Born
and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jason Franz attended
the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Eden Park and Mt. Adams,
receiving his BFA degree with honors in 1988. During
the first ten years of his
career as an exhibiting artist Franz also worked as an
exhibition designer
and preparator at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Eden Park.
He returned to academic life in 1996 to pursue his MFA
degree at the University
of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and
Planning, receiving his MFA in 1998. Franz left his museum
position at this time and began his teaching career.
From 1997 through
2002 he taught and developed new classes for both the
Art Academy of Cincinnati, and the University of Cincinnati
in the fields
of both art and design. In 2002 Franz received a full-time
appointment to be the head of the painting and drawing
programs at Xavier
University in Cincinnati. He spent two years rebuilding
these programs at Xavier. He also served
as the faculty advisor for the founding of the Society
of Visual Arts (a student government organization), assisted
with the planning for a new departmental photography
program, and championed the integration of technology
into all the classroom studios. In June of 2005 he resigned
his title of Assistant Professor in order to continue
on a second year of paid academic leave from the University
while working on the writing of his first book, and serving
as the executive director of Manifest,
a non-profit arts
organization he co-founded in 2004. He is currently Adjunct
Assistant Professor teaching drawing in the School of
Design at the University of Cincinnati. He is the
recipient of numerous grants and awards, including an
Ohio Arts Council Fellowship, a Xavier University Faculty
Development Grant, and three Summerfair Individual Artist Grants.
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