Urban Psychologist, Psychogeographer & Urban Adventurer
I do not follow a different drummer ... I am the drummer. My drum beats in time with the heart of the CITY ...
The City is a dynamic, living narrative, an unfolding autobiography, a melding of countless invisible stories; raveling not in words but in movement, fear, desire, need, coupling— the daily of living.
The city seen is a narrative painted upon the canvas of the city invisible; meaning – definition – is found not in the narrative, but in the illegible depths of the unseen city. To think that the 'painting' is the narrative is delusional. For what is seen is but an incomplete snapshot in time, one fragment of the ever-unfolding narrative. Incomplete because it cannot capture the full dynamic of that moment, limited to the immediate perspective and surround.
Yet we delude ourselves into believing that we can arrange the narratives of "captured city" in a collage called "The City." Deluded, we seek to manage that which has been captured; convincing ourselves the fiction that we write is The City.
And The City ceases to exist.
My mission is to give voice to the ever-changing story of the city through art, film, and word of all genres.
A statement about how I work:
I unabashedly admit my bias: I believe in living creatively, in living as if the proverbial "box" never existed in the first place. Simply stated, I live to be an architect of creative concepts and I seek to surround myself with mad, creative people to share with me in exploring not only the living narrative we call The City, but also LIFE.
I don't believe in quick fixes and cookie-cutter solutions. I am not a follower of fads, but I can predict the next fad with uncanny accuracy. I have the ability to discover and nurture the non-obvious, to facilitate compelling and strategically sound fresh breakthrough advances that will nurture growth. To be successful you have to be able to recognize an idea when you see it. Because I believe in, and am driven by creativity, I can feel an "idea coming," birth (conceptualize) it, and mature it into fruition.
The fact is, great results result from great facilitation; and no matter how good the idea is, if it is not excellently facilitated the result will be less than great, and I have no desire to produce anything but a great piece. I will not waste my time on half-baked ideas or facilitation.
Born in Baltimore, 1943, Frank is the founder of Ideas Matter (1999), an ideation consortium, the
forerunner of the planning consortium Urban Paradoxes (2000), and Modus Vivendi (2001), a urban ethnic documentary project. On April 1, 2008 these two projects were combined to become the new mission Urban Paradoxes, that of documenting the urban experience in a way that causes us to see urban life and its related issues with "new eyes."
Frank previously served as Director of External Affairs at the University of Akron,
the Interim Director for The National Center for Polymers in Construction,
and as faculty at Marylhurst University where he taught Celtic & Cultural Studies,
among other courses. He was the founder and publisher of the Celtic Studies journal, Brigit's Feast.
Academically, Frank was honored by being designated as a Broadhurst Scholar and a Byington Fellow.
Frank's essays on Celtic, theological, urban, and gardening subjects, as well as a number of his photos, have appeared online, in numerous periodicals, and encyclopedias. He asisted in the production of, and acted in, the short TV film, Why? (1968). He has also been involved in the production of several sort promotional pieces. His "Black Light Maze" (1970) was one of the first interactive kinetic art projects in the country.