TIARA UNIQUE FRANCOIS: @TIARA.FRANCOIS

Tell me about your artist story. How were you trained? Tell me about your journey to where you are now?

I’ve been drawing since I was about 8, just like every kid, it wasn’t very good. But I was consistent with it and started to take it more seriously as I got older. As a teenager I would spend an hour everyday sketching figures and hands and feet. When I started college, I took my first painting class and after that I was convinced that it was what I needed to be doing. Right now I’m working on earning my BFA in Painting.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a scene of children getting offered flowers and wishes in a park. As we think about childhood stories and the meaning we are to receive from them, things like being hoodwinked or a big, bad wolf in sheep’s clothing come up pretty often, I’m talking about that in a bit of a more obvious way I think.

Quick one, what 3 words would you use to describe your artwork?

Ah this one is kinda hard actually. But maybe playful, personal, energetic, I like to think that my art has a feeling of breath to it, a slight vibration that can be seen.

What would be your dream project?

My dream project? I’m dreaming of doing an artist residency for an extended period of time somewhere completely different from what I’m used to. When that comes, I’m really excited to see how my art changes from the experience of being somewhere completely new, solely to make art.

What is your studio like? Where do you like to create best? What are your artist necessities? What could you not live without?

Right now, my studio is my bedroom, this can make it really hard to work because my bed is right there, my phone and ipad are right there. My family is here, so there are always distractions. I also procrastinate a lot because there is always the feeling of “Oh, I can just start later. After this video, after I fold clothes, after I make dinner. Well, maybe tomorrow.”

I like having a designated place for creating, away from my home because it causes a switch in my mind like, “Ok, we’re here. Time to work.”

My art necessities are different materials, lately I’ve been using glitter glues. But I love using paint markers and watercolors and even rhinestones and stickers sometimes. In addition to acrylic paint, I enjoy using different materials in my work.

What do you listen to while you work?

I like listening to chill music, I have a few playlists I keep in rotation. I’ve been listening to alternative and bedroom pop lately though, and always, always r&b. If I have a new album I like, I’ll play it on repeat while I’m working on a piece. Sometimes, I’ll even put on beats from youtube and freestyle while I’m painting so I can get into the flow of painting easier.

What does an average working day look like to you?

It depends on where I’m at in the piece, if I’m having trouble with it, my work days will look like writing and reading and looking at the piece, wondering how to proceed. If I’m in the flow of it, I can wake up and start painting and I’ll keep going at it until I remember I should probably eat.

Who or what are your biggest influences, and how do you find them? How do these come out in your work?

Lately, I’ve been reading Toni Morrison’s books and I think it’s helped me look at the depictions of people, specifically black people in a different way. I try to look for genuineness in my influences, something that makes the art real. Jonathan Lyndon Chase is a painter and I appreciate the efficiency in his work, the simplicity helps his paintings feel approachable and in turn allows you to relate and connect with it easier, which is something I aim to do with my work. The photographer, Deana Lawson, is also an artist that I revisit, I’m completely enamored by the way she frames a scene, the objects placed just so, the people who pose and seem to breathe in the photo. I like the idea of my paintings being still images that breathe.

What do you want your work to say? What are the main themes and motifs running through your work? Is there a narrative that runs throughout?

I want my art to capture a moment. I have some moments that I can’t forget and sometimes I don’t have an image for it but I have the feelings that were attached to it, painting is me recreating the feeling of that moment visually.
I think the narrative that runs throughout is ,very plainly put, just my life. A lot, if not all of the women in the pictures are self portraits. I’m using myself as the main character and each painting tells a different part of this story. Some of the stories you can relate to and some you can’t, but that’s okay. I’m sharing my experiences and allowing the viewer to observe and sometimes immerse into another view of life, you don’t have to relate to appreciate it.