I am a painter who enjoys printmaking, which leads to the exploration of many media and multiple images, sometimes layering
and mixing those images and media as a means of enhancing the idea currently being explored. My work draws heavily on the natural world. Often I use it symbolically to convey emotional and spiritual meaning. For many years I was concerned with the themes of loss, or death, and hope, or resurrection. Wings and openings tell of a passage to new life. Bones and shells are remnants of the old. I am also interested in larger ideas of space and time so I layer the images to express changes of time and levels of existence. I mix drawing media, printmaking, and collage to express my feeling that disparate entities are connected in meaning. Inevitably, I am concerned with what humans are doing to the environment, and protests about that turn up in my work. 

I graduated from Goucher College in Baltimore, MD and received an MFA in Printmaking from the University of North Texas.

My husband and I live in West Texas during most of the year, but we spend the summers on the coast of Washington State,
where we have sailed among the islands and have a little house. For 15 years I taught Art History, Drawing and Painting at the three small universities in Abilene, Texas. I have recently retired, to concentrate more fully on my own production of art, which has been the principle focus of my life.

Prior to teaching, we raised three children, and cared for our aged parents. All this life experience raised
many questions, and I have found comfort and some answers in my Christian faith. I’m still searching
for the rest of these answers, and find that the process of making art is my pathway. My work is in
collections nationwide, and I have been represented in many regional and some national exhibitions. 

franclev@suddenlink.net              Member of the Center for Contemporary Arts

McMurry University                     Skagit Artists Together                  Resume.pdf