Original mixed media lacquered collage · Signed and titled by the artist
Dimensions: 34” H x 20.5” W (unframed; deckled/irregular edges as made)
An original abstract mixed media work by American artist Fran Skiles. Skiles graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in textile design and works as a full-time studio artist in Florida and West Virginia, teaching and lecturing across the United States on paper and fabric collage.  Before turning to collage painting she made art quilts exhibited nationally and internationally, including Quilt National (Best of Show, 1997), Visions, Quilt San Diego, the British Craft Council’s “American Art Quilt Exhibition,” and Fiber Arts International.  She describes her work as process-driven and abstract, without a strict narrative, strongly influenced by nature — its color, rhythm, lines, shapes and values. 
This piece is built in Skiles’s signature layered technique: painted, printed and collaged papers bonded and sealed under a lacquered surface, giving it a rich amber patina and a supple, semi-rigid hand. The composition divides into a warm ochre upper field carrying a ghosted bird-like form, monoprinted line work and fragments of printed text, over a deep black lower register with a photo-transfer inset, incised scratch-drawing, block-printed floral panel and stamped dot sequence along the bottom edge.
The verso is finished in black handmade paper with embedded leaf and fiber inclusions, hand-inscribed in white pencil: “Sitting Bird” Series V (lower left) and signed Fran Skiles (lower right). Mounting: Includes wall mounting hardware — hangs free from the top edge, no frame required. Displays as a soft, textile-like hanging.
Condition: Pristine vintage condition. Surface gently undulates and edges are irregular by design. Please review all photos closely, as they form part of the description.
Ships carefully flat-packed with rigid protection. Please message with any questions or requests for additional photos.