George Frary

Because there has been a significant gap in George’s artistic career, an explanation is required. The following is an attempt to fill in the details:

The story of George Frary’s past is a difficult one, but one that is moving progressively toward a redemptive present. Hailing from rural Central Square, New York, north of Syracuse, his mother’s boundless energy for arts, crafts and design exposed him to creativity at a young age, and he went on to focus on the arts in high school. In addition, his father’s lifelong work ethic would serve as an inspiration to  George  in his dogged pursuit of new artistic challenges and ever-higher standards. After spending a year in Nashille, Tennessee, post-graduation, George entered the prestigious Montserrat College of Art in the Fall of 1996.

Although the biting cold of Massachusetts made for a difficult adjustment, and the then-seedier town of Beverly was initially intimidating for the boy from Central New York, he soon fell in love with the ocean, the old fishing towns of Cape Ann, and the eclectic town of Beverly itself. More than that, he was rapidly enveloped into the community of artists, professors, and students that made up Montserrat College of Art; George thrived in this environment. Studying under professors such as Martha Buskirk, Ethan Barry, Barbara Moody, Rob Roy, Scott Hadfield, Judy Brown, and Rose Olson, he excelled, winning multiple awards, yearly, in areas such as painting, printmaking and overall achievement. In addition to these relationships with professors, he found a mentor in Daniel Kohn, during his brief time as a visiting artist at Montserrat, and later in Bernd Haussmann, for whom he worked as a studio assistant after graduation. Though he focused increasingly on fine arts, and oil painting in particular, one of his pieces was chosen for the well-known North American Printmaking Exhibition, at Boston University. Perhaps most indicative of the confidence George’s professors had in him was his nomination by the faculty to participate in Yale University’s highly exclusive Norfolk summer arts program. George received his BFA from Monstserrat in 2000, with dean’s highest honors, and with expectations high and belief in him strong.

Before George could focus fully on his artwork, and on his career, he had to focus on the student loans with which he was saddled, and on becoming financially stable, as he was almost entirely self-supporting. As a result, he continued to paint in his free time, while working any job he could get, often several at a time. George worked for catering companies, coffee shops, book publishers, house painters, and more. While working for a local university, he began to experience excruciating and debilitating back pain, that soon left him completely incapacitated. George’s insurer deemed his condition to be preexisting, refusing to cover his necessary care, and the University terminated his employment. Now needing major surgery, and lacking insurance and employment, he was evicted from his apartment, lost his car and, ultimately, was forced to declare bankruptcy. Without even a place to live, he was finally offered employment at a local factory, which also offered health insurance, and the promise that he would receive his surgery. After the initial surgery, followed by corrective surgeries and a period of recovery, he resumed his job at the factory. Though he tried to continue painting, he found himself with little time or energy and became increasingly convinced that he would have to give up any future as an artist.

Five years after his last show, and eight years after his graduation, George was lured to Vancouver, Canada, where his wife had been accepted to graduate school, with the promise of a studio, time to paint, and a second chance. Finding himself in a new place, on a new coast, and with his days free, he set up shop and began painting again. Starting slowly, and re-training himself through still lifes and landscapes, he was drawn again to the abstract work he had left, and to the recurring form of intersecting lines, horizons, and divisions of space. With this motif now informed by recent travels to the Greek islands–the blues and whites of the Mediterranean–and infused with the fog and misty shorelines of the Northwest, his work took off once again, and George filled canvas after canvas with the blues, greens, and browns of these new vistas. Now, the artist looks toward the future, considering graduate school, and pursuing local shows, tentatively believing again that he has something unique to contribute to the world of art, as his friends, mentors, and supporters have long known that he would.