If you had told Truro and Brookline’s Dr. Susan Frankl five years ago, or even last year, that her paintings would be featured in a group show at the William Scott Gallery in Provincetown, she might have chuckled out loud. After 40 years of practice in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel/Deaconess Hospital and teaching at Harvard Medical School, Frankl started to devote more time and attention to her more recent passion: painting with acrylics and collage. Always a devotee of color, pattern, and the natural world, Frankl was fascinated with form on canvas, paper and wood.
She studied with Amy Wynne, Scott Gellatly, and Kathy Deflice Secor, always pushing herself to learn something new, even when that felt unfamiliar and awkward. Frankl started with more realistic representation, often combining gold leaf and collage to add texture and contrast to a piece. Gradually she became more comfortable with increasingly abstract forms, drawing from the familiarity of the water, sea and sky or mountains, all of which reflect her deep love of these places. They are now present at times as suggestions and other times are perhaps only a hint in line or color.
Frankl has come to value the information conveyed through intuition, and the freedom that is translated and celebrated through color and form. Her delight, natural gift and feedback from her valued teachers have contributed to her rapid growth as an artist and painter, and what began as a very part time interest has expanded after just a few years to a second career.
With two shows this summer in Provincetown, Frankl must embrace the acknowledgment of the designation ‘artist,’ recognized even a year ago by guests who purchased four paintings from her Blue Series even before two of them were completed. So captivated by the two existing 30 x 30 paintings, they knew that the following two would evoke the same feelings of movement, intensity and light.
The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Frankl’s parents each had a role in developing her sensibility of the visual arts. Her mother was a dress and pattern maker and always appreciated the interplay of fashion, patterns and color. Her father was a tool and die maker who created metal works on his own time. Their work ethos, and the weekend trips they regularly took into the countryside fed Frankl’s love of the combination of the natural world and the myriad of feelings they can involve. Transmitting this same joy and healing with her art has become her mission and pleasure, approaching her artwork with the same professionalism and dedication that marked her medical career. Her emphasis on connection, and allowing the mystery of the works to evoke curiosity and joy are her trademarks and make viewing both a pleasure and an opportunity to move beyond the expected.
The show at the William Scott Gallery opens Memorial Day weekend, and runs for a month, and from September 19-29, a body of her work will be at The Commons, (provincetowncommons.org) . Readers can view her work on her own website, www.susanfrankl.com, and her works at the gallery can also be viewed at WilliamScottGallery.com.
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About Meg
Meg is a licensed independent clinical social worker with over thirty-five years clinical experience. She holds a Master’s Degree from the Boston University School of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Binghamton.