Artist Bio: Frank Grisdale

• The Government of Alberta;
• The Royal Museum of Alberta;
• The Alberta Foundation for the Arts;
• The Art Gallery of Alberta;
• The Republic of Mexico (gift of Alberta Government);
• The Banff Centre for Mountain Culture

• Centre For Fine Art Photography, Ft Collins CO, 2006 - Group Show
• The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, 2006 - Permanent Collection
• Green Foundation - 4 South Korean Cities - 2006 - 'Water' - Group Show
• Prairie Gallery, Grande Prairie AB - 2006 - Solo Show
• Iris Gallery, The Hamptons, Great Barrington, MA - 2006 - Solo Show
• West End Gallery Edmonton, Alberta - 2005 - Group Show
• Marjorie Wood Gallery; Red Deer, Alberta - 2004 - Solo Show
• Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Yukon - 2003 - Solo Show
• The Photography Room; Grand Rapids, Michigan - 2003 - Solo Show
• Museo Naxionale Della Montagna; Torino, Italy - 02-03 - Group Show
• Banff Centre for Mountain Culture; Banff, Alberta - 2002 - Group Show
Jasper Park Lodge Gallery, Jasper, Alberta - 2002 - Solo Show Royal Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta - 2002 - Solo Show

Frank is featured in Carte Blanche - published by The Magenta Foundation, and MaryAnn Camilleri (formerly with Phaidon and Abrams), Summer 2006. Carte Blanche showcases the top Canadian fine art photographers.
Images were curated by Maia-Mari Sutnick, Curator of Photography at the Art Gallery of Ontario, along with Ann Thomas of the National Gallery of Canada.

Rather than all of the fine detail common in traditional landscape photography, I deliberately reduce that detail, and place more emphasis on light, line and color. These photographs are all created inside my camera, without alteration.

I am never quite sure what impressions time and motion will leave on the film until I see the results on the light table. In some ways, most of these photos are conscious accidents. As I expose the film, in some cases for up to 30 seconds, slight movements (usually from breathing) cause fine details to merge and mix on the film.

"While he may describe his work as 'the exact opposite of Ansel Adams', Grisdale admits to being more in the formalist camp than not and also a bit of a romantic. His show contains traditional mountainscapes, and the soft spoken photographer readily admits to being a seeker of the' sublime'. 'I'm always looking for as unaltered a landscape as possible; pristine places. The elimination of detail that comes with my process creates a dreamlike quality which emphasizes the sublime setting. It gives the images a classic feeling.'"

"When he is shooting, Grisdale haunts farms, fields, lakes and forest pathways at either dawn or dusk, when the 'sweet-light' that he seeks helps him to produce his dreamy colours and shapes."

"Frank Grisdale is a photographer, though you'd never guess by his work. His soft, hazy shots of Alberta's dancing canola fields, trees and water look as if he uses a paintbrush, not a Nikon camera, to capture his images.

Such flowing movement is ideal for conveying the essence of music - 8 of Grisdale's breathtaking landscapes are now featured on a series of albums released by Sony Classical in Europe. Puffy blobs of clouds grace the cover of Isaac Stern Plays Mozart. A lake of gold, surrounded by yellow and green fields, lights up an album of Antonin Dvorak compositions. Thunder clouds as thick as mashed potatoes stare down at a green field, on a collection of Joseph Haydn symphonies."

Artevo Shipping and "No Questions Asked" Return Policy

Artevo will generally ship your purchase within 14 days, via Federal Express, UPS or Canada Post. The shipping period will vary depending on your location and the extent of packaging and handling required for each purchase. An unframed limited edition that is shipped in a tube would take less time than that of say a large framed original that requires special crating. A 7 day return policy makes your purchase at Artevo.com completely risk free.

If for any reason, you are not absolutely satisfied with your purchase, simply notify us within seven days of your receipt of the artwork. You may return the artwork for a full refund or it can be exchanged. In each case you pay only the shipping. Returned artwork must be suitably insured and re-sent in the same packing materials in which it was originally sent. Please let us know if you would like to return the artwork by calling us at 1-877-244-4644 (toll free from the US) or 1-403-244-8123 (from outside the US) or by e-mail at In either case our Customer Care representative will guide you through the process and issue you with a return confirmation.

In the unlikely event that the artwork arrives damaged, please call Customer Care immediately on 1-877-244-4644 (toll free from the US) or 1-403-244-8123 (from outside the US) or e-mail us at Our Customer Care representative will guide you through your options. These may include replacing the damaged artwork, credit towards another purchase, or a full refund.

Online Color Consistency

At Artevo – we strive to make sure that all of the artwork displayed on the site is shown in the most accurate fashion possible. However it is possible that due to the make and model of both your computer’s video card and monitor, the colors shown on your computer may not be exactly the same as the actual artwork. Artevo has no control over this scenario and assumes that when you purchase a piece of art that the artwork ordered may not be exactly the same as seen on the website. However if you are unsatisfied with your purchase just follow the Shipping and returns policy outlined above.

What does the word giclée mean?

The contemporary Giclée has become a valuable part of the limited edition fine art world. "Giclée" is a French term which means to spray ink. The pronunciation of giclée is "zhee-clay."

Essentially, a giclée print is the reproduction of an original work of art (created by conventional means, such as painting, drawing, etc.) using a highly specialized inkjet printer.

Giclées have a higher resolution than offset lithographs and the dynamic color range is greater than that of a serigraph. Giclées are created by a method of printing in which the image is scanned and digitally enhanced on a computer to match the original fine art. The image is then sent to a high-resolution inkjet printer, which sprays millions of microscopic droplets of ink onto various substrates to create an image with smooth tonal gradation. These unique jets are able to vary the width of the ink stream to as small as 1/100th the width of human hair. In the art world this is generally regarded as the highest quality reproduction available.

Despite the fact that artists were experimenting with this medium as far back as the late 1970s, fine art inkjet printing emerged as an art form in the early 1990s. The term giclée was originally only applied to a very specific form of printing: the output from the Iris inkjet printer (more specifically the Iris 3024, 3047, or 3047G).Today, giclée can refer to any digital fine art canvas print output on a quality inkjet printer. Such well-known brands as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan and Hewlett Packard have high end 6 – 12 color printers that are used to make fine art giclées.

The entire process of production to achieve the final fine art giclée is an artistic endeavor within itself, requiring a great deal of patience and skill. A professional quality giclée starts with a high resolution digital photograph. This file must then be color corrected and adjusted to match the original artwork.

Matching the final print to the original painting is a demanding process, because the digital colors of an image (which are composed of three colors: red, green and blue) must be adjusted to look true once printed on canvas with the printer (which uses four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black). This requires the use of a colorist and is overseen by the artist. The file preparation and proofing can take anywhere from a couple of hours to weeks, depending on the challenges posed by each image.

Printing is an integral part of the giclée process, and care must be taken to ensure the best result possible. It is essential to use a high quality printer with professional grade nozzles. These nozzles are able to apply ink dots as small as 1/100th the width of human hair. Giclées are printed on specially treated canvas using archival inks and then lacquered to increase their colorfastness and longevity.

Artevo uses all of these techniques and materials to ensure the quality of our giclées. We employ a team of experts in the field of scanning, color matching and printing. The end result is the finest quality product available. Our production department is dedicated to keeping our giclée production standards and materials of the highest quality. We strive to use the most current giclée technology and keep up with the latest industry developments.

Artevo produces its fine art giclée on high quality canvas, thereby creating an exquisite product that has all the characteristics of the original painting and does not need to be framed under glass.

Today, images reproduced using the Giclée Process are of such a high quality that they can be found on display at museums around the world, including The Louvre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim.

What makes a giclée valuable?

As far as artistic processes are concerned, the giclée process is very new, and subsequently consumers may have questions about how valuable giclées are. Here are some of the reasons why an art buyer should seriously consider purchasing a giclée.