Frances Clark is a photographer, mixed media artist, ceramicist, maker, and teacher working out of her studio in Dallas, Texas. Her 35mm color film photography examines the American travel and road trip experience, combining themes of nostalgia, tourism, commercialism, and the possibilities of an open road. Images are often void of a subject and embrace emptiness, quiet, deadpan, and the imperfect, and welcome grain, flare, movement, and blur, qualities found in the beauty and often unexpected nature of film. Some images are altered, others seem as if they could be featured on a postcard in a 1980s-era gift shop.

Her work takes viewers from Marfa to Vegas, Utah to the deserts of Arizona, and many places in-between. An old soul at heart, Frances enjoys the escape of travel in her 1978 VW bus, camera in hand, and hopes to capture the majesty of mountains filled with untamed horses, the once populated tourist spots of Route 66, the joy of a state fair, the bustle of Sin City, and the softness of wild grasses growing in seemingly untouched lands.

When she’s not in her studio, Frances teaches high school art and photography at an all girls’ public school in Dallas, where she helps inspire and encourage a blossoming generation of young female artists. Her photography class features analog and digital photography, complete with a working darkroom. She is also ingrained in the local maker community and regularly participates in markets across the country.

Frances received her BS from The University of Texas at Austin in Public Relations and Advertising, and a BA in Visual Arts and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Dallas. She resides in East Dallas with her partner Joe, their cat Dexter, and two dogs and travel companions, Nina and Marty McFly.

Published on May 18, 2021
Contributing Writer: Sarah Mills