Artist Statement FRANCES K. GROSSMAN ~ NEWTON MA   “Art labours to make whole what is incomplete, to supplement by an act of imagination the fragments and scraps of life.”    - Julia Briggs, Introduction. Everyman’s Library Edition of To the Lighthouse   I have loved this description of art’s intent since I first read it and have come to understand that the wish to bring coherence and unity to the “fragments and scraps of (my) life” is an important part of my passion to paint. It feels essential to me to share this developing sense of myself as reflected in my paintings with others in my community: family, friends, colleagues and others who resonate to art. A central theme in my quest for integration is finding ways to bring together into some whole the darks and the lights in my life. Both the darks and the lights, the pain and the joy, have always been very intense for me and that feels to me like both a gift and a source of fragmentation. Some of my paintings seem primarily to reside in the light, to reflect pleasure, beauty, and hope. Others to me have more of a darker cast, and reflect pain, isolation and sadness. The paintings I like best have both, beauty and shadow. Others often do not see the same tones in any given painting, and that interests and sometimes pleases me as well. I studied at the Studio Program at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education for many years and continue to be mentored by Sheffield van Buren. I am greatly appreciative of the teaching and support I have received.