Frank was special. He was a surprise and delight, deep thinker, visionary artist, visionary, period. He touched many people and he will be very much missed. Our thoughts are with Frank’s family.
The family invites you to a memorial reception for Frank at Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19118, Sunday, Oct. 11, 7PM-9PM.
Frank’s son, Reid, wrote this on Frank’s Facebook page just now:
This is Frank’s son. Frank passed away early Tuesday morning. There will be a memorial at Woodmere Art Museum on Sunday, October 11, at 7pm. Frank was grateful for the visits of so many of you who came to see him over this difficult past year, for those who were able to make it to his career retrospective show at the Woodmere this spring, and for all the friends, fellow artists, and students who simply stayed in touch over the years to keep up the epic, ongoing dialogues about life and art you shared with him.
It was a tough final few weeks, but he remained Frank to the end. His last excursion outside the house was to attend the opening of an artist whose career he had encouraged and mentored since she was a little girl running around the old neighborhood. His last foray outside was into the backyard on Thursday to watch his grandsons play baseball with the new bat and helmet Frank got the eight-year-old for his birthday.
He died, as he wanted to, in the barn that he—with help of so many former students—had rebuilt into a home, surrounded by several of his new paintings on the walls, sleeping between his wife and his son, breathing peacefully at last.
I’m sharing this Artblog Radio segment we did with Frank in 2012 when his work appeared at Woodmere Art Museum.
