INTRODUCING MELBOURNE ARTIST

HELEN FRENCH - 
ONE VERY CREATIVE AND INSPIRATIONAL LADY

I started my painting career very late in life, however I commenced to work as an artist very early in life. As a child I made objects all of the time. Anything from arranging stones in patterns, collecting feathers, wire, old tins, string or cotton to make into wall hangings. I had no decent paper, pens or pencils so I collected charcoal from the burnt out fire and used it to draw on the outside walls of my parents' house. 

 I learned to sew when my legs were long enough to peddle the sewing machine and in my early teens earned money by making hats and jewellery. 

 All my life I have been a maker. The first thought I have every morning is ‘what will I make today.’ The last thought in the evening is to look at the day’s effort and say 'I didn’t have you this morning’. 

 At 14 years of age, I was refused any opportunity to study art or continue at high school. I was sent to Flinders Lane in Melbourne to train as a dressmaker. My employers thought I had sufficient talent to become a designer and sent me to RMIT to learn fashion drawing and pattern making.

Fashion was a new word to me, as my mother and aunts wore ‘clothes’ and usually the same ones for years.  When I turned up on my first day at the workroom, I had no more than an old blouse of my mothers, which was worn out under the arms, a recycled skirt and school shoes. By the time I had finished training I was one of the smartest dressers in Melbourne. State Gallery Director, writer, critic- Patrick McCaughey once remarked ‘Helen you are so glamorous’. My reply was ‘But it is part of my job as a fashion designer'. From my late teens I worked as a designer and became very interested in modern art, I admired the French artist Sonia Delaunay and liked the idea that art and fashion could generate projects together. 

As a sophisticated young woman in my early twenties, I was already making a name for myself as a designer. I dreamed of going to Paris, an ambition that was interrupted by forming a difficult relationship with the young Australian artist Leonard French. 

 I then spent the next twenty two years as his partner and have had an intense involvement in the Australian art world ever since. Although my career as a fashion designer was continually interrupted by this involvement, I constantly produced art pieces, particularly wall hangings, fabric collage, patchwork and fashion jewellery. 

 During my time of confinement to home duties and the birth of my three children, I commenced my applique projects and when the family was living in London in 1962 undertook classes at the London Institute of Art. Two years later the family spent a year in New Haven Connecticut USA.  

 At Yale University I was involved in a program of lectures on Art and Architecture run by Vincent Scully (Author and Emeritus Professor of the History of Art) and took part in several painting workshops in New Haven where my work was exhibited. I travelled regularly to New York for exhibitions and to visit renowned art galleries.  

 Returning to Melbourne, Australia, my production and design skills led to a successful career as fashion designer with my own label ''French'. My boutique and atelier attracted South Yarra and Toorak clients and I became a celebrity figure in the fashion and art world. I have had a consistent and bountiful involvement in the production of textiles, jewellery, wall hangings and garments, which were sold through my business.

  

I always say that I made clothes for ‘the rich and famous’ and hung out with my artist friends -  ‘the poor and famous.’ 

I divorced Leonard French in 1974. 

I later wrote a memoir about that period of my life. I have not found a suitable publisher and I’m not considering self – publishing.  In it I write the inside story about living with your not- so- average- sort of bloke, while maintaining my own creative output in a male dominated world and the challenges of the relationship of two highly creative people with many visual resources.  

 1974-1995 I faced many challenges in my life. One was expanding my career as a woman in the changing world and the important other was successfully bringing up two boys and a girl as a single mother.   

After I sold my fashion business in 1995 it was natural to commence painting as I had been making art in various forms all my life.  Painting was just an extension of my creative inquiry. My art has evolved from my life experience and a passionate interest in the history of textiles. 

From 2000, I participated in a few group shows and several one person shows. I had some difficulty with fitting in to a system that to me was amateurish in comparison with my experience as a professional business director. In 2007 at the age of 75, I decided to withdraw from exhibiting in unsuitable venues and to achieve a better financial result by showing my work from my own studio - showroom. 

 In August 2015, my work was shown in a large survey exhibition at Glen Eira City Gallery in Melbourne. I’m now working on a new series of paintings and drawings to exhibit in 2016 when I will be 85.  

 SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015         - Survey Exhibition, Glen Eira Gallery, Melbourne - paintings and fashion from                         1966-2015;

2007-2010-  Yearly Exhibition of art work from the studio;

2006         -  Intrude Gallery - paintings;

2005         -  McCulloch Gallery, Melbourne - new paintings;

2000         -  Aardwolf Gallery, Survey Exhibition - paintings from 1988-2000;

1996         -  Spence Promotions New York - paintings;

1976-1994-  French Showroom, Melbourne - wall hangings, jewellery;

1994        -  Julie Artisan's Gallery, New York - wall hangings;

1990-2006-  Marc French Pty Ltd, Melbourne - paintings;

1994-2006-  Studio Exhibitions - paintings;

1987   -  Acland Art Gallery, St Kilda, Melbourne - comprehensive jewellery exhibition;

1967-1995-  Director of fashion business 'French'.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2005         -  Intrude - paintings;

2003         -  McGivern Art Prize;

2003         -  Metropolis, St Kilda - paintings;
2001       -   Mahoney's Galleries, Hardware Lane, Melbourne                  - paintings;
2000         -  Murdoch & Barclay, Clara Street, South Yarra -                        paintings;
2000         -   Aardwolf Gallery, Melbourne - paintings;
1999         -   Metropolis, St Kilda - paintings;
1999         -   Aardwolf Gallery, Melbourne - paintings;
1996         -   A.R.T Gallery Eden, Collins Street, Melbourne - 
                     paintings;
1996         -   Spence Promotions, New York - paintings;
1992         -   Acland Art Gallery, St Kilda - paintings;
1988         -   Acland Art Gallery, St Kilda - Exhibition of small
                     paintings.

COLLECTIONS

Work is held in various corporate collections, including the collection of Sofitel Hostels and numerous private collections in Australia, New York and Cologne.

Information and inquiries about Helen's work are on:

www.helenfrenchartstudio.com

On the website in Éxhibitions' there is an online catalogue of Helen's recent exhibition.

INTRODUCING THE AMAZING 

PHYLLIS LAWSON

Here is an author with a story (and a half) to tell, the likes of which I have never heard before. Except perhaps in novels, or the movies or something where the story has been so amazing, almost to the point of being truly surreal. So I was quite stunned when I 'met' Phyllis Lawson and read about her - one of the above stories actually coming to life. It truly is unique - but I will let her tell you about it in her words. Please enjoy.

1                    Please tell us a little bit about your background;

I joined the United States Air Force at the age of nineteen - I served for five years.  During that time, I had the opportunity to spend over half of this period overseas. After I was discharged, I attended the University of Maryland, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. After graduating, I worked as a Juvenile Counsellor and Substance Abuse Specialist for twenty years. In January 2001, I decided that I wanted to join the District of Columbia National Guard in order to try and pursue a twenty year career in the military. Shortly after joining the National Guard I was deployed. I completed my military career in 2013. Since then, I have spent the last two and a half years writing and marketing my new memoir Quilt of Souls.

                     You are an author, one of your books being the ‘Quilt of Souls’ which is based on a true story. Can you please tell us a little bit about this;

My memoir 'Quilt of Souls' was released March 2015. 'Quilt of Souls' is a book the world needs to have. It is more than my personal memoir; it is an historical unveiling of hushed bloodlines and stories of a time and place that got swept under the carpet - powerful, intense, poignant stories that need to be heard.

At the age of four years old, I was plucked off my front porch, from the only family I knew and delivered sixteen hours away to land on the doorstep of Grandmother Lula, whom I never met before. I was abandoned by my mother, pure and simple. I needed a miracle and that miracle took the form of an old tattered quilt (a family heirloom) that my grandmother made out of the clothing of long lost loved ones who died in the face of extreme bigotry, racism and ugliness that was pervasive to that time.

Lula Horn (1883-1986), was born in Sandersville, Mississippi. Through oral tradition and through the weaving of ripped up pieces of clothes transformed into quilts, she told me the tragic stories of my ancestors' lives and deaths. Each piece of cloth woven into the quilt had the blood, sweat and tears of black people living and dying at the hands of unconscionable injustices. The weaving of their clothing into a quilt mended each broken life back together with each pull of the thread. 

No matter your ethnicity, this book will transport you back in time and will break your heart wide open. It will make you laugh, cry and swell with hope and resilience. Out of the grave agony of despair comes healing for many generations. 'Quilt of Souls' is about the strength of black women who prevailed before and after the turn of the century, a demographic that has gone unrecognized, with no celebration of the lives they endured and upheld. The untold stories of these women who were quilt makers, laundresses and butter churners are revealed in this book. It tells of how they survived and provided for their children and the grandchildren they raised.

Seamlessly written, 'Quilt of Souls' is a book that needs to be brought to the forefront. It is a rare story not only due to the complexities and intricacies of the quilt as a physical object, but also what it stands for metaphorically. It speaks about and unearths, the taboo subjects that were only heard in whispers during that era.


        Have you written any other books?

The first book that I wrote was 'Josh Horn and Ruby Pickens Tartt: An Unlikely Alliance''.  It is the story of my Great Grandfather Josh Horn and the writer, Ruby Pickens Tartt who interviewed him during the 1930’s  as part of the historical ''Slave Narratives''.  Josh was a story teller.  Ms. Tartt travelled throughout rural Alabama, capturing stories of ex-slaves.  My plan is to professionally re-publish this book in the future.

4.                              Are you traditionally or self published?

I am currently self-published through the CreateSpace platform.

5.                             Have you always wanted to be an author or what did you want to do          when you were growing up?

I always loved to stand before large crowds and tell stories. As a teenager I would write poetry until my hand hurt. I would write about my sorrows and difficulty adjusting to life. Writing was a way for me to escape the harsh times that I was experiencing.  I always knew that one day I would pen Grandmother’s story because I wanted the world to recognize the beauty of her quilts. I also wanted to bring exposure to the grandmothers of her era that raised their grandchildren.These “Grandmas' other Babies” were plentiful in the south during the reconstruction period. This is a part of our history that have been overlooked, particularly the role that these old women played and how and what they did to survive during this tragic period in America.

6.                             Who and/or what are your inspirations?

My inspiration has always been my grandmother. She was the most loving, spiritual and giving person I have ever met.  She was my rock and provided me with the spiritual gifts that I needed in order for me to survive some of the most difficult periods in my life.  I realize the word role models maybe too cliché, but she was mine in every sense of the word. 

7.                             Do you work from home or do you rent an office?

I work from my home.

8.     

9.                             You also do some public speaking.

     Yes, I spent my last four years in the military as a Diversity Trainer                    /Instructor.  I have travelled extensively holding lectures and workshops             on diversity in the workplace and equal opportunity issues. 

           Do you tour the nation doing this and what do you actually talk about       and to whom? What other positions have you held in the past?

My ''Quilt of Souls Author Tour and Quilt Presentation'' begin on October 21^st in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. My schedule is pretty extensive for the remainder of 2015 in which I will be making stops in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Maryland.  My 2016 schedule is currently being formulated and promises to be very, very busy.

1                              What are your short and long term goals for your writing?

I would like to write a sequel to ''Quilt of Souls'' in order to cover more stories of my grandmother that I omitted in the first book.  In addition, my plans are to complete a rewrite on my first book about my great-grandfather Josh Horn and the ''Slave Narratives''.

1                Do you have an agent or do you manage yourself?

I currently am self-managed which is often hectic, particularly with the notoriety that ''Quilt of Souls'' is now receiving.

1

1LINKS:      Website - a great site for learning more about ''Quilt of Souls'' and the life of Lula Horn.