FRANK WYSO

COLOR & FORM

JUNE 5- SEPT 28, 2014

With Receptions Fridays 5:30-9:30 pm, June 5 & Sept. 5

(Presentations by Steve Lichak & Thomas Shillea)

Visit www.frankwyso.org or thomasshilleaphotography.com for additional information on the Artist and

https://www.facebook.com/FRANKWYSO for portfolios of his work.

For more information, to purchase, or exhibit work please contact  info@santafineart.com

Between post-WW II until his death on September 14, 1994, Frank Wysochansky “WYSO” produced over 5,000 works of art and thousands of cartoons.  He painted the life around him using a multi-media approach of pen and ink, watercolor, oil paints and crayon.

WYSO was one of twelve children born to Ukrainian immigrants.  His father, Joseph, was a coal miner who, when WYSO was twenty-one years old, lost his life in a mining accident.  It was Wyso’s intimate knowledge of miners and their families that was to influence his art throughout his life.  His paintings and sculptures document the tools and working conditions of the anthracite coal mines of Northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as the modest means and simple lifestyle of the coal miners’ families.

Wyso left the public schools after seventh grade.  Wyso’s career as an artist first began as a freelance cartoonist, largely for the United Mine Workers Journal between 1955 and 1972.  During this time he also developed his bright multi-media technique by applying watercolor, pen and ink and crayon.  His subjects, though largely centered around miners and their family lives, also included religious, ethnic and landscape influences.  The last area WYSO developed was his sculpture.  Using ordinary household items such as plastic containers, wire hangers and aluminum foil, WYSO built the basic armatures upon which he layered automobile industry polymer to create powerful sculptures whose surfaces give the appearance of metal.

During his career, WYSO won many awards.  Particularly noteworthy were his invitations to exhibit in the American Drawing Biennial in Norfolk, VA.  He was first invited as one of 150 artists selected in 1969 by John Canady of the New York Times from among 1,425 entries.  His second invitation was in 1971 when Henry Pitz of American Artist magazine chose his drawing as one of 126 out of 1,683 pieces entered.  In addition, in 1972 he was listed in the international  La Revue Moderne des arts et de la vie as an important American artist, and in the 1972-73 edition of Artists/USA Guide to Contemporary American Art.

Between 1965 and 1994 WYSO showed in over fifty exhibits.  Among his most successful solo shows were The Potter’s House of Coffee, Washington, DC; Lynn Kottler Galleries, New York, NY; Maplewood Gallery, Birmingham, MI; The Reception Gallery, Nabisco, Inc., New Hanover, NJ; The Balch Institute, Philadelphia, PA; The Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA; George Markle Gallery, Warren, MI; The Scranton Anthracite Museum, Scranton, PA; and Chaika Gallery, Warren, MI.

Since his death in 1994 Wyso’s works have been widely exhibited in galleries, educational institutions and public forums.  Featured in both National Public Radio and Pennsylvania Cable Network programming a new excitement is currently being enjoyed by the many old patrons and new found admirers of WYSO.

A “40 Year Retrospective”, held at Monsoon Gallery, Bethlehem, PA served as a new starting point to build on the recognition gained in his earlier years.  Two major shows at Bethlehem’s Lehigh University, and shows in those coal regions that he so poignantly documented, fueled a desire to create a long lasting tribute to this artist and his work.  Among these shows were: Northumberland Council for The Arts, Shamokin, PA; Downtown Mount Carmel Inc., Mount Carmel, PA; Hazleton Art League, Hazleton, PA; Miners Heritage Festival, Lansford, PA; Pioneer Coal Mine, Ashland, PA; Historical Society Schuylkill County, Pottsville, PA; Outsider Art Gallery, Reading, PA; Goggle Works, Reading, PA;  Sigal Museum,Easton, PA; Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY; Mauch Chunk Museum, Jim Thorpe, PA; Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA.

Several publicly funded projects were undertaken to give larger than life recognition to the life’s work of WYSO in the form of a painted mural for Mount Carmel, PA and monumental bronze miner on the banks of the Lackawanna River, overlooking the Northeastern PA coal town of Olyphant.

The WYSO® Foundation, located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been established in his honor and to preserve and share the body of work crafted over his lifetime. 

WYSO represents a common man with uncommon talents and vision, an American treasure, who portrays events through the eyes of immigrants forging a new life during challenging times, yet ever embracing their faith and love of God and their ancestral heritage. 

Santa Bannon / Fine Art Gallery   +1.610.997.5453      info@santafineart.com     

25 W. Third St. Suite 93 at ArtsQuest Banana Factory  Bethlehem, PA 18015  USA