Lisa A. Frank: Natural history dioramas juxtapose the wild with the cultivated
Shari Gasper
Overture is a great place to try out new ideas and show unique bodies of work.
Walking through Overture Center’s summer exhibition “Unnatural Surroundings” in Gallery I, viewing Lisa A. Frank’s artwork, you’re bound to smile. Frank’s digital dioramas portray zoo animals and birds in human environments. The result is imaginative, amusing, thought-provoking. In one image, a zebra gazes out the window of a sitting room. In another, a lion slumbers on the rug while two birds perch on a settee.
In her “Captive Splendor” exhibition, Frank has combined images from the Thorne Miniature Room Collections, on permanent exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, with photographs she’s taken at zoos around the country. This is Frank’s third time displaying her work at Overture, the first in Overture Galleries in 2010 and the second at the James Watrous Gallery in 2013.
Frank began the project in early 2020 when the country was locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She purchased a large telephoto lens and practiced taking more successful bird and animal photos and fine tuning her technical skills. She applied for a Sony Alpha+ Female grant, proposing to visit as many zoos as possible in three weeks.
“Receiving the grant, I started my travels in November heading south, stopping first at zoos in St. Louis and Memphis, then on to Fort Worth, Houston, Tyler, Waco and New Orleans, and later Omaha and Cincinnati, visiting 15 zoos, aquariums and animal sanctuaries,” said Frank, who resides in rural Belleville, Wis. “I was delighted by the adventurous aspects of living out of a van with my equipment and bare essentials.”
From these photos, Frank created the first batch of artwork four weeks later. By then, she had fallen in love with the process. She continued going to zoos, taking photos and digitally placing her subjects in the Thorne Rooms. The original collection of 10-12 pieces grew to 31 total pieces, all now on display in Gallery I.
“Elements of the COVID pandemic have made these dioramas poignant to me because many of us felt locked down like zoo animals during that time,” she said.
Frank’s artwork shows animals and birds in environments outfitted with human comforts, reflecting on confinement and displacement. She prioritized incorporating animals with survival issues to give them special attention.
Frank’s digital photo library is extensive.
“I had to take a lot of photos of animals in different poses, so I’d have a large palette to choose from,” she said. “For example, I might need an animal sitting in a certain posture in order to position it realistically on a sofa.”
To create the dioramas, Frank starts by scrolling through her photos and selecting ones that may work well in composites. She completes initial editing in Lightroom and then brings the image into Photoshop for layering and painting. She describes her art as “more painting than photography.”
Frank’s artwork is inspired by time spent outdoors in nature and artfully blends her attraction to natural history paintings and background in theater set design and set painting. Before moving back to Wisconsin, she spent decades as a scenic artist and decorative painter in New York.
“My theater background makes it interesting to come up with narratives of why something is happening,” she explained. “The Thorne Rooms are really set up well for this type of storytelling. They are designed as a stage set, very detailed with the center area open, prime for activity to take place.”
Frank is thrilled to share her work through Overture Galleries and encourages the community to visit Overture to view her exhibition and all the beautiful artwork featured in the galleries.
“Overture is a great place to try out new ideas and show unique bodies of work,” she said.
Summer exhibitions in Galleries I, II and III run through Sunday, Aug. 27 and in Playhouse Gallery through Sunday, Aug. 20.