Grandma Fran (Frances Louise Currey Brown)

http://grandmafran.com/index.htm 8-8-2013Grandma Fran experienced life on a farm during the time when coal-oil lamps were used -- and, she saw electricity come to the rural farm area where she lived. She relates, "I cooked on the wood-burning cook stove, popped corn in the fireplace, made maple syrup, loaded hay and milked cows."Grandma Fran attended Walnut Grove School (a one-room school in Jennings County, Indiana, and then attended and graduated from Vernon High School in Vernon, Indiana.Her education was not directed toward art. She attended Earlham College, Indiana University East, Miami University of Oxford, and taught on a Doctoral Fellowship at Ball State University in the Elementary Education Department.Grandma Fran became interested in art quite by accident. "Because I wanted my little preschool granddaughter to know she had a grandmother in the Ozark Hills of Arkansas who loved her, I began sending her picture letters. I signed those little letters with the name of Grandma Fran. An artist saw one on my desk and told me I should be painting and selling primitive/folk art. Critiques were obtained. All critiques were good. I have been painting and selling my paintings signed Grandma Fran ever since." -------------------------------Grandma Fran says that some of the critiques which pleased her most are those of Dr. John P. Simoni and the Washington Star:"Grandma Fran's pictures are simple paintings of country life in America. The vibrant qualities of color bring to them a feeling image of vitality and joy.The sincere and uninhabited imagery depicted by Grandma Fran is ever remindful of paintings by the sensitive primitive whose work brings delight and humor."-- Dr. John P. Simoni, WSU Professor of Art / Art CriticReferring to an exhibition entitled "In Their Own Way" at the National Museum of American Art . . . "The 20th century part of the show proves that as good as she was, Grandma Moses hardly is the only amateur artist of merit of our time. There is for instance, Grandma Fran, who continues to transcribe her own memories of childhood in the country side in thoroughly ingenuous and appealing ways.-- The Washington Star, Washington, D.C.--------------------MUSEUM COLLECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Warren Hall Coutts, III Memorial Art Gallery, Inc., El Dorado, KansasNebraska State Historical Society Museum, Lincoln, NebraskaIndiana State Museum, Indianapolis, IndianaOzark Mountain Folk Center, Mountain View, ArkansasCenter for Southern Folklore, Memphis, TennesseeRogers Historical Museum, Rogers, ArkansasShiloh Museum, Springdale, ArkansasMUSEUM COLLECTIONS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES:Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles, BelgiumJohn Judkyn Memorial Museum, Freshford Manor, Bath in BritainMykonos Folklore Museum, Mykonos, GreeceSetagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, JapanEXHIBITIONS IN THE UNITED STATES Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.Museum of American Folk Art, New York, New YorkWichita Art Association Gallery, Wichita, KansasArkansas College, Batesville, ArkansasSouth Arkansas Art Center, El Dorado, ArkansasHarding College, Searcy, ArkansasUniversity of Arkansas, Fayetteville, ArkansasEureka Springs Historical Museum, Eureka Springs, ArkansasWestern State College of Colorado, Gunnison, ColoradoMacMurray College, Jacksonville, IllinoisColby College, Colby, KansasClaremore College, Claremore, OklahomaWarren Hall Coutts, III Memorial Art Gallery, El Dorado, KansasMasur Museum of Art, Monroe, LouisianaNebraska State Historical Society Museum, Lincoln, NebraskaIndiana State Museum, Indianapolis, IndianaOzark Folk Center, Mountain View, ArkansasFort Smith Art Center, Fort Smith, ArkansasCenter for Southern Folklore, Memphis, TennesseeRogers Historical Museum, Rogers, ArkansasAlbrect Art Museum, St. Joseph, MissouriShiloh Museum, Springdale, ArkansasLyon College, Batesville, ArkansasEXHIBITIONS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIESInternational Center of Contemporary Art, Paris, FranceMusees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles, BelgiumJohn Judkyn Memorial Museum, Freshford Manor in Britain (Exhibit toured Lanchaster, Bath & London, England)Mykonos Folklore Museum, Mykonos, GreeceSetagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan--------------http://www.carrollconews.com/story/1920782.html 8-8-2013Carroll County NewsPrimitive artist, longtime gallery owner Grandma Fran dies at 87 Friday, December 7, 2012EUREKA SPRINGS -- Eureka Springs artist and longtime gallery owner Frances Louise Currey-Brown, a.k.a. Grandma Fran, has died at the age of 87. Mrs. Currey-Brown, an Indiana native who painted primitive scenes in her art, formerly owned and operated Grandma Fran's gallery on Highway 62 West just outside of Eureka Springs until illness forced its closure in 2009. ... By Tina Parker, Carroll County News