Frank Webb - AWS, NWS
FRANK WEBB of Edgewood, Pennsylvania has been awarded a Dolphin Fellowship of the American Watercolor Society and is a past national vice president. Other memberships include: the National Watercolor Society, Allied Artists of America, Audubon Artists, Knickerbocker Artists, Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Association, and the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society.
His more than ninety major awards include: the Bronze Medal of Honor, the Walser Greathouse Medal, and the Mary Pleissner award of the American Watercolor Society; the Grumbacher Gold Medal of the National Watercolor Society; the gold medal of Audubon Artists; and the Sisek purchase award of the Butler Midyear. He has represented the American Watercolor Society in international exhibitions in Canada, New York, England, Scotland, Mexico, and has participated in invitationals in Australia and the Republic of China.
Webb has authored three books on painting and design. He is listed in Who's Who in American Art and Who's Who in the East. He has been self-employed as an artist since 1958, and has conducted painting seminars in 50 States and numerous foreign locations.
Among his collectors are: the Butler Institute of American Art, the Taiwan Art Education Institute, the Tweed Art Museum of the University of Minnesota, and the Palmer Museum of the Pennsyvania State University. Gallery affiliations include: the Birchstone Gallery, Egg Harbor, WI; the Gallery of The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Claremont Fine Arts Gallery of Claremont, CA
Frank Webb, A.W.S, N.W.S.
A Brief Statement
SPLASH! Liquid watercolor is simple and beautiful. it challenges the painter to flaunt its lovely precipitations and transparencies. A clear watercolor wash on an all-rag paper is akin to the glory of light itself.
All of my work proceeds from on-the-spot graphite drawings made from travels in 50 states and 23 countries. Each drawing is edited, fused with design principles, and used as the model. With large flat brushes and plenty of water I approach the paper in a slam-bang initial wash, and end with the caress of a butterfly wing. Fused into the paint is my de@ght plus qualities and relations which emerge during the process. Thus, a new reality is re-created which began with observation but goes beyond what is to what ought to be
My work is modern since it is an improvisation and because the subject of the picture is the picture itself,ie. its composition. By combining subject matter with a bit of abstractionism, I avoid the triteness of the mere pretty picture or the vacuousness of the abstractldoodle.
The aim of any work of art is to put the beholder in touch with qualities which are normally absent in'the everydayness of life. From lifels onward rush through time a few moments are robbed of their impermanence.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBTIONS
Albrecht Art Museum, St. Joseph Port Huron Museum
Anchorage Art Museum Purdue University - Calumet
Art Alliance, Philadelphia Sunset Cultural Center, Carmel, CA
Ashville Art Museum, NC Springfield Art Museum, MO
Chatauqua Art Association, NY Southern Alleghenies Art Museum
Columbia Museum of Art, SC Museo de la Acurela Mexicana
Florence Museum, SC Museum of Art, Ogunquit, ME
Frye Museum, Seattle Neville Museum, Greenbay, WI
Gloria LaGuna Art Museum, IX Canton Art Institute, OH
McGill University, Montreal Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara
National Academy Galleries, NY University of Minnesota, Morris
Penn State University
SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS
Listed, Who's Who in American Art
Who's Who in the East
Fellow, American Watercolor Society, Dolphin fellowship
1999 Grumbacher Gold Medal, National Watercolor Society
1995 Gold Medal, Audubon Artist, New York
1989 Walser Creathouse Award, American Watercolor Society, New.York
1988 Dana Memorial Award, Philadelphia Water Color Club
1984 Mary Pleissner Memorial Award, American Watercolor Society, New York
1983 First Award, National Arts Club Open, New York
1976 Bronze Medal of Honor, American Watercolor Society, New York
1975 Colorado Watermedia Award, Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Association
1973 Sisek Award, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
AFFILIATIONS
American Watercolor Society - Past vice president and director
Allied Artists of America
Audubon Artists
*La Societe Canadienne de'i Aquarelle
Hudson Valley Art Association
Knickerbocker Artists
*Louisiana Watercolor Society
Midwest Watercolor Society
National Watercolor Society
Philadelphia Watercolor Club
Pittsburgh Watercolor Society
*Rocky Mountain National Watermedia
*Southwestern Watercolor Society
Pennsylvania Watercolor Society
*Akron Art Society
*Society of Western Artists
(
*Honorary or life member)ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
1999 Southern Alleghenies Art Museum - Ligonier Pennsylvania
1998 Watercolors, The Spotlight Gallery of the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society
1993 Glennville State College Gallery, Glennville, West Virginia
1993 Chaffee Gallery, Rutland, Vermont
1991 LaRoche College Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1984 Purdue University Art Departmerit, Calumet, Indiana
1993 Atelier Gallery, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, New York City
1982 Tweed Art Museum, University of Minnesota - Duluth
INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
1996 Masters Exhibit Ill, Jewish Community Center, Pittsburgh
1994 Artist of R.O.C., U.S.A., and Australia, Chung Cheng Gallery, Taipei
1991 Philadelphia Water Color Club lnvitational, Widener University Museum
1992 International Waters, Travelling to Canada, U.S., Scotland and England
1990 International Exhibition, Federation of Canadian Painters, Vancouver
1980 Arts '80, Penn State University
1989 35 Obras de la American Watercolor Society, Mexico City
1983 Artist From Six States. Aaron Bohrod Gallery, University of Wisconsin
1977 Three Watercolorists, Wesminster College, New Wilmington, Pa.
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Aluminum Company of America
Bayer Industries PNC Corporation
Blue Cross of Western Pa. PPG Foundation
Brown - Williamson Taiwan Art Education Institute
Butler Institute of American Art Tweed Art Museum
Eastern Shore Art Center University Hospitals of Cleveland
Ferrum College Wausau Insurance
New Mexico Watercolor Society Widener University
Palmer Museum, Penn State University
PNC Corporation
PPG Foundation
Taiwan Art Museum
Tweed Art Museum
University Hospitals of Cleveland
Wausau Insurance
Widener University
BOOKS AUTHORED
1994 "Strengthen Your Paintings With Dynamic Composition", North Light Publishers, Cincinnati Published in the U.K. as "Composition for the Artist" by David Charles Company, 1996
1990 'Webb on Watercolor" North Light Publishers, Cincinnati
Published in France by Ulisse Editions, 1993
1983 'Watercolor Energies" North Light Publishers, Cincinnati
ARTICLES AUTHORED
1995 "Painting Conceptually" International Artist Magazine, series in five parts
1994 "Countdown For Design" Watercolor Magic, North Light
1990 Steve Doherty, "A Spectrum of Styles" Watercolor '90,
Billboard Publications,
Reprinted in 1994 in 'Watercolor Highlights, Billboard Publications
1987 Studio Number One" Artist's Magazine, North Light
1987 "Workshop Director", Artist's Magazine, North Light
1985 "Creating Your Own Space". Artist's Magazine, North Light
