Spears, Frank

Bobbie Burgers is a contemporary Canadian painter. Her lush and Expressionistic depictions of flowers teeter on the verge of abstraction, bursting with bright color and laden with thickly applied, textural paint. “Flowers, to me, are the opposite of still,” the artist has explained. “Changing from minute to minute, they are perfect symbols for life, death, yearning, and beauty. My brushstrokes are layered with my own internal charges, depicting anger, frustration, softness, wanting, and more.” Born in 1973 in Vancouver, Canada, she studied Art History at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her work has been exhibited widely at home and abroad, notably including Art Market San Francisco and Equinox Gallery. Today, her works are in the collections of the Berost Corporation in Toronto and the Royal Bank of Canada, among others. Burgers lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Spears, Frank

Born: 1906 Walsall, Staffordshire, England.
Resided in SA 1928-c.1969

A painter of landscapes, portraits, figures, genre, still life and religious pictures. Works in oil, watercolour, egg tempera, gouache, wash and in charcoal. Themes of “Immaculate Clowns”, “Magicians”, “Saints”, and “Music”.

Studies: c.1915 Waverley Road School of Art, Birmingham, under Chaplin

Profile: 1945-47 President of the SA Society of Artists. Taught art privately. A specialist in architectural designs and a designer of stained glass. A number of illustrations for magazines and art publications. Involved in the dramatic arts. A broadcaster, opera singer, art critic and lecturer. Extensive travels in Europe. Visited the USA in 1949-50 and 1960-61. Lives in Hampshire, England.

Exhibitions: He has participated in numerous group exhibitions from c.1932 in SA, the UK, Belgium, Zimbabwe, Italy and Brazil; 1935 Darter Gallery, Cape Town, first of 24 solo exhibitions held in SA; 1960 and 1964 Quadrennial Exhibitions; 1968 Stellenbosch, joint exhibition with Nell Kaye; 1973 Drian Galleries, London, first of five solo exhibitions held in the UK; 1984 University of the Orange Free State, solo exhibition.

Represented: Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet; Johannesburg Art Gallery; National Gallery, Gdansk, Poland; Pretoria Art Museum; SA National Gallery, Cape Town; University of the Orange Free State; University of Stellenbosch; University of the Witwatersrand; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley.

Public Commissions: c.1960 stained glass and bronze façade, Dutch Reformed Church Centre, Cape Town; stained glass and bronze façade, Thom Theatre, University of Stellenbosch; large Christ Altarpiece, Church of the Resurrection, Bonteheuwel, Cape Town.

References: Art SA; SAA; 20C SA Art; SAP&S; SAP&D; BSAK 1&2; AASA; Artlook March 1968, October 1968 & August/September 1976