IIn the word "ineffable", The English language admits its own limitations. This word bespeaks an entire realm of experience which, by definition, is beyond words. Our desire to evoke this ineffable realm calls forth the language of Art, the colorful, shapely language of the mythic imagination.
Star of the Sea: Star of Evening, Star of Morning, Radiant Queen

The sun-filled and starry skies unfurl from the blue mantle of Mary, the Queen of Heaven. She is flanked by the sun and moon, her breast a blooming field. Arching over the Blessed Mother is a landscape of the Star rising over the western sea. The doors are 24K gold leaf on wood tooled with eight-pointed stars. Paint on canvas and wood, tooled 24k golf leaf, incised copper , silk, beads 30h"x27w"xd4" with doors open. ©1993
My hands are wise.
The creative process has always been my spiritual practice, it is how I learn all that is essential.
Thread, paint, silk ,copper, shell, wood, feather---within my hands they are my teachers.
My mind and heart are awakened and expanded through the work of my wise hands.
Catal Huyuk, the Living Mystery: Girl Unfolding Henna Palms

Painted on Canvas and wood, clay pots, copper 41"hx23"wx3"d
Image in Arch: The Great Birth-giving Goddess of Ancient Anatolia flanked by leopards: two Hecilar clay pots with hand motif.
Top image: Ancient temple interior: cat goddess giving birth to bull/cow skulls
Central image: Girl revealing Henna palms in village down the road from the dig at Catal Huyuk,,1999
Lower image: Mudbrick house with cow skull tied to a tree; the skull is ritually enlivened with golden fruit in the eye sockets. Seen in a village down the road from the dig at Catal Huyuk ©2001
Art created in a Sacred process transforms the artist and is a revelation to those beholding the finished work.
Crete: Moonrise over the Horns of Consecration ©2001

Paint on canvas and wood, gold lear on carved wood, mica
Doors Closed: crescent mica moon ascending over gold labyris and full moon. Labyrinth with snake heads at ends of paths, revealing labyris shape in the relfected light on the labyrinth. Painting of carved butterfly, another labysris symbol 29"hx12"wx4"d
Doors Open: Snake priestess of Knossos wearing cow head necklace, with lively snakes, flaked by Horns of Consecration, crowned by gold leaf labyris
29"hx23"wx3"d
Contact Artist
Rose Wognum Frances, M.F.A.

Rose is an award-winning artist working in mixed media, including painting, metalwork, textiles, and wood work. Her artwork has been shown since 1970 in numerous international museums and galleries, including the American Craft museum, New York, N.Y., and the Corcoran Gallery and Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. From 1975-1985 she was faculty in the Fine Arts Department of Florida International University. In 1985, she moved to San Francisco, where she created her artwork full-time for nine years. During this time, she presented workshops and lectures in many Bay Area college programs. Her research and teaching integrates the creative process, the language of myth and symbol, art history, and shamanism. Rose was the Director of the Women's Spirituality Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies from 1994 through 1997. In 1998, she co-founded a Masters of Arts program at New College in San Francisco. She was Director and Core Faculty of this MA program until 2001, when she returned to her full-time work as a studio artist.