Artists in Conversation
About
Led by artist-facilitator Francoise McAree, this conversation will focus on works on view in our galleries that use metaphor to broaden access to meaning and enrich understandings of materiality. Participants are welcome to share their own strategies for developing and using metaphor as part of their creative practice.
Artists in Conversation is a series of programs welcoming artists and designers at any career stage to come together for informal discussion about works on view in the galleries and get to know other local makers in a supportive environment.
Free. To attend this in-person program, please click the register button below. Please note that space is limited and light refreshments will be provided.
Francoise McAree, born in Montreal, Canada, is a Providence, RI based artist and educator. Trained as an oil painter, she works across a wide variety of mediums and processes, including paint, encaustic, collage, textiles, paper and sculpture in her practice. Her work investigates skin: skin as organ, membrane, container, and metaphor. She explores both the actual and topographical in tandem with the psychological and cultural aspects of skin to reveal both subtle and seismic shifts inherent in mining this subject. Process and experimentation with materials—materials (paper, wax, paint, fabric, etc.) as analogue for skin is at the core of her practice. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. As an educator, Francoise has taught at Rhode Island College, Rhode Island School of Design/CE, Parsons School of Design, both in Paris and NY, and until recently was the Fine and Applied Art Program Manager in RISD/CE. Prior to living in Providence, Francoise lived and worked in NYC, Paris, France and Tokyo, Japan. She received a grant to study calligraphy for 9 months in Japan and was awarded a teacher of excellence award from Parsons School of Design/New School for Social Research. She earned her BA from Middlebury College in Vermont and her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and as a lifelong learner has taken many classes and workshops including at Anderson Ranch in Colorado, Haystack in Maine, Snowfarm in Massachusetts, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill on Cape Cod.