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Ann Francis Roberts Morley, American artist

Ann Francis Roberts Morley, known to some as "Frantic", was born Oct. 1, 1936 in Pensacola, Florida, the only child of John Monroe and Clotilde DiLustro Roberts.

She was a self-taught artist with a broad range of styles, from painting Gauguin-influenced island women and primitive images of the Madonna to whimsical ceramics.

Her early artistic development was guided by her uncle Michelangelo DiLustro, a Pensacola portrait painter. As a child, he gave her books on how to draw and the color wheel. Her later works of art, she said, was a subconscious memory of those little books given to her.

She graduated from Pensacola Catholic High School and attended Florida State University.

She married Richard James Morley, a U.S. Marine Corps flight student in Pensacola in 1956. They raised five children, moving from one duty station to the next.

Ann painted images on paper, canvas, wood, furniture and clothing. At the age of 48, she began showing her art and produced hundreds of pieces during the next 25 years. Gallery owner Page O'Connor of Page O'Connor Fine Arts said "she was the calling card for thousands of customers who sought out her work. I have sold Ann's paintings to people from almost every state, including Hawaii.  I have shipped paintings to as far away as France, Germany and Dubai."

She was also an avid cook and reader of nonfiction, ranging from art history to technology. The changing weather patterns and colors of the Gulf waters around Pensacola were a source of endless delight.

Collectors of her work are many. Annette Trujullo of Newbill By the Sea Gallery said, "She is probably one of the most collected artists in the Southeast" She was a celebrity at our gallery. Her use of imagery and colors is part of her enduring legacy. There is nothing else out there like her work."

Ann hated the “Frantic” moniker later in life, although it was insisted upon by her admirers who wanted it on the paintings, and she signed her paintings Morley later in life.

She took her name, Frantic, because it suited the mood and nature of the work she was doing when she started to sell. The ceramics are done in low-fire white clay, and the paintings are on wood because of its great absorbency. Her work has been the subject of retrospectives and shows (???) and is in shops and galleries from New Orleans to Asheville to Seaside, Florida and in private collections around the world.