Sarasota Artist Frank Colson (1931-2015) American, Mixed Media Horse Sculpture. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 20 x 6 x 12 in. 

#13 #3730 . 

Frank Colson was born in 1931 in Paris, France. His father was a Latvian ballet dancer and his mother an American opera singer, and their busy schedule combined with deteriorating conditions in Europe led them to bring him to California to live with his maternal aunt at the age of 4. His aunt encouraged all his artistic endeavors, and for a while he intended to be an actor and comedian. His parents took him on many trips, and by the time he enrolled at Claremont College to study business he had lived in over 30 countries, sometimes for as little as a month. Across the street from Claremont was the all-female Scripps College, where he discovered ceramics and met his future wife, Diana. She became a school teacher and he studied under Paul Soldner and Richard Petterson, becoming renowned for his sculptures in clay, bronze, and mixed media, particularly mask-like wall art and metamorphic animals. From 1954-56 he served with the United States Army as a combat artist, and received an MS in Communications from Syracuse University in New York in 1959. Together he and Diana moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where he initiated the Educational Television Program for Florida State University. After visiting Sarasota with Dick Fallon, FSU’s drama department head, to consider the Asolo Theatre as the new site of the acting program, he and Diana permanently relocated to Bradenton in the early 1960s to be closer to the artistic community. He, Diana, and their three children traveled to many more countries throughout this period, especially in Africa and Asia, which influenced his “neo-primitive” style and led him to explore textiles as well. He opened a bronze foundry and the Colson School of Arts in Sarasota in 1964, and taught classes there as well as at the Manatee Art League. His sculptures are found throughout both Manatee and Sarasota counties, and his work was exhibited in Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden. Colson died on August 7th, 2015 in Sarasota. During his lifetime he was one of the most vital elements of Sarasota’s arts community, advocating for arts funding and serving on several boards, including the Museum of Asian Art and the Public Art Advisory Board.

Commensurate with age.