About Frances Ferdinands Born in Colombo Sri Lanka, Frances Ferdinands is a mid-career Canadian artist. She holds a Visual Arts degree from York University, an AR.C.T. (Piano) from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and a degree in Education from the University of Toronto. As a young art student, she was co-editor of ECLECTIC EVE, a collection of over 50 interviews with Toronto Women artists. (Coach House Press). This book was thought to be “deserving of many laurels” for its style and contribution to the celebration of primarily unknown artists. Fer- dinands paintings have been featured in two Artbooks - “Rethinking Acrylic” and Acrylic Innova- tion.” (Northlight Press, USA). Largely based in Toronto Ferdinands has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions for over three decades across Canada and in the United States. She has exhibited as far afield as Paris, Bogota and Honolulu. She is the recipient of many Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council artist grants. Her paintings are held in private, corporate, and museum collections in- cluding the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2015 and 2017, under a OAC Grant, Ferdinands returned to Sri Lanka to be mentored in tra- ditional arts and crafts. There she studied temple mural painting, bobbin lace making, and mask making. This experience has served to enrich Ferdinands’ cultural understanding of her Sri Lankan heritage and her sense of place within it. Recently she was commissioned by the Royal Canadian Mint competition to design the 2017 Diwali and the 2018 Multi-Cultural commemorative coins.
