Website: www.franfailla.com
Email: fran@franfailla.com
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Fran began painting at a very early age. Given the opportunity in elementary school to take up oil painting, she quickly showed a special aptitude for the medium. Her teacher recognized this and encouraged her mother to nurture her talent. Her mother wasted no time purchasing oil paints, canvas and easel for her to use. With this, she later went on to win several local and national art competitions for her work.
In high school and college, Fran continued to study art and art history. Oil painting was her passion, and so she focused on that medium alone, specializing in classical and contemporary still life images. She attended Brooklyn College, which was known for it’s outstanding art department. There she studied under accomplished traditional artists, including Paul Gianfagna, who taught anatomy, and classical still-life painting.
Fran strongly believes that an artist should be constantly growing and evolving. Therefore, in later years, she chose to continue to expand as an artist at the Art Student’s League in New York, where she studied with contemporary masters, Peter Homitsky, Leonid Gervits and Dan Thompson. She also exhibited her work at the school, winning the prestigious “Red Dot” award more than once. She went on to exhibit and sell her work locally in the New York area.
In 2018, Fran moved to the Tampa Bay area. Again, she sought out new art venues and chose to become a member of the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. There she has studied with master artists, Markissia Touliatos and Shawn Dell Joyce. She is also a recipient of the 2024 Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Grant through the National Endowment for the Arts and recently, the 2025 Fellowship Award through the Halo Arts Project. She was featured on Spectrum Bay News 9 “On the Town” TV segment and in the Dunedin Living Magazine.
Fran’s professional affiliations include OPA (Oil Painters of America) and TESA (The Exhibiting Society of Artists). Further, she has also provided drawing and painting instruction at her studio, in local venues and workshops at the Beach Art Center in Indian Rocks Beach.
