"By 2000, [Francie's] painting had moved from canvas to wavy aluminum panels with a honeycomb core. Then 9/11 hit. After that momentous day, she recalls thinking, ‘I can’t just paint what I was painting. I had to stop and start again.' The everyday imagery in her work vanished. Seeking a spiritual connection, she listened to the pure, extended notes of Gregorian chants. She remembers, 'I would hear an absolutely gorgeous passage, then sand away a portion of the paint and build again. I realized then that there was beauty in shadows.' She called that first series Strata—Italian for 'layers'.”
— Tina Coplan, Home and Design 2014
