Curious Garden
“I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us”
―Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Francie Bishop Good makes gardens- subterranean, magical, tropical, extraterrestrial forms. She occasionally pairs them with paintings. Energetically swirling colors to complement and clash with the three-dimensional component. Her seemingly endless array of works blossom and grow from a long history of training and hard creative work.
Her academic studies began in 1967, when in High School she studied under James Musselman, a famed artist, educator and humanitarian. This pivotal experience took her to the Philadelphia College of Art and then ultimately to the University of Colorado at Boulder where she completed a BFA in 1972. Many years later she received her MFA from Florida Atlantic University where she attended as a more mature student, juggling motherhood with an advanced degree and her pursuit of her artistic vision. This lifelong commitment to education and training explains her passion for experimentation, choosing to disregard a long established career as a contemporary photographer to begin to paint and sculpt with abandon.
Francie still uses photography as a point of departure in her works, beginning with a digital image that is then covered with paint, ultimately hiding the initial subject. Hands on manipulation of clay and the “ conversation” between two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms painted with the same vibrant polymer palate result in something resoundingly fresh and different- a hard won victory in an art world full of derivation.
For her exhibition Curious Garden, Good will activate individual sculptures and organically inspired pedestals as well as large-scale wall works to create a sense of the “vegetative” in the gallery space.
Francie is unique among artists as she is also a voracious collector, particularly for women artists. She is intuitive when it comes to acquiring works. She looks for the raw and authentic, perhaps because she is so honest in her own making. Her enthusiasm for her studio practice coupled with her passion for discovery is a intoxicating combination- an artist who is uninhibited, self-doubting and wholly committed.
About Francie Bishop Good
Francie Bishop Good was raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She currently lives and works in South Florida and New York City. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Bishop Good is twice recipient of the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship, and the State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship.
Her museum solo shows include the Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, Art and Culture Center / Hollywood, FL, and the Hilliard Museum, Lafayette, LA.
Recent museum acquisitions include Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, The Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL and the NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
About Luke Jenkins
Luke Jenkins graduated with a Master’s in Sustainable Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and a BFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design.
He has previously role of Exhibition Designer/Lead Installer at the NSU Art Museum, and taught furniture design at the Florida Atlantic University School of Architecture. His furniture and art emphasize materiality, sustainability, and a sense of community.
