Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1950, South Haven, Van Buren, Michigan
• Residence: 1988, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Notes:

Born in Chicago, Fran Larsen grew up on the south end of Lake Michigan where she learned about the “construction” of the land from an uncle who was a glacial geologist. She also drew at an early age, encouraged by her grandmother who displayed her drawings. After graduating magna cum laude with a BA from Michigan State University, she studied at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and at Hope College, Holland, MI. In 1980, she moved to New Mexico.
 Larsen’s paintings reflect her response to New Mexico’s "geological grandeur and vibrant cultures.Paintings are not windows onto the world, they are reflections of who you are. That’s why I started carving and painting my frames". Her frames are inspired by travel in Mexico and by the carved and painted vigas in the NM Art Museum’s St. Francis Auditorium. She designs and carves each frame to complement the painting it surrounds, and to reassert that the painting is an object — what she calls self talk, or an intensely personal dialogue between what she sees and what she feels—not a representation of the buildings and landscapes in them. Larsen is represented by Manitou Gallery, Santa Fe.

Frances married Harold E. LARSEN on 10 Oct 1959 in South Haven, Van Buren, Michigan. Harold was born in 1934 in Gowen, Montcalm, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]