Frani Evedon

Frani Evedon earned a BFA at Hofstra University and an MS in Art Education from SUNY at Buffalo. She has served as president of the Buffalo Society of Artists and has been included in 16 of their exhibitions from 2000 to this year. Betty’s Restaurant gave her a solo exhibition titled, Breathing Room, in 2021, and her work has been included in 47 group exhibitions in galleries throughout Western New York as well as in California, and Budapest, Hungary. In 2021, Karen Eckert included one of Evedon’s photographs in TAG: A Poeta Project shown at the Center. Begun in 2020, during the onset of the Covid pandemic, the project was like a virtual game of tag in which Eckert sent one of her poems to an artist who then had six days to use that work as inspiration for a unique piece. The image of that artwork was then sent to a poet, who had six days to create a poem based on the artwork they received. Poet to artist to poet continued like a virtual game of tag until the conclusion of the project in September. Eckert received the last image and created a final poem generating a sense of closure as the project came full circle.

Evedon also served as art department chairperson for Orchard Park High School and company photographer for Ujima Company. An important critique of her work can be found in the article, “Christian Iconography and Activism in Contemporary Art of Lillian Méndez and Frani Evedon” by Buffalo State professor Mary Wyrick in the Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education (2006, vol. 24, p. 59). She received the grand prize in the Oserhoff Memorial Purchase Prize National Competition for Roswell Park’s Hospital Collection in 2022 and she was given honorable mention at the Hallwalls Members Exhibition earlier this year.