HANNAH FRANK NEWS
DECEMBER 2016
Welcome to our annual roundup as we head towards Chanukah
and Christmas. Promoting the art of my late aunt over the past 15 years has
been a labour of love with much excitement and many surprises. This year was no
exception. And we have some great Chanukah and Christmas present ideas for you
too.
HANNAH FRANK’S WORK
PART OF PIONEERING EXHIBITION
For much of the year we were focused on the exhibition, Modern
Scottish Women - Painters and Sculptors, 1885 to 1965. This ran at the
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, from 7 November 2015 until
26 June this year. The exhibition featured Hannah’s sculpture, 'Woman and Bird'
(1955), which was beautifully displayed.
This exhibition, opened by Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister
of Scotland, and the accompanying catalogue, were especially important because
they revealed and celebrated the contribution made by Scottish female artists
to this chapter of Scottish art history for the first time. We were delighted
to contribute an in-depth article for the sumptuous catalogue. This is one of
the most challenging writing jobs that we've tackled and it was well worth it because
the catalogue sold out!
HANNAH THE ILLUSTRATOR
Hannah's drawings were also featured in a smaller exhibition
within the Keiller Library at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
This focused on Scottish women illustrators and book designers and ran
until March 2016.
EXHIBITION’S CURATOR
REWARDED
We were thrilled when Alice Strang, curator of the whole Scottish
National Gallery of Modern Art exhibition, was made a Saltire Society Outstanding
Woman of Scotland for her work on the project which received extensive media
coverage, including in UK national daily newspaper, The Telegraph and in The
Scotsman. See these links for the reviews:
Thank you to all Hannah’s fans who made it to the
exhibition.
SEVEN ARCHES
Another huge honour came on Friday 24 June with the unveiling
of a magnificent project – a
public art installation by WAVEparticle and the Gorbals Art Project and made by
Liz Peden. This art, covering the wall of three massive arches under a
railway bridge at Cleland Street, in the Gorbals, Glasgow, commemorates three
people who were born in that district who had played important roles in the
world. They were Allan Pinkerton, founder of Pinkerton's Detective Agency,
Benny Lynch, world flyweight boxer, and Hannah Frank, artist and sculptor!
Alison Thewliss, MP for Central Glasgow, launched the event.
I was privileged to unveil the Hannah Frank arch, aided by a schoolchild from
St Francis primary school. David Barcelo from Glasgow City Council has done a
terrific job reclaiming the site, turning it from a tip to a beautifully
landscaped area full of art. The arches are illuminated after dark making this
time of year a terrific one to view. We hope to work further with WAVEparticle and host a larger exhibition in the arches area in 2017.
SOUTHSIDE GALLERY
The Southside Gallery, Glasgow, is now selling Hannah Frank
prints - signed and unsigned. There will be a Hannah Frank exhibition there
too. We will keep you posted.
Find the gallery at 26-28 Battlefield Rd, Glasgow G42 9QH. Tel:
0141 649 8888. www.southsidegallery.co.uk
2CANVAS
We love seeing Hannah Frank works on canvas. Therefore, we
were especially pleased that 2canvas held an exhibition this year, celebrating
our collaboration which brings large
scale Hannah Frank reproductions, on canvas, of every one of the images. 2canvas,
155 Stockwell St, Glasgow G1 4LR. Tel:
0141 552 0005.
www.2canvasart.co.uk
The gallery is at 26 – 28 Battlefield Road, Glasgow, G42
9QH. Call 0141 649 888 and see www.southsidegallery.co.uk
HANNAH FRANK FOR
MADAME ECOSSE
Hannah Frank's 'Out of the Night a Shadow Passed' (1928)
forms the cover image of a new book due out in February 2017. Madame
Ecosse by Marion McCready, an award-winning
Scottish poet based in Argyll, will be published by Eyewear Publishing.
The poet has been a
fan of Hannah’s for some years. She says: “Madame Ecosse is
a very Scottish collection of lyrical, and at times political, poems ranging in
theme from Mary, Queen of Scots to Trident, but always with a focus on the
natural world. Female experience is expressed through mythical and historical
characters and includes a sequence exploring the way childbirth has been viewed
by the medical establishment over the last century.”
Marion won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in
2013 and won the Melita Hume Poetry Prize (2013). Her poems have been published
in Poetry, Edinburgh Review and The Glasgow Herald as well as in Be the First to like
This: New Scottish Poetry (Vagabond Voices, 2014).
CHRISTMAS AND
CHANUKAH GIFTS
We think that for this time of year the print ‘Moon
Ballet’ makes a wonderful seasonal gift. A signed lithographic print is
available for £200.
Other signed prints are available from between £100 and
£400.
A full range of digitally reproduced unsigned prints make
excellent, distinctive gifts. The ones that were produced before my aunt died
are £25; we can also have prints made to order of any other of my aunt’s
prints, for £75, or on canvas or blockmount (see website for prices). We still
have some of the notelets available, for £5.99 for six different designs. The
beautiful black book ‘Hannah Frank, A Glasgow Artist, Drawings and Sculpture’
is also available, reduced to £10.50. All from the webshop on www.hannahfrank.org.uk
Ordering is easy and don’t forget all funds go back into the
project to bring Hannah’s name and work to a wider audience, covering the costs
of the website, keeping the works safe in Glasgow, setting up new exhibitions
etc.
Wishing you health and happiness.
Best wishes
Fiona Frank (niece of the late Hannah Frank, and curator of the ‘Hannah
Frank Art’ project).
Many thanks for wordsmithing to the indefatigable Judith Coyle,
