back button

Franz's illustration of a giant shoe... From Shoeshine Shirley.

Painted Mural (10'x7') 1996. In conjunction with artist's exhibition of works from Shoeshine Shirley. Pittsburgh Children's Museum.
Franz Spohn
Before he was resident artist and host of Eureka! The Creative Art Series, Spohn was an art teacher, sculptor, printmaker and illustrator. He is known best for the ebullient ink and watercolor illustrations in the children's books Broadway Banjo Bill and Shoeshine Shirley by Leah Komaiko.

His work has been featured in galleries around the United States and abroad with exhibitions celebrating a type of work that Spohn describes as "sweet pointillism" -- his painstaking technique of creating mosaics from thousands of brightly colored candy sprinkles.

Roy Rogers in candy cake sprinkles.
Roy Rogers, 1980. Collage: candy cake sprinkles
covered with polyester resin on card. Glenbow
Collection, Calgary Canada.
 

 

Franz's drawing of a Hippo taking a photograph.
Hippo Head 1996.
From a photography exhibition in the Children's Gallery of the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio.
 

 

Detail of the hippo taking a photograph.
Detail: Masonite/acrylic "puzzle" with removable pieces illustrating
how a camera (and hippo) works.