Episode 94-Frank Bruckmann, oil painter and teacher, CT
Remembering his 80’s decade in Europe fondly, Frank and his wife were able to realize the goal of giving their teens the chance to adapt to the European culture, with the goal of enlarging their perspective of life at impressionable ages. So through July 2019, Frank is living and painting in the South of France, following the light across the seasons and finding inspiration in the stone villages, ordered rows of grapevines and the wild cloud and tree scapes. Though he loves to be in interesting locations to paint, it is true for Frank that he can find inspiration even in his back yard. Gazing over his bodies of work, one can see how varied subject matter and location are represented in Frank’s oeuvre. Still lifes, figures, landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, interiors, slice of life and the ordinary but magnificent moments of living are celebrated across his canvasses. Painting figures, portraits and still lifes in his New Haven studio, moving outward to Westville for the Occupational Spirit series, downtown to New Haven for the cityscapes, North to Monhegan Island, Maine, south to Pennsylvania, all the spaces in between and now across the Atlantic to France, one could map in overlapping circles the topography of his career. The impact of his work, far from quantifiable, becomes apparent when collectors return, students drop hand-written thank you notes in the mail, a friend made long ago invites him to paint in an available foreign location, a new collector reaches out from a word of mouth acquaintance or has come across an unforgotten event postcard. It is all these connections that make an inspired creative life viable….even sustainable.
New Haven - frank bruckmann (fbruckmann.com)