Ugly, the Energetic.” San Jose Mercury News, (30 April 1993.)
Orella, Laura. “Fruits of Their Labor.” Daily Ledger/Post Dispatch.. (3 June 1994.)
Olson, Victoria. “Painters Palette from the Past.” Benicia Herald.. (9 July 1989.)
EDUCATION:
1985 M.F.A. Painting/Drawing, California State University, San Jose, CA
1979 B.A., Painting/Drawing, California State University, San Jose, CA
