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My name is Francesca Lalanne Jeune
I am
a second year grad
in the fine arts department
I'm from Miami, Florida
and I'm focusing on sculpture and painting
here at RIT
My work varies but it's really about
consciousness, it's about being aware
My work
tries to get the viewer to not only look at the work but to look at
themselves as part of the subject
I think a lot of times as artists we are
paying attention to how people look at our work and how they approach our work
and so I really try to highlight that
predominately in my
sculptural work, which I've been doing a lot more
here at RIT
I work
a lot
with wood
and I've been finding myself
more interested in metal
uh... just because of its durability
the intensity that
it takes to work with metal
but at the end it's very rewarding
but I fluctuate between materials, but more between wood and metal
I'm influenced a lot by different types of artists. There is a sculptor by the name of
Antony Gormley, which when I was an undergrad
I really liked his work a lot and how he used the human figure in space
and I also like the work of this contemporary sculptor
his name is
Miroslaw Balka
He's Polish. Also there's another Polish artist which I like
Her name is Magdalena Abakanowicz
so I look a lot
I've been looking a lot at at sculptors but as far as painting, I've always
been interested in Mark Rathko, Barnett Newman
a lot of abstract expressionist painters
My creative process
is
reading a book
it's watching the news, it's listening to
a
speech, a sermon
It's really about just letting myself get influenced by my environment
more than just
going into a
blank canvas or
looking at a material and saying 'okay I want to work with this'
It's really a social thing, so
my creative process is just what is happening around me and what touches me
the most
I just take it from there
and I put it into the work of art
My background influences my work
uh...
very subtly. It's more of a mental thing
but I
I grew up in Haiti
and I had a very interesting
upbringing -- it was very strict
it was very Catholic
Also when I moved to the United States things were very open
and there was a lot more
freedom to do different things and so I had to
kind of
define -- okay, what am I, am I American
am I Haitian?
All these kind of things
influenced me a lot so that whole idea of different
societies kind of influenced my work a lot
that whole concept of human condition what's going on over there
and what's happening over here
just keeps coming back to me
And when I was in
Florida I was interested in
architecture, and that a lot
influences my work because I like to work with space a lot
and so that's why I really
that's why I really started to get into sculpture because it allowed me
to explore space in a whole different way
with the human figure
I think
uh... I think everything that I've done represents me as an artist um...
The thing is what
being an artist -- it's such a
changing process, I can never say 'okay,
I'm an artist now'
you know I'm still trying to
define myself, so
no particular artwork is THE artwork
I'm getting more and more comfortable with
the way I work and
the work is starting to have its own language
I can honestly say the work is starting to be a little bit more
self-defined. You can look at it and say, 'Yes, Francesca did that'
But
no particular piece every piece is significant to me even if it's just a
sketch
After graduation I see myself hustling (laughs)
I see myself going to New York City and just giving it my best
If not maybe the west coast I don't know
but continuing my journey as an artist and just giving it my best
I'm still young
I have a lot to share, I have a lot of
imagination
I just have not put it all out there yet and I think
that's what I'm just gonna do when I get out of here
Words of advice
Keep going
Just keep doing it
don't hesitate
don't be afraid to try new things don't be confined by just one idea
really let yourself explore all kinds of avenues
Art is not confined to just painting sculpting or drawing
Art is being celebrated every way, shape, and form nowadays
You have scientists who turn into artists
So just
keep going, that's my advice