NAPA, CA.- di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art presents Frances McCormack: Rooted in Wonder in the light-filled Gallery 1. The expansive 40-year survey of painting and collage by Bay Area artist Frances McCormack will be on view March 29 – June 29, 2025.

Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, McCormack relocated to the Bay Area in the late 1970s, completing her fine arts education at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. Her abstract compositions, featuring tube or tendril like forms, fields and bands of color, and painterly layering and effects, quickly earned her praise, with art critic Kenneth Baker writing: "her paintings strive for a kind of material poetic statement possible only in painting."

“I have always admired McCormack’s ability to create visual interpretations of flora and fauna that are energetic, compelling, and introspective,” said Kate Eilertsen, Executive Director and Chief Curator at di Rosa. “Her painterly style and use of color reflect her engagement with Northern California’s natural and artistic ecosystems.”

In her lush paintings, McCormack explores personal themes with the garden as a guiding metaphor. Drawing on the concept of the garden as an enclosure, she populates the field of the painting with botanical references and images in earthly and vegetative hues. Pushing against compositional limits, these forms and color fields describe the nature of growth, energy, and even human struggle.

“I have found…that in both viewing and making art, what occurs and is so seductive is a temporary fading of the pressures and expectations of daily existence,” writes McCormack, in an essay included in the 160-page monograph, Frances McCormack – Rooted in Wonder: Paintings, 1984 – 2024, published in conjunction with the exhibition. “Time and reality are transformed by attention and condensation. This is the experience I want for the viewer. Wonder and curiosity. The arts — painting, music, film, performance — can serve as artifacts of reflection. They also inspire us to renegotiate our often-harsh contract with life and open ourselves to the unexpected.”

di Rosa welcomes guests to an Opening Reception for Frances McCormack: Rooted in Wonder on Saturday, March 29, 2025. di Rosa Patrons and Members are invited for a special Member's Hour, 5 – 6 p.m., with a welcome from Kate Eilertsen, Executive Director and Chief Curator at 5:30 p.m., followed by remarks from the artist. The public is invited 6 – 7 p.m. to enjoy refreshments. General admission for the public reception is $10; di Rosa Patrons and Members are free.

McCormack will be joined by painter and fine arts educator Chester Arnold for an Artist’s Talk on Saturday, April 12, at 1:30 – 3 p.m. McCormack will share thoughts on painting and the influences of the garden and her experience as an arts educator on her practice. Admission is $25 for the general public, and free for di Rosa Members, and includes gallery admission.

Frances McCormack: Rooted in Wonder is on view March 29 – June 29, 2025, open Thursday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. A full-color exhibition catalog, Frances McCormack – Rooted in Wonder: Paintings, 1984 – 2024, published by Fine Arts Press, is available from the publisher and di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.

Frances McCormack was born in 1952 in Boston, MA, and lives in Sonoma, CA. She has exhibited her work in over 100 museum and gallery exhibitions since 1984. After receiving her BA in English from the University of Massachusetts in 1978, she completed her MA degree in Fine Art from San Francisco State University in 1985 and MFA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. A respected San Francisco Bay Area teacher, she taught studio art at San Francisco State University, Sonoma State University, and California College of the Arts (Oakland and San Francisco campuses). At the former San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) she was a tenured professor for 28 years. Upon retirement, she was designated Professor Emerita. Among other numerous honors, she was the first affiliated SFAI Faculty Residency Fellow at the American Academy in Rome in July 2000.