Sally French

ARTIST RESEARCH FOR DOCENT REFERENCE/ TCM

Docent Researcher: Marcy Katz

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ARTIST:

Sally French

BIODATA

Date :Born 1947 in Stockton California

Currently lives in Kalaheo, Kauai

Education: 1966-67 Stephens college, Columbia Mo Fine arts

1966-68 University of The Pacific Sculpture

1968-69University of Colorado, Bouder, Co

Major Shows/Galleries/Commissions:

Awards: from 1974 to 2003 Grants and awards ranging from the NEA to Western Art Director’s Award for

Outstanding Illustration, and Director’s choice award at our Artists of Hawaii Exhibit

In Collections of Local and Mainland Corporate and public collections

2009- her show Wunderlust: the Keepers’ Tale was exhibited at Kukui Grove, Kauai and at the Koa

Gallery. See the video on the making of Wunderlust at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxs_Ha50N9k

Currently represented by Bruna Stude Gallery 103, Kauai, Ceder Street Gallery, Honolulu

Shows: Selected Solo Exhibits

2000 The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI, Sally French:SFCA Fellowship in Painting, catalogued

Salon 5 Gallery, Honolulu HI, XXXtreme Sally French, catalogued 1999 Kinipopo Gallery, Wailua, HI Go

Blank 1998 Sisu Gallery, Honolulu, HI The John and Sally Show 1993 Sunbird Gallery, Los Altos, CA Sally

French 1992 The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI Trouble in Paradise: Experiences From Hurricane

Iniki, supported by a LAce Grant, catalogued 1990 Hawaii Loa College Gallery, Kailua, HI Sally French:

Trouble in Paradise 1989 Kahana Kii Gallery, Koloa, HI Mad Dogs, Flying Beds and Me 1987 Kauai

Museum, Lihue, HI Steaming Hot From The Night Kitchen 1983 Kauai Museum, Lihue, HI Study of Three

Families 1982 Queen Emma Gallery, Honolulu, HI Tracked!

MEDIA TECHNIQUES: painting, illustration digital photography, encaustic,printing, mixed media

sculpture, collage

CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION

Influences (historical/personal/political); One was a poem and illustrations from the book “ The Hunting

of the Snark” by Lewis Carroll, which she read in College.

Expressive Qualities (realistic, naturalistic, etc.):

Please read the story in the “Kauai Hawaii Stream” here about her latest show on Kauai:

http://www.forkauaionline.com/article/Kauai_Bits/Kauai_Bits/I_Love_Sally_French/287582. Here is a

quote from it:

French has taken the social awareness view of Lewis Carroll and punched it out into the future.

Subject Matter/ Themes/ Concept dealt with in the work:

Other Comments/ Information about work or life :

Artist Statement http://www.sallyfrench.com/vitae.php

My work concerns the psychic state of change, the space between motivation and hesitation. It’s imbued in

the panic going up the back of the neck, the electrical charges to the finger tips, that uncomfortable place...

charged but familiar, where imbalance forces the old to roll into the new.

http://www.sallyfrench.com/reviews_morse.php In many cultures, there are those who seem to serve as

early warning systems, assigned to recon duty on the boundaries of troubled terrain, channeling devices for

signs and portants. We call them shamans and martyrs, visionaries and madmen. Sometimes we call them

artists. In this community, Sally French is that person.-Marcia Morse, Art reviewer, Honolulu Weekly

http://www.sallyfrench.com/ Like much of French’s work the cartoon characters and vibrant palette are

outwardly playful, and yet on closer inspection the viewer intuits loftier ideals at play. Nothing short of a

21st century mythologist, French’s story telling is as much a part of her work as the seductive pigments she

employs.

“I have to have a narrative,” she said. “I love stories. As a child I was a voracious reader.”

In French’s myth there’s a secondary protagonist warding off another Man-of-war in hand-to-hand combat.

“She becomes a voice for the island. You can’t talk about Kaua‘i without talking about the Hawaiian

movement. (This character) is the voice protecting against the thoughts or things that keep you from your

values. She’s your inner voice. The intuitive voice is always out there doing the work for you. You have to

support that voice.”

Those familiar with French’s art will recognize the egg from previous works.

“That egg speaks to me of rebirth, hope and a vision for the future,” Abadir said. “It connects us all whether

we realize it or not. This represents Kaua‘i and even bigger — the universal values of cultural importance.

What Sally’s done I hope gets people talking abut it.”

Artist Sally French comes to terms with life through her art by Suzanne Tswei http://whttp://

www.sallyfrench.com/reviews_tswei.php Who describes her as working with Vivid colors,cartoons

mask,stark honesty