Frank Walker is a native Charlottesvillian who had his first exhibition at the age of 13 in the backyard of a family friend. He and late artists Gerry Mitchell and Earl “Buddy” Gordon hung their works along a clothesline. He credits this moment to his first sale and the realization that he could make money as an artist. He attended VCU for a year before going to Vietnam where he was able to work as a graphic designer. Upon his return from service, he began working as a medical illustrator at the University of Virginia Medical Center. He continued as such until his retirement in 2014. Since then Walker has exhibited three times at the Heritage Center and has been included in shows at PVCC and New City Art Center. Walker is a realist painter who considers the condition of African American people post Emancipation.

He is also a lay war historian and has addressed the lives of African American military men in his work. His work Card Players (2015) on exhibition in Charlottesville Collects African American Art of the 20th and 21st Century is reminiscent of card player scenes by such artist as Cezanne and Palmer Hayden. Through his tableau one can sense the sounds and smells of the juke joint where the card game probably took place.