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Frances Grafton, Once upon a time Š America, detail, 2003, charcoal,
graphite, conte, on Stonehenge paper, 240 x 310cm |
Once Upon a Time Frances Grafton
December 2 – January 11
Opening: Thursday, December 1, 6:30 – 8:30pm
Once Upon A Time is comprised of five larger than life size charcoal
drawings of trees; one from each continent. The series began with an image
of a Eucalyptus tree that Grafton photographed in Australia in 1999. In
this photograph, she captured every aspect of the tree, including its
internal structure. At the time, she was reading Murray Bail’s novel
Eucalyptus (1998), a fairytale set in the forests of Australia. This led
her to contemplate the roles that forests play in such stories, as shadowy
places. Grafton has traveled to each of the five continents to photograph
and subsequently draw a tree from that region. These drawings are sensuous
and encourage the viewer to contemplate not only the structure of the
tree, but also the act of making art.
Frances Grafton has been exhibiting her work since 1989. She is an
instructor at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. She received her
Master of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and a Bachelor of Education
from the University of British Columbia. She has also studied at L’Ecole
des Beaux Arts, in Paris, France. She is the recipient of numerous grants
and awards including grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the
BC Arts Council.
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