Frank Bramblett. Frank died on September 29, 2015.
His obituary: Willis Bramblett Jr. of Plymouth Meeting. Willis Frank Bramblett, Jr., 67, of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, passed away in his home on September 29, 2015, of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. There will be a memorial reception at Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood on Sunday, October 11, from 7 to 9pm. Frank was born in Cumming, Georgia, to Willis Frank Bramblett and Mary Sybil Mashburn Bramblett on October 10, 1947. He grew up in his mother's hometown, Wedowee, Alabama, and went to high school in Marietta, Georgia. Frank met Karen Irene Reid at the start of his sophomore year at the University of Georgia, and married her during Christmas Break of senior year in 1969. After their graduation, the couple moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where Frank completed his MFA at Yale University in 1972. Frank taught painting and drawing at Temple University's Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia for 38 years and continued to mentor students as a Professor Emeritus following his 2010 retirement. That summer, former students from across the country organized Thanks Frank, an exhibition of their own works inspired by and dedicated to their teacher. As an artist, he received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2000, he was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. His art has been reviewed in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, New York magazine, and Time Out and has been exhibited at such venues as the Levy Gallery at Moore College of Art, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at University of the Arts, and Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Philadelphia; Bykert Gallery, OK Harris, and Exit Art Gallery in New York; and Galeria Arsenal in Bialystok, Poland. In March 2015 his artworks were the subject of a career retrospective, Frank Bramblett: No Intention, at Philadelphia's Woodmere Art Museum, which now houses a permanent collection of his works. His last excursion beyond the house was to attend the opening of an artist whose career he had encouraged and whom he had mentored since she was a little girl running around the old neighborhood. His last foray outside was into the backyard just five days prior to his death to watch his son and grandsons play baseball with the new bat and helmet Frank had gotten the eight-year-old for his birthday. He died, as he wanted to, in the barn that he–with the help of so many former students—had rebuilt into a home, surrounded by several of his new paintings on the walls, sleeping between his wife and his son, breathing peacefully at last. Frank is survived by his wife Karen, son Reid, daughter-in-law Frances Sayers, and two grandsons, Kemper and Luca. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Miquon School (www.miquon.org) or KeystoneCare Hospice (www.keystonecare.com). www.kirkandniceinc.com.
[The Times Herald, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania]
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