After studying art and sociology at Brandeis Univeristy, she entered Boston University's School of Fine Arts, receiving an MFA in photography and graphic design. She has since held a succession of positions in the field of illustration and design. Between her professional life and raising two daughters, Fran continued to create her personal art, combining her illustrative and photographic skills with a passion for surrealism, paradox, illusion, assemblage, the non-human world, and the dislocations of time and place. Her work draws inspiration not only from 19th c. pictorialist photography but chiefly from the 20th c. artists who used color, visual narratives and symbolism to contemplate the human condition. Fran is a Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University and a recipient of several foundation grants. She teaches workshops in digital montage, and her work has received many awards and has been exhibited widely, both locally and internationally.