Francesca Woolson
AQ is our series of hardcover catalogs celebrating extraordinary women artists. Available on Amazon. Visit the AQ Catalog Webpage to learn more.
Francesca Woolson is a painter from Western New York and is a junior at Maine College of Art and Design. Woolson grew up surrounded by rolling hills and Lake Erie. She incorporates these environmental influences in her art with a focus on surrealist figurative and portrait work. Oil paint is her primary medium – she juxtaposes careful control with its ability to behave erratically as moments of surprise in her work. Woolson explores domination, memory, isolation, the subconscious, ambiguity, and the purgatorial through her figuration. Contemporary artists including Doron Langberg, Edward Povey, Rae Klein, and Denis Sarazhin are inspirations for her work.
Woolson has received an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and Best in Show at Maine College of Art and Design's Merit Scholarship Competition. Her work has been exhibited at Abington Art Center in PA, 82 Parris St Gallery in Portland ME, 49 Oak St Gallery in Portland ME, Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery at SUNY Fredonia, and The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Gallery.
Francesca plans to graduate with her BFA in painting in 2026.
https://www.franwoolson.art/
What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you decide to commit to this path?
I've loved making art and have been in art classes since I was 5 years old. I was homeschooled up until high school, and my interest in art was always very encouraged by the adults around me, which meant I was probably given more time to make art than the average kid. I did end up falling out of love with art for a while in middle and early high school, focusing more on my love of dance. Until my junior year of high school, I was very invested in ballet, and my dream was to get into a ballet company after high school; then in the wake of the pandemic, my interest in ballet started draining away with classes being online, and I found myself making a lot more art again. I was encouraged by my high school art teachers to go above and beyond in my art classes and ended up falling in love with painting. My senior year of high school, I took two college drawing classes at SUNY Fredonia and immediately knew I wanted to pursue art in college and make it my career.
Could you share the story or concept behind your recent work?
Since I'm still in school, I find my artistic voice evolving with every painting or series I make. In a recent series which includes "The Farm", "Strike", and "Aftermath", I explored how the subconscious can rewrite history or memories of a place — using my grandparents' farm as the inspiration. My piece "There's Flowers in My Room", explores the separation from body and consciousness through surrealist depiction. The contortion of the figures shows a perpetual discomfort and motion through space – causing a subconscious discomfort in the viewer. This piece was also based off of a poem I wrote about my childhood bedroom and the premature grief of losing the people and places surrounding my childhood. Overall, my work explores themes that I become invested in, usually through non-visual art modes — such as songs, poems, life experiences, etc.
What was the most challenging part of your path so far? How are you navigating this obstacle?
Balancing school, making art, and life in a way that allows me to improve my work as intensely as possible while also not burning out has been a real challenge for me. For the past few semesters, I have worked way too much too early on and been burnt out by mid-semester. This year, I've been setting studio limits on myself, like no working past midnight and at least one 15-minute break every 4 hours, which has been helping a lot.
What role does experimentation and exploration play in your artistic practice?
Right now, I am investigating more experimental ways to apply or subtract paint in my practice. I've been really into incorporating the material qualities of the oil paint with drips, as well as wiping away, scraping, etching, smacking, etc. I use smaller studies to try these techniques out usually, or sometimes I discover them mid-process and incorporate them as I uncover them.
Do you have any start or stop rituals before creating?
When I get into my studio, I decide what piece I'm going to work on and put on music to match the mood or essence I am wanting to depict. I will start with areas that require less concentration or more automatic rendering to get attuned to the paint and brush, then move onto the more complex parts after 30 minutes or so. Sometimes I find that music will disrupt my ability to render and really see what nuances are present and will put on a podcast or audiobook instead.
What message do you hope your art conveys to the world?
I don't have a particular message, possibly because I am still very, very early into my career. My main goal with my art is to get people to reflect — to turn the reflection on the art into inner reflection. For me, art has been a pathway to see yourself in a new way by using someone else's view of the world.
Share a mantra or favorite quote that keeps you going.
"Every change is a form of liberation." - Paula Rego
