Exhibitions and Other Activities
Critters II
New Wilderness Drawings by Frank DuVal
Postal Bison IV
Colored inks and wash, 10” x 14” image size
Critters II is an exhibition of Frank's "Wilderness Drawings," depictions of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians encountered in their natural surroundings. Many of these drawings are from Frank's artist-in-residence sojourns in Badlands National Park and Everglades National Park.
The show was on display through September 2010, in the Blanche Ames Gallery, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, Maryland. Critters II is a follow-up to the very successful Critters at the same venue in October 2007.
Below is a selection of Frank's "Wilderness Drawings," some of which are featured in the Critters II exhibition.
In sketching critters, I like to return to the same location regularly. I already know what an egret looks like, but I like to watch the same dozen egrets converge at the same spot in the Everglades every dawn. Sometimes, especially if I have arrived before sunup, I just sit and watch for half an hour, leaving my sketchpad and camera untouched. What I learn as an unobtrusive observer comes back to me when I sit at a desk and apply ink to paper.
When I exhibited a selection of Wilderness Drawings at the University of Arkansas, the poet Jim Whitehead told me I had captured "the mooseness of the moose." That's what I'm trying to do.
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Prairie Rattlesnake at Badlands NFS |
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Official Artist, Women's Air Race Classic 2010
Elinor Smith
Colored inks and wash, 15” x 22”
When the 2010 Women's Air Race Classic was scheduled, with the terminus point at Frederick, Maryland, Frank was selected to commemorate the event through a suite of drawings honoring "Pioneers in Women's Aviation." The drawings, all in a postage stamp format, were exhibited at various events throughout the weekend following the race, and the Air Race Classic poster, based on Frank's drawing of Amelia Earhart, was signed by over a hundred women who participated in the 2,400-mile race.
"Back in the twentieth century, U.S. Postage stamps offered illustrated reminders of the great events and great people in our nation's history. We called them commemorative stamps. Throughout the century, they reflected the procession of American life in a way that informed and intrigued young stamp collectors, including me.
"When I was asked to be the official artist for this event, I read everything I could about the women who explored the thoroughly unknown territory of aviation, at considerable risk. These women put up with a good bit of resistance from the aviation industry, from the media and from just about everybody, because the conventional wisdom held that, somehow, women were not fit to pilot aircraft. These were extraordinary people, and it was a privilege to be able to pay tribute to them through my artwork."
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Art and Sport
Frank DuVal and Graham Cullen
May 2–June 21, 2009
The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center
Frederick, MD
In May 2009, Frank DuVal and photojournalist Graham Cullen will present a major exhibition of original drawings and photographs at The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland. "The theme of this exhibition, Art and Sport, is that the vitality of great athletes offers unique visual drama, and that, conversely, the visual arts can convey the spirit of sport in ways that reflect the highest traditions of both art and sport."
“It's interesting to work with a photojournalist, because I feel there's a journalistic aspect to my own work," says DuVal. "I hope that what I'm doing turns out to be a good work of art, but, while I'm working, I focus on creating an honest treatment of the athlete and the event. Graham is looking through a lens for the story, but he has such a strong sense of esthetics that his shots convey something way beyond the facts. We're each looking for truth and beauty within one rectangle"