Life and Artistic Formation Born in Graz, Austria, Franz Ringel was the son of a stable hand and a washerwoman. After being raised by foster parents at the age of nine, his artistic talent and interest in literature were nurtured by his foster mother, Margarete. His formal education began at the Kunstgewerbeschule Graz, where he studied ceramics from 1955 to 1959. He later pursued studies at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna under…