IN THE COLOR WEAVE

Stand in front of a Marcia Fraerman painting and the colors dance. They really do. Step forward, back, or to the side just a bit and the square shapes move, magically shifting in sectional dominance, presenting a kaleidoscope of possibilities. Vividly painted in multiples, Fraerman’s Color Weaves are squares at play, a series of works she started about 15 years ago that continue to be the best expression of the woman she is now: artist, collector, teacher, parent, and leader in Chicago’s art community.

In her studio, located at the tip-top of her Georgian brick Glencoe home, Fraerman points to two paintings from the Color Weaves series entitled Fair and Square that face each other from opposite ends of the room, one larger, one smaller. “I love to experiment with how the eye sees things,” she says. “Working with the color placement, to achieve optical illusion which is multiplied by the fact that each person sees and experiences things differently.” She steps back and gestures, “And the smaller you go with the size of the work, the more the painting moves.”

Fraerman’s work is the product of a lifetime of influences. From her parents came an open-minded view of the world and the encouragement to experiment and be present for enriching experiences in the city. “When Martin Luther King spoke, we were there. When Alexander Calder’s Flamingo sculpture was dedicated at the Federal Plaza, we were there. When The Happening at the MCA happened in 1967, we were there. It was all food for thought. Ballet, music, museums, and art events. My parents were ‘yes’ people. They’d say, ‘Okay, you want to try something? We are going to support you in that.’”

Such attitudes meant piano lessons beginning at age 6, and painting lessons through the North Shore Art League starting at One clear through line back to her early paintings? “They have always been very bold,” says Fraerman: “I was never afraid of color or using it in a very strong way.”

Meeting her future husband, Tom, when the two were just 15 at Highland Park High School brought with it the influence of two great female artists: Tom’s mother, Joan Binkley, a talented ceramicist and bead artist, and his grandmother Claire Zeisler, the world-renowned fiber artist. “We spent a lot of time together, and they were very generous in their conversations with me about their art practices,” says Fraerman. “Joan’s studio was in her home, and I remember being honored that she’d even ask to hear my opinions of what she was working on.”

One cherished memory from that time? “I will never forget showing Claire an op-art piece I had painted when I was 16 that she really liked, telling me it reminded her of Bridget Riley. I had no idea who that was, so I went to the library and looked it up and felt so flattered! But she was right!”

In college, Fraerman majored in art history and education at Washington University, working in the art and architecture library where it was “pure joy to just handle and read all of these books, learn about the artists, and view all of the work.” Throughout, the work she admired most was modern and nonrepresentational and came from artists who thought differently and created things differently, prompting her to do her senior thesis on Marcel Duchamp. Post-graduation, with her husband in law school and art history jobs scarce, Fraerman spent several years teaching at private primary schools where she was able to shape curricula full of music and art. And then came her two children.

An unexpected benefit of her years teaching, parenting, and working as a communicator with administration, parents, and teachers alike: Fraerman knew she could speak on topics she was passionate about. This helped as she moved into new leadership roles such as serving on the Women’s Board at the Museum of Contemporary Art (including four years as president.) Relationships built through her work in the arts community naturally deepened the art she and Tom collected—broadening it from the family pieces they owned by Zeisler and Binkley to paintings by artists such as William T. Wiley and Roger Brown. Plus, a growing number of works by established female artists such as Caroline Kent and Anna Kunz, and emerging artists such as Jacqueline Surdell and Ana Villagomez.

And then came a seminal moment in her artistic journey. Grieving the death of her mother-in-law, Joan Binkley, Fraerman faced her canvas one day and felt she wanted to clear everything out. To start fresh without overthinking, “to paint what felt right for who I was now.” From this emerged a much more controlled style of painting, completely devoid of figures. “I love people, but I don’t make or buy figurative art,” she says. “I’m a pretty linear person. These paintings are very planned,” she explains. “The process of painting them is very meditative and the creation, very mathematical.”

Some mornings Fraerman wakes with a vision of something she wants to try and then gets to work filling sketchbooks with carefully planned grids, numbers, and color pairings. Creating each painting, Fraerman works with tape strips and is careful to leave imperfections in place. “It’s important to me to show the hand in the work,” she explains. Beginning at the center, Fraerman adds squares from there, watching to see how the piece will bloom as it expands. “When I plan it out, I anticipate how it will work as I paint, but there is always an element of joy and surprise.”

Currently, Fraerman has the second of three Square Up paintings from the Color Weaves series in place on her easel. This painting is dominated by triangular stacks of squares in a horizontal monochromatic scheme that suggests a cityscape or triad of temples, each rising to a peak. “People read it in different ways, but I think it communicates something joyous as if it’s reaching for something.”

And so, her Color Weaves continue. “I feel myself caught in them,” observes Fraerman. “They’ve captivated me. I haven’t said all I can with them yet.”

For more information, visit marciafraerman.com.