Francie Hester

Unfolding J, blue abstract painting on aluminum, mixed media

2019

The art of Francie Hester evokes the feeling of a secret or memory being uncovered. Her contemporary abstract pieces may seem chaotic at first, but patterns begin to emerge upon closer inspection. Using mathematical and geometric principles, Hester creates paintings, drawings and sculptures that strive to bring order to chaos and draw out the unknowable.

Born in 1959, Hester focused on art from an early age. She earned a BFA from the University of Michigan in 1982 and an MFA from the University of Maryland in 1994. She held her first solo exhibition at Anton Gallery in Monterey, California, in 2006 and has since exhibited across the country and around the world.

Hester also creates large-scale public commissions. One of her most well-known site-specific works is Wordfall, a 2016 installation for the lobby of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The stunning piece, which drapes down from the high ceiling, is made from over 80,000 paperclips wrapped in the words of poetry from Brendan Ogg, a young cancer victim.

Hester is the recipient of several honorary grants, including from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Arts Council of Montgomery County and the Maryland State Arts Counsel. Her paintings and sculptures are held in many private and corporate collections, including those of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Capital One and Ernst & Young.

Hester lives and works in Boulder, Colorado, and Silver Springs, Maryland, and is represented by Susan Eley Fine Art in New York. In 2022, she was one of the featured artists at an exhibition presented by the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts in California called "The Most Beautiful Mistake You Can Make." A perfect fit for Hester's work, the show explored how random errors can stimulate artistic creativity.

On 1stDibs, find Francie Hester paintings, drawings, sculptures and more.