Frank Geiser

Assistant Professor of Practice in Visual Communication and Design

Introduction

Frank Geiser is an artist, art writer and art educator based in the greater Chicago area.

Select Publications

Frank Geiser’s Personal Website

Newcity Magazine Editorial Writings and Reviews

Teaching Focus

• Visual Communication Design
• Photography
• Drawing
• Color Theory

Artist Statement

My art practice balances competing interests in monumentality and impermanence.

I am equally drawn to creating images and objects. My work is an interdisciplinary blend of industrial design, photography, installation, painting and video. I think of creating photographs and video clips as a way of preserving delicate or transient moments, and I think of assembling physical materials as a process of clarifying my understanding of their embedded history. My artworks are linked by a technical usage of light and a conceptual exploration of memory.

Attention is an increasingly radical act. I hope my artworks function as gentle reminders to be fully present in idle moments—prioritizing mindfulness without specific expectations.

Advice to PNW Students

Your schoolwork is important of course, but connecting what you’ve done in class to outside opportunities, internships, residencies and extracurricular work is how you demonstrate your skills to employers and colleagues!

Additional Information

He was born in Milwaukee and grew up in rural Southeast Wisconsin five miles off the coast of Lake Michigan. Geiser started painting at the age of 13 years old, which he continued all throughout his teenage years. In 2014, Geiser received a scholarship to study art at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he also discovered his passion for photography.

In 2017, Geiser was awarded a Winter-Cohen Family Brueggeman Fellowship, which provided initial funding for a journey to India, Greece, France and Italy to create photographs of monastic and ascetic life in different socioreligious contexts. Upon completion of his BFA degree in 2018, Geiser also received a Xavier University Art Award.

In 2018, Geiser was awarded a fully funded graduate TA position at the University of Kentucky, where he taught classes in digital art and photography until he completed his MFA studies in 2021. His art has been exhibited internationally and several of his artworks are a part of 21c museum’s collection.