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Fran Bull
Fran Bull's art has been shown worldwide for over 25 years. Bull's life was inspired and defined by her childhood study of art at the Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. She went on to study painting at Bennington College with Paul Feeley, and in 1980 she earned an M.A. degree from New York University in Art and Art Education. Upon gradating from Bennington in 1960, Bull embarked upon a professional life in art. Her early work was influenced by artist Malcolm Morley and by the Pop spirit of Photo-Realism. It was shown and sold through the Louis K. Meisel gallery in New York City.
Under the rubric of Photo-Realisim, Bull addressed an established reality, one well known and shared. As her art evolved, she felt compelled to investigate the unknown, the hidden realities of the unconscious: the imagery of the unseen. In 1986, determined to find a personal voice, she set out on a solitary retreat to rural Ireland and delved into the writings of Carl Jung and Jungian analyst Marion Woodman. Bull's affinity for the Jungian literature would come to exert a profound influence on her art.
A large group of ink drawings emerged. In 1990 some of the drawings were chosen to illustrate Mordant Rhymes for Modern Times, a book of political satire by poet Ann Salwey, which won the American Institute of Graphic Arts design award, and is now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. In the mid 1990's Bull expanded her creative focus by exploring other media, and since that time her artistic output has included performance art, sculpture, mixed media, print-making and set design, as well as painting. She has been especially prolific in the area of printmaking, creating numerous bodies of work that have received high recognition through several significant awards.
Bull works in collaboration with master printer Virgili Barbara in Taller 46, a printmaing studio in Barcelon, Spain where Picasso, Tapies, Miro, Saura and others worked before her.
Today, Bull's art may be seen as an expressionist exploration, one that seeks to connect the mundane and quotidian to larger mythic and historical motifs, themes, and narratives.
Fran Bull lives, works, and is a professor of art in Vermont, where in 2005 she establised Gallery in-the-Field, a fine art gallery and performance space, whose mission is to present the work of provocative, innovative living artists.
