Summer Landscape 1

Frank Connor was born in Glasgow in July 1945 but at the age of two his family moved to Nottingham. He was the second son of a family of two sons and five daughters.

When Frank left school at fifteen, the final comment on his school report was “He should have a useful life”. Against Art was the comment “ Excellent but must practice”.

He starter this “useful” life by completing a five year apprenticeship with an instrument making company in Nottingham. Soon after completing this training he rebelled against his lifestyle and moved to London. There, he attended evening classes to gain his first academic qualifications,

Frank married Sheila in September 1971 and continued to live in London until 1974. They then took the opportunity to move to Shropshire where Frank managed a small factory in Telford until it closed in 1976.

From this time until 1999 Frank continued to work in the engineering industry, for a variety of companies in a variety of roles.

He gained his first BA degree in 1983 from the Open University, studying in the evenings while he worked full-time.

For many years Frank longed to have more time to paint. From the mid 1990’s he attended breif art courses at Keele University, life drawing at TCAT and Art Summer Schools at Burton Manor College.

When he was made redundant in 1999, he took the opportunity, as a very mature student to read for the BA Degree in Fine Art as Social Practice at Wolverhampton University. He graduated in 2002, and then worked at Ingenuity within the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, until he had to leave due to his deteriorating health.

He described himself as having a “passionate interest in all aspects of visual arts…. orientated towards creativity and personal development”. He was also a talented writer.

Frank experimented with different types of painting, printing, different art media, to produce wonderful pictures, some of which you see here today”

Sadly, Frank died in March 2009.