Geraldine Franklin: Artist biography
Geraldine Franklin was born in Suffolk in 1958. She moved to Buckinghamshire and then on to Cornwall as a teenager, where she developed her love of art. Her formative years were a foundation course at Plymouth College of Art, where she was inspired by her love of the St Ives painters, including Terry Frost, Sandra Blow, Peter Lanyon and Ben Nicholson.
She went on to North Staffordshire University to study a BA Hons degree in Art , obtaining a First-Class Honours Degree. Her heart was in creating large abstract oil paintings; and she had her first show in Brixton in 1984.
At Goldsmiths’ she trained as an Art Psychotherapist. She then worked in prison, schools, hospitals, day centres and youth clubs. Sitting with clients and being open to each person’s way of viewing the world was a significant influence on her own practice. Not contemplating the art aesthetic became a radical new departure; a certain naivete and acceptance of letting go of judgement and allowing the image to take shape naturally became her method.
Geraldine was a member of various painting groups including Lavender Hill, Greenwich Open Studios, Skylark Galleries art group, Art Therapy Groups, Depford X, and Lewisham Art House. Her work was shown in ‘Wallpaper’ magazine. She has exhibited nationally since 1984.
Her abstract work uses bold shapes and flat colour with strong pattern making inclinations. She plays with negative space, juxtaposition and overlapping of colour, scraping, incised lines, frottage, experimental brushstrokes, and the mixing of paint on the canvas. Her jewel like colours and strong contrasts in tonal quality communicates a sense of depth. There is a liveliness to them, with the compositions being beautifully balanced; they are complete, with colour and tone portraying a level of complexity.
Collage is also a favourite, collecting pieces of paper with variations in colour and texture and which have been printed on, or items that inspire, wandering around looking at surfaces, maybe the way moss grows on an old plank of wood, rust on metal with layers of paint peeling off . Time is spent arranging the elements of art which she uses to capture her unique and dynamic perspective of the world.
Her work continually evolves. Geraldine’s approach is to discover new ways of interpreting her subject matter sources from the countryside as well as the town. Particular stimulus are scrap yards, railway stations, machinery, organic forms, and arbitrary objects in the locality.
