Frank Oriti was born in 1983 and raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his B.F.A. in Two-Dimensional Studies from Bowling Green State University in 2006 and returned to his hometown shortly after. For the next year and a half he worked at one of Cleveland’s steel mills and continued painting in his spare time. In the fall of 2008, Oriti headed to Ohio University where he began creating work inspired by his past experience in the blue-collar work force. He graduated with his M.F.A. in Painting in 2011. Oriti was the recipient of the 2013 Cleveland Arts Prize Emerging Artist Award. He currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.