Art agent/ Art dealer & Art Consulting
(West Coast Canada)

Now represented by: Zoe Zafiris Casey on the West Coast.

Contact:
Zoezafiriscasey@gmail.com

insta: ZoeZafirisCasey

you are just a broken speaker of my memory
First single off the forthcoming album TBA 2025
The Elegant Daggers is Francis A Willey & Cousin.

Paris Exhibition at Galerie Agnes Nord during the Art Basel Paris week 2024.
(October 19, 2024)
Presented by Artboxy @galerieagnesnord @artboxyofficial @neopictorialist #artbaselparis #parisexhibition #francisawilley #artboxy

Thank you International Photography Awards for the honour IPA 2024 Official Selection for analog film, other category. For my series 'Destruction era fantasy.
Thank you also to the individuals that posed for me, to help me with my vision in this creative process.
Destruction Era Fantasy:
Healing the world is the only thing we have left. Small eternities in the fragility, the body in the landscape defining the essence of the destruction era fantasy. the escapism beyond the screens and the to be or selfie era. where the quixotic aspect of the semblance of being is rooted, deeply. A truth in expression, each of us is a monolith of healing, making a better place for all, the iconographic being in the tragedy between the comedy, the fantasy that is truth in its beauty. Francis A Willey #internationalphotographyawards

Thank you, Refocus Awards for this honour in Analog Photographic Arts. The Jury and all the individuals that helped me, and believed in me along the way. reFocus celebrates the lasting power and indomitable spirit of the photographic image and its unique ability to communicate ideas, captivate viewers, and express artistic intention.
-Longing of a Ghost won the judges Bronze Prize.
judges2024
bronzefor analog2024

#refocusawards2024

Thank you, Refocus Awards for this honour in Analog Photographic Arts. The Jury and all the individuals that helped me, and believed in me along the way. reFocus celebrates the lasting power and indomitable spirit of the photographic image and its unique ability to communicate ideas, captivate viewers, and express artistic intention.

Longing of a Ghost won the peoples choice awards in analog photography.

refocusawards2024
#refocus awards

Thank you, Refocus Awards for this honour in Analog Photographic Arts. The Judges and Jury and all the individuals that helped me, and believed in me along the way. reFocus celebrates the lasting power and indomitable spirit of the photographic image and its unique ability to communicate ideas, captivate viewers, and express artistic intention.

Longing of a Ghost won the peoples choice awards and Also the Jurors Bronze Prize.

Band: Alternative/trip hop, poetical project.
Members: Francis A Willey & Cousins

Theelegantdaggers
STAY TUNED!

FOLLOW
Instagram: TheElegantDaggers

PX3 Certificate of Achievement -Paris, France.

for The Portraitist-Professional Category.

Le Prix de la Photographie de Paris ( PX3 )
The Prix de la Photographie, Paris (PX3) is a photography award that strives to promote appreciation of photography, discover emerging talent, and introduce photographers from around the world to the artistic community of Paris.

The Paris Photography Prize was founded in 2007 and has since become one of the most prestigious photography awards in Europe.

PX3

EXHIBITION-One night only. August 29th 2024 6-9PM
The Collectors' Gallery Of Art
Address: 1332 9 Ave SE, Calgary,
AB T2G 0T3

www.cgoart.com/portfolio-item/francis-a… Palm Springs and other stories|

EXHIBITION-One night only. August 29th 2024 6-9PM
The Collectors' Gallery Of Art
Address: 1332 9 Ave SE, Calgary,
AB T2G 0T3

www.cgoart.com/portfolio-item/francis-a… Palm Springs and other stories|

Pyramids of Compassion

Jairus Sharif and Francis A Willey live recording at The Valentine Studio, Banff centre for Arts and Creativity( April 17th, 2024)
Pyramids of Compassion is a new collaborative music initiative- with music and visuals and sound sculptures.

Jairus Sharif is a Canadian experimental jazz musician from Calgary, Alberta, whose debut full-length album Water & Tools was released in 2022.

Jairus Sharif
Jairus Sharif music

Francis A Willey is a Canadian multi-expressive artist. 35mm film photographer, Poet and Composer.

Photography and Poetry
Francis A Willey Music

IN CONVERSATION
WITH
GEORGE WEBBER
AND
FRANCIS A. WILLEY

ON SUNDAY
NOVEMBER 26th
5:00 PM
Thecollectorsgalleryofart

Please join us for
this exciting talk by
two Internationally
renowned
photographers

Recipients of the
Doug and Lois Mitchell
Outstanding
Calgary Artist Award


moderated by
Sanja Lukac

Herald

#EricVolmers
#FrancisAWilley
#Blindness

The Collectors’ Gallery of Art

FRAMES MAGAZINE

FRAMES Magazine is published by T. T. Photography (6048 Horw, Switzerland) and printed by Taylor Brothers Ltd. (Bristol, United Kingdom).

#Framesmagazine
#FrancisAWilley

This award was established to honour artists who are lauded for their work in national and international arenas and choose to make Calgary their home. Regardless of career length, these artists are acknowledged by their peers around the world for the calibre of their work and their contributions to the arts. They are innovators who have significantly enriched artistic discourse in Canada. This award is an opportunity for Calgarians to celebrate our own.

2023 Recipient: Francis A. Willey

Francis A. Willey is a multi-disciplinary artist and a pillar of the arts community in Calgary. Throughout his long and illustrious career, Francis has worked as a fine art photographer, poet, musician, visual artist, art curator, and a mentor to emerging artists in Calgary.



THE LEGACY OF DOUG AND LOIS MITCHELL OUTSTANDING CALGARY ARTIST AWARD

Culturallegacyartsaward

YOUTUBE

ON NOW in the
ONLINE VIEWING ROOM
#thecommotion

10 June 2023 - 15 July 2023

MANYEYESCITY
#manyeyescity
FRANCIS A WILLEY

EXHIBIT

The Commotion Digital Gallery is the online rebrand of our former storefront gallery, Truth and Beauty (2005-2020), based in Vancouver BC Canada. This re-positioning of the urban gallery furthers our dedication to the presentation and advancement of contemporary photography.

Our updated platform rests on four foundational pillars:

The Print Room
Online Viewing Room
Culture
Community

The Commotion represents individual works from over 90 independent, international photographers in The Print Room.

Our public programming features seasonal, digital exhibitions in the Online Viewing Room, and informative talks and instructional workshops on Zoom. Our podcast, The Click, invites engaging guests from across the industry to discuss topics on photography.

The Commotion provides consultation services to private and corporate collectors, and assists and advises on starting or building a collection of notable works of original art.

As director and curator, Peppa conducts portfolio reviews for individual photographers, groups and review festivals, provides mentorship and advisory services on career objectives and development.

Her writings and commentaries can be found in various publications on arts and culture.

peppa@thecommotion.ca

Contemporary Photography WMPO Awards 2023 - 2nd World Masters of Photography Award 2023

IN CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY- Vienna, Austria.

Breath from Breath
World Masters of Photography

FOTONOSTRUM PORTRAIT AWARDS 2021

The jurors Adam Ferguson, Art Streiber, Barbara Davidson, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Justine Tjallinks, Sandro Miller, and Steve McCurry, have selected the winners of the FotoNostrum Portrait Award 2021.

Winners, Runner Ups, and a special selection by the jurors will be exhibited in FotoNostrum, Barcelona, in October 2022.


SPECIAL SELECTION BY ADAM FERGUSON
: Francis A Willey

FotoNostrum

World Masters of Photography 2022, honorable mention in the Fashion category.

35mm film -Psychotherapist

Honorable mention at the WMPO- World Masters of Photography in Vienna, Fashion Category.
-Carnival Lily-

Sargeant X Comrade -Yolanda Sargeant is the Queen of Lo-Fi Soul. A genre that she and her producer Comrade (Evgeniy) pioneered after not being able to find an appropriate label that fits their eclectic style. The duo infuses jazz, soul, funk, dancehall, hip-hop, as well as other genres into a unique sound that combines the old with the new. Sargeant’s rich vocals take center stage while Comrade’s production takes you on a multi-layered, genre-bending journey from beginning to end.

After a successful first release Magic Radio (Breakout West – Breakout Artist Of The Year Award, YYC Soul/RnB Recording of the Year Award, Polaris Prize Longlisted) Sargeant X Comrade is back with another full-length LP “The Elephant In The Room”

Genres: Lo-Fi Soul, Neo-Soul, Hip Hop, Dancehall, Experimental, Nu-Jazz, Lo-Fi House, World Music

The Elephant In The Room (released Dec 03, 2021) is Sargeant X Comrade’s 2nd full-length album. @sargeantandcomrade @yolandasargeant @true_geneus @theflymuse #canadiansoul #hiphop #poetry #lofisoul #radio #jazz #soul #hiphop #instagood :: 35mm film #francisawilley #SargeantXComrade

sargeantxcomrade
website

VIEPA Award 2022-AISHA. honorable mention for Portrait.

AISHA will be shown in a screening in Vienna. VIEPA Gala 2022
von LIK Akademie für Foto und Design GmbH September 29th 2022.

VIEPA #Viepa

Veranstaltungsort
Neue Galerie LIK 17

Seidengasse 17

1070 Wien

Austria

The blushing fates

Cpmosotions

Solo piano piece from the forthcoming album + poetry book.
Immortal Memory

Spring 2024

Ezra Furman- Website, 35mm film image, and T-shirt image.
For All of us flames, tour, posters.

EZRAFURMAN

TSHIRT_MERCH

New Architects In A Liminal Time

Date: February 11 - 27th, Thursday - Sunday
Time: 11 am - 7 pm
Address: 2nd floor, 306 10 street NW in Kensington
Curated by: Jae Sterling / jaesterling
Presented by: FOREIGNERZ MEDIA
Opening night tickets can be purchased at: https://www.frnrz.com/
Media Inquiries: @sansfuccs / info@sansfuccs.com / 403.862.2961

Description: A part of Calgary’s Chinook 2022 Blast Programming and under the vision of Arts Commons Incubator curator Jae Sterling, this collective exhibition brings together the works of seventeen artists. Each piece selected for the exhibition evokes the radical imagination that is required by artists to survive in a space like this one, art that is tenacious and daring - suggestive of our ability to transform and evolve. Liminal art that requires interpersonal, intercontextual time travel - the strange, surreal and survivalist.

The artists exhibiting are a mix of emerging and established, many of whom have not had the chance to present their work during the pandemic. We invite you to celebrate their modes of expression and exist within the liminal space through their eyes. Original artwork will be on sale during this exhibition alongside a gift shop where exhibiting artists will be selling prints, ceramics, and other work.

This exhibition will run from February 10 - February 27th, every Thursday - Sunday from 11 am to 7 pm. It will be held on the 2nd floor, 306 10 street NW in Kensington. Opening night will be $12, entry will be free all days after with an option to make a donation to GOOD NEIGHBOR.

The opening night of New Architects In A Liminal Time is on February 10th. Due to COVID guidelines, opening night tickets will be limited and must be reserved/ordered online. The remainder of the exhibition will be open to the general public till February 27th. Please purchase tickets here.

Exhibiting Artists: Tomi Nu, Harvey Nichol, Avleen Kaur, Katie Green, Projecke, Destiny Kirumira, Ryan Tram, Payton, Francis Willey, Mila Datta, Nuh Milo, Bryan Faubert, Tyrell Bonnick, Tyler Wong, Trenchcoat Gordy, Olivia Johnson and Jae Sterling

About Jae Sterling:

Jae Sterling is a multidisciplinary artist and founding member of the FOREIGNERZ/SANSFUCCS collective. Beginning as a musician, he has extended his art form over the years to include painting (acrylic & oil), digital design & mixed media, streetwear design, and written essays.

Through his early years in Kingston, Jamaica to the landscapes of North America, Jae has spent the past few years developing his artistry by weaving his experiences growing up in Jamaica, South Florida, and coming into adulthood in Canada into all his projects. In 2019, his exploration in hip hop led him to be one of 10 artists selected for the National Music Centre’s Alberta residency program.

In 2020, Sterling embarked on an ambitious year-long multimedia exhibition, Riding Horses with White Men (RHWWM). This exhibition debuted in Calgary in summer 2020 and is currently touring across Canada into 2021. The success of RHWWM led to him being one of Calgary’s first Black muralists, painting The Guide & Protector in Chinatown.

Jae’s more recent work, falling under the self-styled title of BULLY, veers towards examining race, sexuality, violence and art’s ability to retell and heal histories while simultaneously violating them. In 2022 Jae intends to release an anthology film based on the RHWWM essays and launch BIG BULLY apparel.

Luxembourg art prize of achievement 2021

Luxembourg art prize of achievement 2018

DELVON LAMARR ORGAN TRIO
Cold As Weiss
LP
35mm film photography, Album LP Art-Gatefold.

delvonlamarrorgantrio

COLEMINE

website

999 HERTZ, FRANCIS A. WILLEY

The Collectors' Gallery of Art
February 5 – March 5
999 hertz is a healing frequency connecting you to divine energy. These energies may induce a sense of calm and balance helping to restore and heal the body, mind, and spirit. This exhibition is both an interdisciplinary and interactive experience with a photographic installation accompanied by 999-hertz soundscapes.

Francis A. Willey uses audio, visual, and environmental artwork to open the imagination. Using sound and light waves, he creates an escape by combining 35mm film images with, composed music through genetic signals of sound and light that compel physical restoration from recorded biofields. The artist uses bio-sonic and bio-photonic combinations for frequency healing and rehabilitation.

This exhibition is both an interdisciplinary and Interactive experience. Francis’s photographic installation and soundscapes are guided by the 999-hertz frequencies and the healing power of the arts through sight and sound.

For information on opening hours and covid requirements, please see the venue’s website – cgoart.com

Access: Location is wheelchair accessible

This exhibition is child friendly

exposurephotofestival2022

Inclusion in Issue 23 of Women-All About Photo Magazine.

The Powerful Winning Images of AAP Magazine 23 Women

ALLABOUTPHOTO23

BoredPanda

washingtonpost

Environmental Feature in PhotoEd Magazine, Toronto, Canada
Fall 2021: The ECO issue #62

VERDANT LUMINUL - THE ECO-FRIENDLY DARKROOM
ECO issue

The Verdant Luminul book:
VerdantLuminul

THE STIMULANT BOOK (Environmental printing process)

Authors: Bruce Hildesheim , Francis A. Willey & Sanja Lukac

Instructional Photography Art Book. Step by Step on how to use the Verdant Luminul Environmental printing process for developing negatives and prints in a modern darkroom. The Stimulant is an environmental developer + printing solution for refined B+W film photography. Catalyzed to lessen the impact that traditional chemical processes have on the earth.

An educational fine art book will be developed to aid all artists of various ages + health to ensure their capability of creating traditional darkroom prints without compromising the quality of work, personal health, or the environment.

7"x7" Softcover
ProPhoto Pearl
48 pages
First Edition

{{{To order a copy}}}
thestimulant.bigcartel.com/product/the-…

Press:
PhotoEd magazine: PhotoEd

The Herald: By Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald Feb 13, 2013
Herald

Sait(Southern Alberta Institute of Technology):
Sait

Vimeo:
The Stumulant

The Stimulant exhibition opening: StimulantExhibition

Arts Commons:
Lightbox

The 2nd Vienna international photo awards, 2021. honorable mention in B&W photography. 35mm film image ‘The Romance of Dante and Beatrice’
VIEPA - @viepaphotoaward - Vienna, Austria.

The 2nd Vienna international photo awards, 2021. honorable mention in B&W photography. 35mm film image ‘Longing of a Ghost’
VIEPA - @viepaphotoaward - Vienna, Austria.

The 2nd Vienna international photo awards, 2021. honorable mention in B&W photography. 35mm film image ‘Blindness’
VIEPA - @viepaphotoaward - Vienna, Austria.

PX3 - Prix de la Photographie, Paris 2021

Honorable Mention / 2021 / Fine Art / People
Spirit of the Artist:

The Screenwriter, The Dancer, The Painter, The Poet, The Violinist, and the Singer. This series touches upon the dynamic and the spirit of an artist in the creative process. Conveyed in each unique voice, the challenges of creativity, and the courage to follow through with inspiration.
PX3

Francis A. Willey is a Canadian-born Artist, Poet, and Composer. A self-taught artist.
His 35mm film photographic work has been exhibited, published, and awarded
internationally. His photograph "Blindness" has caused political and social reverberation, through
the deliberate appropriation of the work in a multitude of cultures, countries, and religions
worldwide.
He is currently represented by Kodakone & Art+Commerce Agency NYC for Vogue
Italia, as well as The Collector’s Gallery of Art in Calgary.


Awards International Photography awards 2012
3rd place fine art professional category
for Mythos
3rd prize book category PX3 for 'Ghost'

Certificate of achievement. Bordeaux, France
Art Limited
Editor selection
'Nephthys'

Certificate of achievement. Bordeaux, France
Art Limited
Editor selection
'Shroud for a songbird'

Francis A Willey & Romana Kaspar-Kraft. Ep. 27

Francis is a Self-taught, 35mm film photographer. He is deeply fascinated by fabric and historical textiles and is a collector of rare books and antiquities. When Francis was a boy, his mother gifted him a Polaroid camera; in this interview, he walks us through his first art show and becomes the motivation to become an artist.

“The things that we are supposed to do is closest to us not far away."- Francis A Willey

Romana Kaspar-Kraft
Romana grew up around art. Her father owns an art gallery. Today she runs and operates her gallery here in Inglewood, Calgary. The Collectors' Gallery carries important original works of art including paintings, works on paper, and sculpture by Canadian masters from pre-Confederation to the present day. The Collectors' Gallery also represents over 30 prominent contemporary Canadian artists.

"It's my role to teach people about art" -Romana Kaspar-Kraft



Francis's Social Media:
Site: FrancisAWilley
Instagram: neopictorialist
Facebook:francisawilley

Romana's Social Media:
Site:thecollectorsgallery
Instagram: @the.collectors.gallery.of.art
Facebook: @romanakaspar-kraft

Let's Be Friends: 18th Avenue Podcast.com
Site:18thavenuepodcast
Instagram: @18thavenuepodcast
Facebook: @18thavenuepodcast

Francis Willey is often called a Neo-Pictorialist photographer. This stylistic term confronts us with those same classificatory systems of art history that have haunted the dreams of artists, scholars, and connoisseurs for over three centuries. For us, Pictorialism pleasurably conjures the lushly evocative and poetic images of Julia Margaret Cameron and Alfred Steiglitz, but it is useful to remember that their work was not always esteemed. The history of art is a record of reactions and revivals, institutional antipathies, and idiosyncratic personal relationships, as well as sporadic eruptions of creative genius and independent critical commentaries. During the heyday of Straight Photography in the U.S. (around 1940 to 1975), figures like Edward Weston and Ansel Adams poured scorn on The Pictorialists. Such was the vigor of his shadow side that Adams declared William Mortensen, a practitioner of Pictorialism, to be "The Antichrist".
Our sense of relief at being past that bloody conflagration owes much to the singular American photography critic and historian A.D. Coleman. In a recent lecture titled: "Return of the Suppressed: Pictorialism's Revenge", he asserted that: "...photographic ideas gathered under the loose heading of Pictorialism have climbed out of the dustbin of history, picked themselves up, brushed themselves off and stepped into the mainstream once more".

Francis Willey's mother gave him a Kodak camera in 1981 when he was twelve. The famous saying (now revealed by the Internet to be a Fake Buddha Quote) that "when the student is ready the teacher will appear" illuminates an essential quality of the creative intelligence behind Willey's lens. Though he describes himself as "self-taught", and "an outsider artist", his oeuvre reveals a profound understanding of the conventions of post-Renaissance European art, and an ongoing engagement with the visual arguments of Delacroix and Ingres, Velasquez, the Pre-Raphaelites, Whistler, Manet, and Renoir. His ongoing series of portraits in black and white also evoke the images of silent film, and their velvety shadows enveloping and amplifying the figures of actors. Cascades, a portrait of dancer Cindy Ansah (2020), with its smoky chiaroscuro, theatrical posture, and diaphanous lighted skeins of fabric bears a strong resemblance to the group of works Willey has collectively named Ghost. Her left arm is lifted obliquely across the frame and toward us like a folded wing, echoing the shape of the lateral vapor that drifts across her uplifted wrist, becoming, in an exquisite visual paradox, a solid swooping line that anchors the heavily sculptural head to the picture plane and integrates it into the image. The space opened between her arms is penetrated by a white triangle which acquires, the longer one looks at it, a boldly abstract life of its own. Into the compartment bounded by tensile, translucent cloth tumbles a wedge of springy dark hair. The elegant geometry of the construction, with its alternation of solid and void, becomes part of her dreamlike movement and the burnished delicacy of her features. She is both transfixed and in motion, in a dream but looking frankly outward. As her gaze meets ours, it is we who are, for a moment, enraptured.

In Rooms (2019), we see again the strongly established visual boundaries, an outward gaze mediating the unfolding of space behind, and a vibrantly beautiful female subject. This young woman is, but could not be on this scarred and beaten street. It is an environment temporarily vacated rather than empty - we are aware that its habitual residents are poised to reappear. The Rooms sign looms immoveable and thunders with associations. But she too is immoveable, and in her light and fragility, impossible. The long, pale rectangle of the entryway behind her, The line of noisy letters overhead, and the black band of shadow that rises midway from a point between her left shoulder and neck serve to connect her form to the receding walls of the building, the storefront window, and the stained pavement. A light triangle of pavement hovers at her left elbow and is answered on her other side by a parenthetical dark marking on the ground, and a foreshortened bicycle stand that lends a sense of particularity to the location. In her glowing white dress, chastened wavy blonde hair, and mesmerizing pale eyes the subject could be the sister of Mary Princep, who posed for Julia Margaret Cameron as Beatrice Cenci, in 1866. Unlike the Pictorialists, Willey has placed his subject within the unlovely inner city. Such scenes characterize the work of the mid 20th-century group of artists called The Street Photographers, but in Willey's photograph, it is the dissonance between the subject and her surroundings that is the true subject, and the persistent source of its uncanniness.

The portrait of Ian Keteku - Political Poet, a Canadian poet, musician, and activist, juxtaposes the effects of sharp focus and fragmented diffused light. The crisply particular and the softly evocative suggest both a unique personal identity and effect its transformation into a transcendent presence. His form is tucked squarely and firmly into the angle of the frame, and further fixed into the corner by the black shadow appearing below the edge of his breast pocket, which rises into a crest at the armpit and curves upward toward the shoulder before spreading like dark wing feathers that graze the right vertical edge of the image. The sharp-angled slopes of the lapels are lifted to admit spaces of shadow and volume, and the dazzling sculptural white of his collar is like the fabric wrapping in Cascades, minutely orchestrated elements of light and dark, solid and void, and textures both emphasized and dematerialized. The shoulder is drawn back to suggest impending forward movement, and a personality marked by vigor and strength of character. The fedora - resonant of stylishness, confidence, and masculinity - is set a rakish, larger than life tilt. It functions as both the formal and expressive centre of the photograph; one of many features which raise the portrait from documentary significance into the realm of art. The light he faces is beckoning and enlivening and we are invited to contemplate its private meaning.

To create a permeable boundary between form and meaning has been the project of artists since the Renaissance, and it has been the self-ascribed task of generations of critics and art historians to analyze, evaluate, and interpret the process of this creation. The great historian of the Italian painters of the Renaissance, Bernard Berenson, was thus transported at the sight of Botticelli's Venus Rising From the Sea: "take this line that renders the roundness of the wrist...the movements of the tossing hair the fluttering draperies, and the dancing waves...- take these lines alone, with all their power of stimulating our imagination of movement, and what do we have? Pure values of movement abstracted, unconnected with any representation whatever." As the Pictorialists knew, the works of photographers as well as painters use the vocabulary of art to show that seeing is the origin of making.
-Elizabeth Herbert
Art Historian, Curator, and Writer #Elizabethherbert #FrancisAWilley #Arthistory

CTVNEWS

#CTV #FrancisAWilley #canadianartist #35mmfilm #StephenHunt

CBCListen

#CBC #Homestretch #FrancisAWilley #Exposurefestival #CBCListen

Illumination Exhibition | Francis A. Willey at Collectors' Gallery of Art
TheCollectorsGalleryofArt


Rico Bottles explores the perspective of different cultures around the world by giving a voice to the people who live them daily alongside his personal narrative.
18th Avenue Podcastdotcom
18thavenuepodcast
18thavenuepodcast

The Collectors’ Gallery of Art, February 6 – February 28
Exposure2020
Hours: see cgoart.com FrancisAWilley
This exhibition, Illumination, is a celebration of three decades of dedication and love for the art of photography.

As the first photographer represented by The Collectors’ Gallery of Art, Francis A. Willey brings a unique traditional practice that incorporates romantic lighting and Pictorialist aesthetics in each of his fine art photographic prints, captured on 35mm film.

Francis A Willey is an internationally awarded and published artist, whose work is part of collections and galleries worldwide. The Alberta-born artist has been working in the photographic medium for over 3 decades and is known best for his signature lighting that takes painterly form. Francis's work has been recognized and compared to the early masters such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, and Emmanuel Radinsky.

“I have no words, upon seeing blindness”- Alexander McQueen (Fashion Designer)

“I like how your head works” - Douglas Kirkland (Photographer)

"Francis, I might not know from where the cold wind blows, but I know what I like and I dig your work. You can take that to the bank on your way mental baby! Don't go, don't go yet, it's wonderful stuff." - Christopher Walken (American actor, dancer, director, screenwriter, and playwright)

"It's truly beautiful and legitimizes photography as an art. With all the trashy "fashion photography” floating around and unexciting commercial stuff that I do on a regular basis for magazines and print, I've forgotten why I even like to be photographed at all. Your work has just reminded me that it's because once in a great while there's a chance to be part of the creation of an image like yours, where a woman's body or face can be sexy in a softer, subtle way rather than so harshly presented as an object. So thanks." - Christine Donlon (Actress and Writer)

“Francis is one of my favorite contemporary photographers. His lovely, ethereal, but also very real images show us the magic and mystery can be found in our modern world. We just need to know where to look.” - Dr. Theodora Goss (Senior Lecturer at Boston University. MFA/Ph.D. Boston University.)

Access: Location is wheelchair accessible
Child Friendly

A collaborative project of Canadian Poets, writing poems along with solo piano and beats inspired by types of clouds. A healing and meditative soundscape.
astudyofclouds

GHOST BOOK 2020
{To purchase a book click the link below}

franciswilley.bigcartel.com/product/gho…

Ghost book 44 pages, hardcover fine art book. 35mm film images from the series GHOST.

is his journey into the psyche and soul and shroud of humankind. Based on his personal experiences, visitations with ghosts and angels, spectral beings. He is deeply fascinated by historical textiles and fabrics and uses these materials to wrap and adorn the body.

His reconciliation with life and the afterlife, He folds in chiaroscuro fashion textiles, that live upon the skin to enhance the shadow. The lighting used would be reflective of the bursts that startled the dark.
Expressed with 35mm B&W film.

His search with the ideologies of immortality and mortality, soul or spirit. Clarified in the beginning as an empirically unfounded belief structure, hence an illusion illustriously presented as light and form floating before his eyes, then emblazoned on film to understand faith and the doctrines of the living.

Signed upon request.

Edition 3

The 3 randomly selected books come with a small 5x7 print from the book, textile from ghost.

Congratulations to Francis!

Bronze Winner in Fine
Art for his Series, The Fragile World, at PX3, The Prix de la Photographie, Paris 2020
thisfragileworld
and

The article in PhotoEd Magazine Winter 20/21 titled, Francis A. Willey's "Blindness" - The Surprising Story of a Single Frame of Film by Kerry Manders
PhotoEdMagazine

FRANCIS A. WILLEY
Longing of a Ghost
Carbon print on fiber paper - 19" x 13"

Longing_of_a_ghost

More Editions:
collectorsgalleryofart

Calgary Press Release for Pandemic Poems
For Immediate Release
Nov. 18, 2020
Canadian Poets Ponder the Pandemic: A New Poetry Anthology Coming This Fall
Hold your horses Calgary! There’s a gorgeous new poetry anthology riding into town.
Pandemic Poems, edited by writer, translator, and classics professor Dr. Kevin Solez, presents pandemic-themed reflections by forty-nine different poets from across Canada.
The anthology features fabulous writing from our wonderful Poet Laureate Emerita Sheri-D Wilson, author of A Love Letter to Emily C, winner of the City of Calgary Arts Award, and two-time winner for the Best of Calgary poet award. Also featured are local poets CobraCollins , KirkMiles, and FrancisAWilley, co-founder of the photography magazine SEITIES, whose work has appeared on VogueItalia and has been shown around the world Exhibitions Christian Bök, FRSC, formerly of the University of Calgary and author of Griffin Poetry prize-winning Eunoia contributes his poem “Language is a Virus from Outer Space.” We hear also from the beating heart of the Calgary literary scene, playwright and novelist EugeneStickland, author of Queen Lear and Some Assembly Required.
Enjoy these authors and many more as they contemplate the world-changing global health crisis we all find ourselves in and the variety of ways people have learned to cope with all the changes the pandemic has brought to daily life.
For further information on upcoming Pandemic Poems events, or to order a copy of the anthology, please visit the website: Pandemicpoems
Further information is also available at Pandemic_poems
As well as being available to order online as a book and ebook, Pandemic Poems is available at Shelf Life Books Pandemicpoems in Calgary. The book is published by Kendall Hunt Higher Education publishing and the price is $45.
Kevin Solez will be in Calgary on the weekend of Nov. 21-22, conducting socially distanced interviews with poets in the collection and recording some video readings at Calgary landmarks. Kevin is available for telephone, online, or in-person interviews. Please contact kevin_solez@hotmail.com

Front and back cover art by Francis A. Willey
Manyeyescity

Winter 2020: Beautiful B&W #60

The B&W issue celebrates 20 YEARS in PRINT!
BLINDNESS_Story
PhotoEd

Issue #60!
Featuring:

Rosalie Favell - Facing the Camera
Photography as a Gift By Ruth Bergen Braun
Matt Williams’ Two Rivers
Kamelia Pezeshki - Attention to detail
Francis A. Willey’s “Blindness” By Kerry Manders Kerry_Manders
Jessica Deeks GIRLS+ ROCK OTTAWA
Christine Fitzgerald - A fierce and ordinary reality By Brandy Ryan
Karolina Kuras - Romance, flight, & fluidity By Mark Walton
Ally Gonzalo BAKLA! By Michelle Joseph
Kate Roy - Affinity



& The READERS GALLERY



Cover by Karolina Kuras

PX3AWARDS

One of my favourite photography competitions in Paris, has awarded me 3rd place in fine art for my series-'This fragile world'. I am thrilled to be selected among many inspiring artists from around the world. @px3 #px3 #filmphotography #35mm #fineart #fragileworld #paris

Signed Editions

My Collage and Ink on paper: Alias MANYEYECITY
Manyeyescity

Order Issue 2 of New Forum Magazine. My 35mm image, 'Lady Iliad' graces the cover, glad to be part of this publication that features poetry, short stories, creative non-fiction, and artwork from Alberta writers and artists. This issue includes the winner of the inaugural Flash Fiction Contest!

To order click link below:
Issuetwo

#newforummagazine

Now represented by The Collectors' Gallery of fine Canadian art in Calgary, Alberta.

Excited about this next journey.

TheCollectors'galleryoffineCanadianart

Blindness

#collectorsgalleryofart

In memory of my friend Vaughan Oliver

VaughanOliver

New film score piece

Vampire Bridal Party

From the forthcoming new album of unreleased demos- TBA June 2019.
Light in the window- Solo piano

Lightinthewindow

Identity

Francis A. Willey presents pieces from his series inclusionists which includes themes of gender roles and freedom of expression.

Francis Willey is a self-taught, traditional 35mm film photographer. Willey’s three images feature drag artists and are part of his ongoing series titled ‘inclusionists.’

Willey believes that everyone should have the right to express personal identity. “I touch upon gender roles, rights and freedoms to express and build confidences, change stereotypes and build transformative feelings. Drag queens and kings personify freedom of expression through performance and persona with reversed gender roles.”

Willey hopes that people will experience the MRU exhibition, which can hopefully help expand personal horizons and depth of compassion, support the arts and celebrate photography.

The group exhibition is Mount Royal’s contribution to Exposure Alberta’s only photography festival, now in its 15th year. Exposure hosts over 30,000 attendees annually, with most events free and open to the public. This is the second year that MRU has taken part, after Curtis Desiatnyk, manager of Insurance and Risk at Mount Royal and long-time member (now chair) of the University Art Committee, took the initiative last year to organize and curate an exhibit around the theme of Reconciliation, which featured Indigenous photographers and poets.

From Reconciliation to Identity

MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY
Identity
Group exhibition
Exhibition dates: February 7, 2019 - January 31, 2020
Opening reception: February 7, 3pm

‘Identity’ is a photographic exploration of identity through individuality, conformism, the swinging pendulum of societal expectation, and cultural norm. This exhibition investigates the hope of discovering identity and acceptance of self by simultaneously striping away, layering, and absorbing the world around us.

Curated by Curtis (Dez) Desiatnyk, ‘Identity’ features work by Sanja Lukac, Kaitlin Moerman, Ellen FitzGerald Reichbart, and Francis Willey.


Gallery hours:
Mon - Sun: 7am - 10pm

Identity
Mo B.Dick

This is an amazing example as to why the KODAKOne platform was conceived. "There should be recognition of the creator of the work. Images should be protected." Francis A. Willey, 35mm photographer.

KODAKONE

Identity

Seities 10th Anniversary Publication Launch

Feb 17th 2019-Sun 5 PM · Shelf Life Books

Seities10thissuelaunch

#seities

Location: Arts commons

Window Galleries (across from Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons)
Dates: December 7, 2018 - March 1, 2019
Artist Reception: Friday, March 1, 2019

‘This series pays tribute to the divine woman, an indispensable condition of the highest beauty. Representing the oracle, the mother, or the feminine goddess, an iconographical figure offering spiritual guidance and healing.

These seers appear as mystics in nature translated onto 35mm colour film, and each conveys the feminine as the oracle, the sister, the ghost, the warrior, and the elemental grandeur.

This diversity, strength, and wisdom are what profoundly inspires courage and freedom in this tumultuous world.

Interview

Francis A. Willey
Local photographer learned firsthand the blessing and the curse of digital culture-STEPHEN HUNT

robins

new film music
June 1 2018

Laughter and sadness

Francis A. Willey (Live at CJSW 360)

SERIES OF DREAMS

SELECTIONS FROM 17 YEARS/68 ISSUES OF SHOTS MAGAZINE

Edited by RUSSELLJOSLIN

Series of Dreams

Russell Joslin references work curated over 17 years as Publisher & Editor of Shots magazine to create a uniquely poetic and conceptually unified collection of imagery which simultaneously comforts, challenges, and delights the viewer. This beautifully printed volume includes 157 striking and memorable works from Joslin’s 68 issues of the magazine. Meticulously sown images are divided into thought-provoking and luscious chapters, but it is much more than a “best of” anthology. Elaborating on the surrealist sensibilities of Joslin’s Black Forest [Candela Books, 2014], Series of Dreams achieves an elusive balance between the humane and the ethereal; that rare and magical aesthetic that lets us experience the universal nature of dreaming while acknowledging the highly personal experience of one’s own dreams. The work of each artist is celebrated and allowed to breathe, each image recognized for its beauty and mystery; this, while the work of Joslin – through his deliberate and purposeful selection and sequencing – offers a sense of community and cohesion.

Series of Dreams is the debut title of Skeleton Key Press, a new voice in contemporary art publishing. A complete list of contributing artists and photos of the book follows.

* * *

"It is Russell Joslin's breathtaking ability to source, to see, to recognize photography that transcends reiteration to become Art, yes, and further to describe Beauty—Beauty as profound and nuanced as kindness is—which defined his 17 year tenure as editor of Shots and is here distilled into intoxicating lucidity." –Sally Mars, from the foreword of Series of Dreams

* * *

Published by Skeleton Key Press, February 2018
ISBN 978-0-9997553-0-3
9 x 11 in (23 x 28 cm)
Hardbound, 192 pp
Designed by Russell Joslin
Foreword by Sally Mars
Interview with Russell Joslin

Contributing artists: Geoffrey Agrons, Jane Fulton Alt, Dave Anderson, Richard Ansett, Éric Antoine, Angela Bacon-Kidwell, Roger Ballen, Allan Barnes, Allison Barnes, Douglas Beasley, Peter Sumner Walton Bellamy, Rita Bernstein, Anne Berry, Julie Blackmon, B.A. Bosaiya, Jeremey Bot, Velibor Božovic, Matthieu Brouillard, Joscha Bruckert, Susan Burnstine, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Rebecca Cairns, Catherine Cameron, Tom Chambers, Polly Chandler, Chang Chao-Tang, Colleen Longo Collins, Monica Denevan, Maggie Diaz, Gina Easley, Smith Eliot, Janieta Eyre, Torkil Færø, Gloria Baker Feinstein, Tobias Feltus and Joseph Feltus (FeltusFeltus), Teresa Flowers, Roman Franc, Susan Friedman, Valerie Galloway, Rimma Gerlovina and Valeriy Gerlovin, Carol Golemboski, Elijah Gowin, Scarlett Hooft Graafland, Brigitte Grignet, Robin Hann, Kip Harris, Cig Harvey, Anna Hayat and Slava Pirsky, Cornelia Hediger, Øyvind Hjelmen, Josef Hoflehner, Eirik Holmøyvik, Kazha Imura, Amy James, Olivia Johnston, Russell Joslin, Bastian Kalous, Keymo, Ghada Khunji, Kevin Kline and Bruce Schultz, Viktor Kolář, Antigone Kourakou, Mariya Kozhanova, George Krause, Aëla Labbé, Alain Laboile, Louviere+Vanessa, EJ Major, Igor Malijevský, Isa Marcelli, Brittany Markert, Sally Mars, Sayaka Maruyama, Edith Maybin, Anne Arden McDonald, Julie Meridian, Bridget Murphy Milligan, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Beth Moon, Jeff Moorfoot, Robert Moran, Shelly Mosman, Celeste Nelms, Suk Kuhn Oh, Louie Palu, Lydia Panas, Edoardo Pasero, Sean Perry, Ivan Pinkava, Agafia Polynchuk, Douglas Prince, Jacqueline Roberts, Ellen Rogers, William Ropp, Ken Rosenthal, Ed Ross, Sebastian Rut, Steve Schapiro, Nashalina Schrape, Larry Schwarm, Robin Schwartz, Deb Schwedhelm, Lauren Semivan, Jennifer Shaw, J. Shimon & J. Lindemann, Erica Shires, Elizabeth Siegfried, Lauren E. Simonutti, Kristen and Mark Sink, Vojtěch V. Sláma, Aline Smithson, Tone Elin Solholm, Daniel Southard, Vee Speers, Bjørn Sterri, Gordon Stettinius, Håkan Strand, Maura Sullivan, Darla Teagarden, Heiko Tiemann, Sylvie Tillmann, Alexey Titarenko, Pavel Titovich, Ana Tornel, Arthur Tress, Rod Tuach, Bill Vaccaro, Tom Van de Ven, Alexander Veledzimovich, Doifel Videla, Oleg Videnin, Lori Vrba, Garie Waltzer, Helen Warner, Hiroshi Watanabe, Donata Wenders, James Wigger, Francis A. Willey, Michael Wilson, Vanessa Winship, Marc Yankus, Shigeki Yoshida

Seriesofdreams

TheTempest

When we loved:: Solo Piano by Francis A Willey

Cover painting by Maia Adriana Reinking

francisawilley.bandcamp.com/releases

Feel fortunate to have my images part of this fine art auction :: Ghost Poetry & The romance of Dante and Beatrice will be part of the moderne and zeitgenössische fotografie / modern and contemporary photography at jeschke van vliet in Berlin, Germany.
Auktion 117 / Auction 117- catalog
29. September 2017 / September 29th 2017
Beginn 15 Uhr, Start at 3 pm
Moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst, Moderne Photographie, Alte Gemälde, Antiquitäten
Modern and contemporary Art, Modern Photography, Old Paintings, Antiques


jeschke van vliet
#jeschkevanvliet #invaluable #conteporaryart #berlin #kunst #francisawilley #35mm https://m.facebook.com/jeschkevanvliet/
#auctions #blacknwhite #filmphotography #editions @ Berlin, Germany