Frances Ashforth
CT & Idaho, USA
Website
Francesbashforth.com
How would you describe your work?
My work has always been based on the study of the land. I grew up in a large extended family of artists who gravitated towards my grandparents farm in New Hampshire. My images whether painted, drawn or printed are meant to honor my inherited love for art, nature & land stewardship, a dedication that has been passed down through my family.
What inspires you?
Simply put, I study the various landscapes I find myself in. In order to truly understand a landscape I walk the land, hiking along the banks of a river or up to a high alpine lake, following coastlines of ancient inland seas or a sandy beach that meets the ocean. I research the ecotones of both land and cultural history because I think it’s important to try & understand those that walked this land well before I did. The incredibly tough, stark, arid landscapes like those of the Great Basin, Grand Canyon and the Snake River Plain of Southern Idaho I find most fascinating. How did people & animals navigate, migrate and subsist across any gritty landscape such as these? These are the things I think about as I stumble along. What I find along the trail, an interesting rock or pine cone, are as important to me as a high rock outcropping, a small spring, or the distant weather patterns along the horizon that form in the hours that I am out in nature. Nature provides us with an intricately organized slideshow of unstoppable beauty that I will forever be trying to understand.
Can you speak about your process?
My process is simple, I get outside in any weather and will often draw & take notes as I hike along a trail. I take pictures for reference, be it about color, light & shadow or particular details.
Often years later I will see a specific spot, a foothill, mesa or tree, and remember vividly the day I became aware that I needed to observe that place more clearly. These ideas come back to my studio and open themselves up to a series of both drawings or paintings. I will eventually crave the ink of the printmaking studio and find time to manipulate a series of monotypes from memory, fleeting feelings of landscapes revealed by the press. It’s extremely important for me to know what the up close details are that eventually make up the long view.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
The list of favorite artists can be long but I’ll start with a few that I remember vividly as a child.
The drawings & paintings of Albrecht Durer, the drawings & notebooks of John Constable, the work and travels of Rockwell Kent, woodcuts & beautifully drawn lines by my aunt, sculptures by my mom, and paintings by my grandmother & great uncle. Drawings were a key factor in my family as we shared our work. I continue to be grateful for guidance from my aunt in particular on sharing the simple nuance of a drawn pencil line. My drawing professor in college also once said to me, ‘the drawn line has a front and a back, as well as a beginning and end.” I think about that all the time!
Contemporary artists I admire whose work is dedicated to observation, nature & landscape are Eric Aho, Claire Sherman, James Lavadour, Georg Gudni, Lois Dodd, James Prosek, the iconic Andy Goldsworthy, and photographers Robert Adams, Emmet Gowin & Terry Toedtemeier to name a few. All have found a ‘sense of place’ and a constant curiosity of the natural world in their work.
Authors/books I savor & keep close by in my studio are ‘Arctic Dreams’ by Barry Lopez, ‘The Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen,‘The Nature Fix’ by Florence Williams, ‘The Way Around’ by Nicolas Triolo, ‘The Mountain’ by Nan Shepherd, ‘Downriver’ by Heather Hansman, ‘The Lure of the Local’ by Lucy Lippard, ‘The Immense Journey’ by Loren Eiseley, ‘The Secret Knowledge of Water’ by Craig Childs, and most anything by Wallace Stegner, Wendell Berry and Terry Tempest Williams.
Any more thoughts you would like to share?
I spend a great deal of time outdoors observing and moving through the landscape. This time outside clarifies my brain allowing expansion for creativity, fresh air helps sift away the daily muddle that works its hardest to constantly bombard us. But when I was younger and behind a desk working on hundred hour architectural drawings, my weekends were my precious outdoor time. Perhaps my advice to younger artists is to always stay dedicated to some side of your creativity. Be authentic to your creative path, go see art, keep a notebook with you, (pen to paper), because as they say, if it’s in the hand, it’s in the brain. Take the time to observe and find moments to step back from the bustle as best as possible and most of all, find the beauty!
