The Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation will host a three-day celebration at Ashawagh Hall in Springs to honor the legacy of artist, writer, and poet Ellen Frank.
Centered on an exhibition of paintings and works on paper dating from the 1980s through early 2018, the event will commence with an opening reception on Friday, April 12, at 5 PM, followed by a presentation of the Cities of Peace Kosovo Project on Saturday, April 13, at 2 PM. Speakers include Christina Strassfield, Lee Skolnick, Luma Krasniqi, and Luiza Thaqi (from Kosovo via video).
Family and friends, including Maria Pessino, Gabriele Raacke, Teri Kennedy, Bill Chaleff, and Elena Prohaska, will read Ellen Frank’s poetry on April 14 at 11 AM.
The exhibition will be on view from Friday to Sunday, from 11 AM to 5 PM. An artist, scholar, and writer, Ellen Frank (1946-2021) was recognized with numerous awards in painting, book design, and scholarship, including a Fulbright Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation Fellowship, Pollock Krasner Award in Painting, New York State Council on the Arts, and a New York Foundation for the Arts grant.
In 2018, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning named her a Fulbright Specialist in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation, and KFOR/NATO awarded her an Award for Excellence for Cities of Peace.
Dr. Frank studied art history and connoisseurship at Yale University, the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes in London, and held an interdisciplinary doctorate in English Literature and Visual Arts from Stanford University. In 2015, she received an Honorary Doctorate for Cities of Peace from the Russian Armenian (Slavonic) University.
As Assistant Professor of English Literature at UC Berkeley, she co-designed and created the first interdisciplinary major, “Literature and the Visual Arts.” Her first book, “Literary Architecture: Essays Toward a Tradition,” was awarded the New York Institute for Graphic Arts 50 Best Books, Ronce & Coffin Club Design Award, and “Best Book in 50 Years” by the University of California Press.
Ellen Frank founded Cities of Peace Illuminated in 2004 as a flagship initiative of the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation. Based in the United States but created with participation by artists, students, scholars, and institutions from more than 52 countries, Cities of Peace Illuminated includes a collection of monumental gold-illuminated paintings honoring the history and culture of world cities that have experienced devastating conflict and trauma.
Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2004. It is dedicated to building a global culture of understanding, peacebuilding, human rights education, and cultural diplomacy through the transformative power of collaborative art-making.
EFIAF teaches through a process of participatory artistic engagement, interdisciplinary research, creative discovery, and expression in order to promote leadership, global citizenship, outreach, and engagement in world affairs.