"Angel Glacier"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"As The Spirits Move You"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"At Peace With The World"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Bahamas Dawn #1"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Cochrane Ranch"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Cowboy Trail West"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Early Morning Mist"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Elk"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Emerald Lake #2"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Fall Water #12"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Ghostwalker"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Give Me Shelter"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Going To The Sun #2"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Grain In Sun"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Grassi Lake #2"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Grassi Lake #3"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Grasslands #1"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Gulf Islands #4"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Hill and Posts"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Horseshoe Lake #2"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Jasper Slate"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Kananaskis Water #3"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Kananaskis Water #5"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Kananaskis"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Let's Go This Way #4"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Monet's Bog"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Now I See"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"On Ice #4"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"On Ice #9"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"On Ice #13"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Pincher Creek"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Raven Creek"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Southern Alberta #1"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Spring Lake #1"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Spring Lake #2"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Spring Storm"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Summer Water #4"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Summer Water #23"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Sweet Field #2"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Sweet Field #4"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Sweet Field #6"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Sweet Field #7"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Sweet Field #8"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Sweet Field #13"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Sweet Field #15"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"The Grace of Light"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Whistler Duck"
photographic print on watercolor paper

"Whistler Ice #6"
photographic print on watercolor paper

Frank Grisdale was born in Edmonton in 1954, where he was a Managing Director of a major bank-owned brokerage operation. He has a wife and a daughter, both of whom are brilliant and beautiful.

Frank’s pursuit of the ‘perfect landscape’ began in 1976 when he volunteered as a photographer in Lesotho, which is a desolate island nation completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. While travelling alone for four months through the isolated mountain villages, Frank had the luxury of time to shoot hundreds of rolls of film for both the people of Lesotho and for his own personal work. It was photographing high up in the cold Drakensburg mountain range that set Frank on his progression towards his current work: colour landscapes of Western North America with a very unique style.

In the words of Frank’s friend Dean McLeod, "Frank’s images have a style which has been termed 'photo impressionism.'" The camera has become the brush as Frank reduces his images down to their purest form.’ Frank himself explains that "Rather than deliver to the viewer all of the fine detail common in traditional landscape photography, I am choosing to reduce the detail in favour of colour, light and line. My images reference, in a modern way, the work of early impressionist painters.”

Selected Collections

• The Government of Alberta;
  
  The Royal Museum of Alberta;
• The Alberta Foundation for the Arts;
• The Art Gallery of Alberta;
• The Republic of Mexico (gift of Alberta Government);
• The Banff Centre for Mountain Culture Selected Exhibitions • Centre For Fine Art Photography, Ft Collins CO, 2006 - Group Show
• The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, 2006 – Permanent Collection
• Green Foundation - 4 South Korean Cities - 2006 - 'Water' - Group Show
• Prairie Gallery, Grande Prairie AB - 2006 - Solo Show
• Iris Gallery, The Hamptons, Great Barrington, MA - 2006 - Solo Show
• West End Gallery Edmonton, Alberta - 2005 - Group Show
• Marjorie Wood Gallery; Red Deer, Alberta - 2004 - Solo Show
• Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Yukon - 2003 - Solo Show
• The Photography Room; Grand Rapids, Michigan - 2003 - Solo Show
• Museo Naxionale Della Montagna; Torino, Italy - 02-03 - Group Show
• Banff Centre for Mountain Culture; Banff, Alberta - 2002 - Group Show
• Jasper Park Lodge Gallery, Jasper, Alberta - 2002 - Solo Show
• Royal Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta - 2002 - Solo Show

Selected Clients

Sony Classical Worldwide (Cover photos for music CDs)

Bibliography – Books

Frank is featured in Carte Blanche –  published by The Magenta Foundation, and MaryAnn Camilleri (formerly with Phaidon and Abrams), Summer 2006. Carte Blanche showcases the top Canadian fine art photographers.
Images were curated by Maia-Mari Sutnick, Curator of Photography at the Art Gallery of Ontario, along with Ann Thomas of the National Gallery of Canada.

Photographer’s Statement  

Rather than all of the fine detail common in traditional landscape photography,
I deliberately reduce that detail, and place more emphasis on light, line and color. These photographs are all created inside my camera, without alteration.

I am never quite sure what impressions time and motion will leave on the film until I see the results on the light table. In some ways, most of these photos are conscious accidents. As I expose the film, in some cases for up to 30 seconds, slight movements (usually from breathing) cause fine details to merge and mix on the film.

Publication Quotes 

Bouchard, Gilbert, “A Seeker of the Sublime”, Edmonton Journal. 22 Feb 2002.

“While he may describe his work as ‘the exact opposite of Ansel Adams’, Grisdale admits to being more in the formalist camp than not and also a bit of a romantic. His show contains traditional mountainscapes, and the soft spoken photographer readily admits to being a seeker of the’ sublime’. ‘I’m always looking for as unaltered a landscape as possible; pristine places. The elimination of detail that comes with my process creates a dreamlike quality which emphasizes the sublime setting. It gives the images a classic feeling.’”

Metella, Helen, “Personal Passions”, Alberta Venture Magazine. July 2002.

“When he is shooting, Grisdale haunts farms, fields, lakes and forest pathways  at either dawn or dusk, when the ‘sweet-light’ that he seeks helps him to produce his dreamy colours and shapes.”

Sperounes, Sandra, “Grisdale Draws With Light” Edmonton Journal, Dec 2004

“Frank Grisdale is a photographer, though you'd never guess by his work. His soft, hazy shots of Alberta's dancing canola fields, trees and water look as if he uses a paintbrush, not a Nikon camera, to capture his images.

Such flowing movement is ideal for conveying the essence of music - 8 of Grisdale's breathtaking landscapes are now featured on a series of albums released by Sony Classical in Europe. Puffy blobs of clouds grace the cover of Isaac Stern Plays Mozart. A lake of gold, surrounded by yellow and green fields, lights up an album of Antonin Dvorak compositions. Thunder clouds as thick as mashed potatoes stare down at a green field, on a collection of Joseph Haydn symphonies.”

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