ArtQuench Gallery Welcomes

Resident Artist Frances Elson

FRANCES ELSON: A METAMORPHOSIS

From my birth in 1944 in Kazakhstan, the child of holocaust survivors, followed by a two year stay in a displaced persons camp in Germany, then moving to Canada where I spent my childhood, I learned the lessons of survival and perseverance early and well.

Science and Mathematics seemed the course I would follow as a young girl, but some inner voice amplified by meeting, at age 15, the love of my life, pulled me in the direction of social science and the arts. My serial professional careers as a social worker, administrator and interior designer continued to point me toward my emergence as an artist at the age of 61 – perhaps not the usual path but the perfect one for me. After dabbling in many media over the years I recognized that the only media that would satisfy me would be glass art and after one, four-day, introductory class, I was totally committed to one final career change and have spent the past eight years exploring my art and honing my craft. My work encompasses fused glass landscapes, abstracts, character portraits and mixed media pieces incorporating silk-screen, enamel, and photographic images captured in glass, with the emphasis always on the brilliant colors and exciting textures that are inherent in the material itself. My work has been featured in many group and solo shows and has been well accepted among my many collectors. I am always happy to do commissioned pieces – landscapes, portraiture, or architectural pieces.