Frances Trombly

Frances Trombly (b. 1976) was born in Miami, Florida, where she lives and works. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1998. Her work considers the relationship between textiles and painting, exposing history and labor by deconstructing and liberating the canvas. Through this process, Trombly challenges the historical hierarchies between painting and textile practices, asserting fiber as both material and structure within contemporary art.

Trombly’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Selected exhibitions include What Holds, a solo exhibition at Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles (2026), with additional exhibitions at the gallery (2021, 2016, 2011, 2010); To Weave the Sky at El Espacio 23 (2023); the Québec City Biennale (Manif d’art) (2022); #Fail at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans (2022); and Sun Valley Museum of Art (2022). Additional solo and group exhibitions include presentations at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Contemporary Arts Program (2016); the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (2015, 2007, 2005); Pérez Art Museum Miami (2013); Locust Projects (2013, 2006); The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (2012); Kennesaw State University Art Museum, Kennesaw, GA (2012); The Bass Museum of Art (2011); Moore College of Art & Design, Goldie Paley Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2011); and Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY (2008).

She has received numerous grants, awards, and residencies. Residencies include TEXERE, Oaxaca, Mexico (2026); Artpace, San Antonio (2022); Hambidge Center (2019); Oolite Arts (2019); and Vermont Studio Center (2007). Awards and recognitions include The Ellies, Oolite Arts Awards (2024, 2019); Knight Arts Champion (2017); a nomination for a United States Artists Fellowship (2017); a Knight Arts Challenge Award in collaboration with Girls’ Club, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2010); and recipient of the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship (2009). Her work is held in public and private collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Pérez Art Museum Miami, NSU Art Museum, and the Jorge M. Pérez Collection.

Trombly’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection (El Espacio 23, 2023); Making Miami (Creative Accelerator, 2023), featuring a conversation between Frances Trombly and Bonnie Clearwater; Les illusions sont réelles, Illusions Are Real, Manif d’art 10—La biennale de Québec, edited by Steven Matijcio (Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 2022); Change Agents: Six South Florida Artists Making Things Happen by Michelle Weinberg and Sarah Michelle Rupert (Girls’ Club, 2018); Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia from the Dennis and Debra Scholl Collection by Henry Skerritt (DelMonico Books / Prestel Publishing, 2016); Frances Trombly: Paintings, with essays by Bonnie Clearwater, Jenni Sorkin, Elaine Reichek, and Denise Delgado and a foreword by Michelle Weinberg (Girls’ Club, 2011); Younger Than Jesus: The Artist Directory by Massimiliano Gioni, Laura Hoptman, and Lauren Cornell (Phaidon Press, 2009); and Miami Contemporary Artists by Paul Clemence and Julie Davidow, with an introduction by Elisa Turner (Schiffer Publishing, 2007).

Trombly is the Co-Founding Director of Dimensions Variable (DV), a nonprofit contemporary art space in Miami she established with artist Leyden Rodríguez-Casanova in 2009. She continues to lead the organization, which supports underrecognized voices and experimental practices through exhibitions, studios, and public dialogue. Under her leadership, DV has supported over 200 artists and received major funding from the Knight Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, and other cultural institutions.