Fran Slade biography

Fran Slade paints pictures which harness mystical symbolism, and fantasy. She is fully trained, yet she paints as a naïve. Her work looks simple, yet it provokes complex sub-conscious feeling. She cannot explain her imagery, it comes from deep within.

Fran Slade thinks in pictures. As a schoolgirl her painting was chosen to tour Europe as part of a exhibition of British art. Her versatility enabled her to design clothes in the swinging sixties for Carnaby Street, London. She has created inspired home interiors, painted murals, made children’s toys, illustrated books, published prints, and designed greetings cards.

After studying at Hornsey College of Art she married Colin Ruffell and had two children. Fran and Colin set up Spectrum Studios in Bedford and Buckingham Fine Art Limited.
She co-founded Brighton Artists Workshop and has been part of Fiveways Artists Group in Brighton International Art Festival since 1990.

Fran is a gardener. Her garden is a magnet that draws visitors to her Open House year after year. The garden is a profusion of plant variety, colour, texture and scent. It is alive with the sound of birds and insects. Fran is an organic enthusiast, and keen plants-woman. A small orchard of mature fruit trees and a vegetable garden provide a haven for foxes hedgehogs slowworms and other small mammals.

For further information, see Fran Slade's CV.