Art Exhibition: Fran Ornstein – Beloved Gloves

This charming show will be on display in our upstairs gallery for the whole month of September and is well worth a visit. Fran is a regular at the THACC, and we are so pleased to be able to share some of her work with our community. Before coming here, this show was on display in Halifax. Read on to learn more about this collection and the artist.

Artist’s statement:

For the series “Beloved Gloves,” I collected gloves of friends – artists, economists, scientists, carpenters, cyclists, mothers, doctors and others. There’s a story behind each pair, often touching, and that’s part of the show, too. Gloves are like a second skin and sometimes hold the residual shape of the hand. Painting them augmented my practice of drawing from life, and also allowed me to connect with the owner as I worked. Through this series I managed a rhythm of painting, thus honing layout, colour harmony and painterly brushstrokes.

I’m a retired Creative Director. My commercial work is prominent in visual applications across Nova Scotia and beyond. Now I
am returning to my artist’s roots. I received degrees in Fine Arts from the State University of New York at Buffalo and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. I studied illustration at School of Visual Art and drawing at the Art Students League in New York. Today, along with painting, I maintain a weekly practice of drawing from live models in Liverpool and Mahone Bay.