https://www.instagram.com/francissalole/
Paekakariki, Kapiti, New Zealand
The Beach – Paper, Books & Baskets ( December 22nd 2022 – January 30th 2023)
Francis has joined with Leslie McLean to create their response to the concertina book challenge thrown out by Wendy Watson that is the core item in The Beach exhibition. They have called the book that has resulted “Build a Nest”
There was a poem that came to Francis when he was doing his meditation walk and this has formed the basis of the concertina book workings.
Here is the poem.
Here is a slide show of the finished art work. Don’t forget these books can be folded closed and read as per a ‘normal’ book. we have just spread them out in the gallery to highlight the great variety in creative responses we had.
The Blindspot Exhibition (7th July – 15th August 2022)
There is a curious backstory about Francis Salole and what we learned as he prepared to exhibit in the gallery. It turned out that unbeknown to both of us we had been studying our varied art disciplines at the same Art College (Ontario College of Art and Design OCAD, Toronto Canada) at the same time, graduating a year apart. How small does that make the world.
Francis has a far more eclectic story of origin than I do, having emigrated to NZ with his family as a young child from Britain. This forms the basis of his work 9 Days At Sea.
As an undergraduate student Francis travelled to Canada to live and pursue his art studies. He subsequently took a year’s study posting in Florence as part of the off campus sturdy programmes offered by OCAD.
But as for many of us the call of New Zealand was strong and so he has returned where he operates a complex life including working on animating a children’s TV series, working as a painter/weaver and nursing.
There is a great feed about his life and adventures on his web page and also on his instagram feed which are both at the top of this page.
A very exciting thing has just happened for Francis – he has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2022 Parkin Drawing Prize. His painted work The Ossuary was the piece selected. We are waiting the judges decision later this month. Best of luck, Francis.
Francis will be in residence at the studio gallery from August the 11th to 15th. He is going to offer pop up workshops for people of all ages and persuasions to explore this very 3Dimensional woven art form. Keep an eye on our social media posts for more information closer to the dates.