Frances McCormack: Rooted in Wonder
Gallery 1
Opening Reception March 29
On view March 29 – June 29, 2025
Frances McCormack: Rooted in Wonder presents a 40-year survey of painting and collage by the celebrated Bay Area artist.
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, McCormack relocated to the Bay Area in the late 1970s, completing her fine arts education at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. Her abstract compositions, featuring tube or tendril like forms, fields and bands of color, and painterly layering and effects, quickly earned her praise, with art critic Kenneth Baker writing: “her paintings strive for a kind of material poetic statement possible only in painting.”
In her lush paintings, McCormack explores personal themes with the garden as a guiding metaphor. Drawing on the concept of the garden as an enclosure, she populates the field of the painting with botanical references and images in earthly and vegetative hues. Pushing against compositional limits, these forms and color fields describe the nature of growth, energy, and even human struggle.
Related Programs
Opening Reception
Saturday, March 29
5 – 6 p.m.
Patrons & Members Hour
Director’s Welcome at 5:30 p.m. followed by artist’s remarks.
Free for di Rosa Patrons & Members with RSVP to development@dirosaart.org
6 – 7 p.m.
Public Reception
$10 General | Members Free
In Conversation: Frances McCormack and Chester Arnold
Saturday, April 12, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
$25 General; Members Free
Includes gallery admission prior to event.
In conversation with artist Chester Arnold, McCormack will share thoughts on painting and the influences of the garden and her experience as an arts educator on her practice.
Limited seating available, first-come first-served.
About the Artist
Frances McCormack was born in 1952 in Boston, MA, and lives in Sonoma, CA. She has exhibited her work in over 100 museum and gallery exhibitions since 1984. After receiving her BA in English from the University of Massachusetts in 1978, she completed her MA degree in Fine Art from San Francisco State University in 1985 and MFA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. A respected San Francisco Bay Area teacher, she taught studio art at San Francisco State University, Sonoma State University, and California College of the Arts (Oakland and San Francisco campuses). At the former San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) she was a tenured professor for 28 years. Upon retirement, she was designated Professor Emerita. Among other numerous honors, she was the first affiliated SFAI Faculty Residency Fellow at the American Academy in Rome in July 2000.