Francesca Berlingieri Maxwell

I trained in Fine Art in Milano at the Liceo Artistico, in Beijing at the Central Institute of Fine Arts and studied at the faculty of Arts and Humanities at Bologna University. I was an apprentice under the painter and etcher Arrigo Ghisellini for fifteen years and worked with the restorer Paola Centurini on 17th, 18th and 19th century oil paintings.

I am fascinated by the effects of transparency and layering in a variety of media, particularly with ink and watercolour but also with pastels, fused glass and digital painting. Through shapes and colours I am exploring movement and depth following my intuitive journey; sometimes in a more figurative and sometime in a completely abstract world. My own work explores the synergy between colours and the movement of depth.

After moving to England I worked as a scenic artist at the National Theatre, Opera North, the Bristol Old Vic, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and many other theatres throughout the UK.

In the last fifteen years I worked in stop-motion animation; as Senior Painter on Aardman’s “Chicken Run”, Head Painter on Tim Burton’s “The Corpse Bride” and Art Director on Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr Fox” and “ParaNorman”.

I founded and run for two years the Post Graduate Course in Scenic Art at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and still teach there part-time both in Scenic Art and on Animation Projects. I am also visiting tutor on Animation Design at the National Film and Television School.

I have exhibited at the RWA Bristol, at the“Good” gallery in Portland, OR. ; at the  “Fish” and “Thou Art in Hampstead” galleries in London; at the Theatre-by-the-Lake in Keswick and at the Tobacco Factory and QEH Theatre in Bristol. 

www.fbm.me.uk