An update from Click! Design That Fits, featuring Frances Smersh on West Seattle Art Walk night, 3 years into her Alzheimer’s journey

The cover image for the map/postcard promoting this quarter’s West Seattle Art Walk events – starting with tomorrow night’s WSAW – always has a backstory. This time around, there’s a lot to tell.

The image is a painting by Frances Smersh, the West Seattle artist who is co-proprietor of Junction shop Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) with her husband John Smersh. She is also this month’s featured WSAW artist there, so you can visit Frances and her work there Thursday night (October 11th) 5-8 pm.

In conjunction with the showcase, Click! has an update for the community about the personal news they first shared three years ago – that Frances is living with younger-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

Writing on the Click! blog this week, they explain that the disease has continued to progress. “This last year Frances has struggled with more challenges that the disease has presented, and found that art is an area that she can still thrive. … With painting as her primary focus for most of the last year, she’s produced an impressive body of work!”

You can see the show during tomorrow’s Art Walk. The update continues, “She has titled her show ‘With a Little Help from my Friends,’ an acknowledgement of the extra assistance she now needs.”

After details on how Frances is doing now, the update explain how that assistance is more vital than ever:

If you or someone you know would enjoy spending time or sharing a meal with (or providing a meal for) Frances, please reach out to John and let him know what you would be up for. She loves being with people and is pretty game for most activities. Friends have started a GoFundMe page in hopes of helping with some of the extra expenses they now face; donations of any amount are hugely appreciated.

Read the full update here. And go see Frances’s show at Click! on Thursday night, 4540 California SW, 5-8 pm.

1 Reply to "An update from Click! Design That Fits, featuring Frances Smersh on West Seattle Art Walk night, 3 years into her Alzheimer's journey"

  • Jeannie October 10, 2018 (10:54 pm)

    Thank you for posting this. I know a lot of us think about Frances and what she and John are going through. I’ll do what I can to help. So many of us know people who have dealt with this awful condition, and it’s extra sad when it strikes at such a young age.
    Frances is a lovely person, and it’s good to see her creative side still flourishes in her art.

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