Falling and Reflecting: the Art of Fran Beallor

Cup of the Day #118
"Flying, Not Falling", by Gwyneth Leech

India ink on upcycled paper coffee cup

 
In the "better late than never" category, I would like to give a shout-out to Fran Beallor whose lovely exhibition, Accidental Encounters has its last day at the Hudson Guild Gallery this Saturday, February 24th. Join her that day for a closing party from 1 to 4 pm.

 Fran Beallor

Fallen Angel, 24” x 18”
oil on board

For those interested in community and how to get more people looking and thinking about art, the Hudson Guild Gallery program is one to follow. For many years, Jim Furlong has been bringing high caliber shows to Chelsea residents who would never dream of venturing a few blocks further west to the gallery district: seniors, after school groups and the folk who live in the public housing projects surrounding the Guild buildings.

Fran Beallor 

The Date, detail

48" x 30", oil on canvas  

A series of talks accompanies each show and I was pleased to hear Fran speak about her work at one such event. Fran is a deft painter with a long history of exhibiting around the realist painting scene in New York City. She has rather hair raising stories to tell of how 57th Street art dealers treated young artists in the 1980s, as well as inspiring stories of learning to paint from her mother, also an artist, and in the studios of a variety of New York artists. The elderly audience was astute and appreciative of both the artist and the curator, who acted as interviewer.

Fran Beallor

Accidental Encounter

24” x 18”

oil on board 

 

Fran Beallor

Familiar Reflections, detail

12” x 16”

oil on canvas 

I was especially taken with Fran's falling figures and also with the reflected interiors seen in the shiny surfaces of vases and pots in some of her still lives. And I was delighted to discover an interior of my own lurking in the curved surface of our Brown Betty teapot when I got home!

 

The Hudson Guild Gallery is located at 119 9th Avenue (between 17th and 18th street) in NYC.
Visit their website here.

See more of Fran's artwork from March 8 - 10 when she exhibits with the Hullaballoo Collective at the Fountain Art Fair,  at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Ave & 25th St, NYC. 

More information here.