FRANCES BAGLEY

Born in Fayetteville, TN, Frances Bagley earned her MFA in Sculpture from the University of North Texas after receiving her MA and BFA in Painting from Arizona State University. She currently lives and works in Dallas, TX.

Bagley has exhibited extensively throughout her 40-year career along with a strong community involvement in support of women’s and artist’s rights. She has been a member of the women’s collaborative, Toxic Shock since its beginning in 1980. An award recipient in the 10th Kajima Sculpture Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, and in the 2007 Texas Biennial, Bagley’s work is included in museum and corporate collections, including The Dallas Museum of Art, The National Museum of Women in Washington D.C., The El Paso Museum, and American Airlines, among others. Bagley has also been involved in numerous public art projects, and collaborated with her husband, artist Tom Orr, to create sets and costume designs for Verdi’s Nabucco, which opened The Dallas Opera’s 50th anniversary season.  Her awards include, the Moss Chumley Artists Award from the Meadows Museum, the Individual Artist Grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, and the Legend Award from the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art.

Her installation, Shangri-La is currently exhibited in The State of the Art 2020 at Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, Arkansas.

Bagley’s work is informed by situations of social concern and often asks questions about the human experience in relation to the environment, architecture and society.