Frank McEntire was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1946. McEntire has been coordinator and chair of various arts committees and projects, and has extensive experience as a scene painter and set designer, and has acted in several major and minor productions.is a sculptor and a performing artist. He lives in Utah where he works for the LDS Church.

After high school McEntire attended Lon Morris College, Jacksonville, Texas, and graduated with an associate's degree with an emphasis in theater arts. His next move was to the University of Texas and then to Brigham Young University, where he finished his Master's Degree in 1976.

McEntire has a broad range of experiences in the arts.  His experiences with theater have perhaps carried over into his art in his frequent choice to involve the viewers of his art in more than just visual experiences, to have them be active participants in his 3-D sculptures and installations.

Biography adapted from Artists of Utah.

Frank McEntire was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1946. When he was nine, his family moved to Houston where he can remember "drawing" and "poking around old things piled in heaps in the corners of antique shops." He also took art classes at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. After high school McEntire attended Lon Morris College, Jacksonville, Texas, and graduated with an associate's degree with an emphasis in theater arts. His next move was to the University of Texas and then to Brigham Young University, where he finished his Master's Degree in 1976.

McEntire has a broad range of experiences in the arts. He has been coordinator and chair of various arts committees and projects, and has extensive experience as a scene painter and set designer, and has acted in several major and minor productions. His experiences with theater have perhaps carried over into his art in his frequent choice to involve the viewers of his art in more than just visual experiences, to have them be active participants in his 3-D sculptures and installations.

Certainly McEntire's interests in and involvement with various cultures and religions has had a very profound impact on his work as an artist. He is particularly interested in religious objects and instruments such as divining rods and seer stones. Time spent living with Northwest Indian tribes and as a Hare Krishna, introduced McEntire to the powerful cedar and root-knarled staffs used by the Northwest Indian shamen to divine and to whisper important knowledge, and to the Hare Krishna saffron-wrapped staffs that designate power and religious authority to those who carry them.

A Christian and Mormon background taught him about the Old Testament prophets Moses and Aaron, who have mystical staffs--divining rods and powers against the staffs of the Egyptian magicians. And about how early Book of Mormon prophets made use of both seer stones and also divining rods. Each of these groups' beliefs in the power of religious objects centers on the objects' ability to provide divine sight.

This interest in divine ways of seeing has led McEntire to create mythic assemblages of odds and ends that gain meaning through ties to our deepest religious enactments and symbols. His art works ask us to examine our beliefs and understanding, not as detectors of error, but rather as participants in exploration and growth.

Biography courtesy Artists of Utah.

Newspaper Articles

"A Canvass Of Local Art Galleries Will Divulge Diversity." The Deseret News, August 7, 1994.

"A Fresh Start as Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, September 14, 2003.

"Altared States: McEntire Mixes Mediums, Metaphors; Hogle Delivers Powerful Medicine in Art Barn Shows." The Salt Lake Tribune, September 4, 1994.

"Art Canvass." The Deseret News, March 30, 2003.

"Art Canvass." The Deseret News, May 7, 1995.

"Art Canvass." The Deseret News, February 9, 1992.

"Art to Feed the Spirit." The Deseret News, December 3, 2000.

"Arts Council Gets 2 Heads in 1." The Salt Lake Tribune, January 11, 2003.

"Coming Up: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, July 15, 2001.

"Coming Up Visual Arts." The Salt Lake Tribune, October 16, 1994.

"Coming Up." The Salt Lake Tribune, July 24, 1994.

"Exhibit is Delightfully Intriguing." The Deseret News, September 21, 2003.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, January 31, 1999.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, August 14, 1994.

"Shadow Boxes Shed Light On Our Psyches Demanding Works By 28 Artists Funny, Disturbing." The Salt Lake Tribune, December 4, 1994.

"Showing At Local Art Galleries." The Deseret News, April 23, 2000.

"Showing At Local Art Galleries." The Deseret News, December 27, 1998.

"Task Force Would Look at Arts-Economy Link." The Deseret News, February 10, 2004.

"'What Cannot Be Spoken.'" The Deseret News, February 23, 2003.

Books

Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, Donna Poulton and Janie L. Rogers. 150 Year Survey Utah Art & Artists. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibb Smith, 2002.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Painting and Sculpture. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1997.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Art. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publishing Co, 1991.