Biography
Frances Thomas, a Canadian painter and printmaker, was born in Parry Sound, Ontario. She received both her BFA and MFA from York University, Toronto, Ontario, and is the recipient of the Samuel Sarick Purchase Award for excellence in thesis work. She has participated in residencies in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland and Triangle Arts in Brooklyn, New York and in 2016 spent three months in Berlin on a self-directed residency. Her paintings were featured in a solo exhibition, “but wait”, with an accompanying catalogue, at the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie, ON. In November 2023 her work was featured in an exhibition titled "Ron Shuebrook and Frances Thomas in Conversation", with an accompanying catalogue and curated by Mary Reid, Director and Curator of the Woodstock Art Gallery. This exhibition is currently travelling to four other public galleries over the course of three years. Thomas currently lives and works from her studio in Barrie, ON. She has exhibited in Barrie, Woodstock, Montreal, Edmonton, Toronto and New York and her work is in the permanent collections of the MacLaren Art Centre, Bank of Montreal, York University and Woodstock Art Gallery.
Artist Statement
For me painting is a way of thinking. I have always just followed the work. Even if something is completely different from what I have made before, I know it’s right—it either works or it doesn’t as an artwork. I am interested more in what is happening in the moment, with the materials and my instincts, and less with rigorous conceptual strategies. Often lyrical and vigorous in attitude, I am working against a fixed image. I am more interested in depicting, among other things, a psychological state. Though my images may be predominantly intuitive and improvisational, they also inspire multiple interpretations that speak to our moment, without any one association dominating. Concepts such as doubt, renewal, flux and the messy beauty of existence remain central to my practice.
