Artful Legacy

Over the month of June, the Wright Museum of Art and the Beloit Art Center in downtown Beloit exhibited a selection of works by the late Franklin Boggs (1914-2009), a noted artist who substantially expanded Beloit’s studio art program from the time the college hired him in 1945.

Boggs influenced legions of students until he retired in 1977. In addition to his teaching legacy, his creative output includes many commissions and large-scale murals, paintings he made as a correspondent during World War II, and later explorations with new materials and processes.

The Wright Museum produced a program to accompany the exhibit, which mentions that at age 88, Professor Boggs was asked what advice he had for young artists. He didn’t hesitate. “Take drawing classes again and again,” he said. “Drawing is the essence of everything.”