Much credit for the work associated with the upcoming art show, Within Walking Distance: Local Artists in Celebration of the 200th, should be given to Bolton Hill neighbor and artist Francine Marchese. Because Marchese has written numerous profiles of local artists for the Bulletin, it seemed fitting to learn more about her.
Francine Marchese grew up in Elizabeth, NJ, showing sufficient ability that, by age 12, her parents had given her a set of oil paints, a full-sized easel, and Saturday art classes. It was for the sake of Marchese’s art that, after nine years of Catholic school, her mother relented, sending her to the public high school which offered more art instruction. By high school graduation, Marchese was a finalist for a full scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in New York. When she did not receive the prize, Marchese enrolled locally, at what is now Kean University. At Kean, she studied graphic design and wrote music reviews for the student paper, but an art school education was still what she wanted most.
After a friend at Kean transferred to Pratt Institute, Marchese was inspired to make the move herself. Marchese’s parents took on extra work to send her, and she majored in painting. Pratt’s curriculum required initial study and practice in many mediums, before specialization. Marchese describes a valuable lesson learned at Pratt as not to over-think while making art, letting intuition and trust in the process play its part.
Upon graduation in the late 80s from Pratt, Marchese landed a job at the PS1 Museum in Queens, now a part of MoMA. The job entailed leading visiting school groups on tours of the museum, then working with the students as they made work inspired by the show. This experience put Marchese on the path to becoming an educator. She earned a masters degree in Early Childhood Education at Bank Street College. Next, she worked as a substitute kindergarten teacher at PS 42 in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
At PS 42, Marchese said,“We had no real curriculum at the time, so I had the children learn through play and art.” Marchese then taught for four years at the Montessori-inspired, Washington Market School in Tribeca. “It was a fantastic job, very creative. Tribeca was full of artists then, so it was perfect for me. I met many of the leading artists of the 90s there.”
Marchese’s career in education has always revolved around learning and the arts. She notes how young “children naturally express themselves through art.” Last year, Marchese attained her National Board Certification in Early Childhood Education while also teaching in a Montgomery County Inclusion Pre-K program.
Despite her demanding career, Marchese tries to make *something* everyday. Painting, primarily in oil, offers her “the freedom to diverge from realism.” In her work, she seeks to convey not the literal, but the abstracted essence of her subject. Her work is impressionistic, her goal to create “a representation of the world through my perceptions.” Motifs of home and place are frequent in her abstract landscapes. One painting, on the wall of the Lion Park home she shares with Don Feuerstein, captures the movement of an ephemeral place-specific experience: trees as viewed when driving through Tuscany. Another impressionistic piece, Amsterdam in Spring, will be in the Bolton Hill/MICA show.
Marchese’s work shows thoughtfulness towards color and composition. “For me, it is essential that the composition is just right.” As she explained her process, an in-progress painting sat on the very easel her parents gave her. “As I work out the composition, the color theme emerges, the values, what goes dark and what lights up.” Marchese is inspired by artist Vanessa Bell’s early 20th century “atmospheric” interior scenes and still life art. When visiting London, Marchese saw as many works by Bell as she could.
Marchese’s two adult children inherited their mother’s talents: The oldest, Kara, is an elementary school teacher in Baltimore, and Vinessa, an artist and musician living in Brooklyn, is also a Pratt graduate.
Readers can appreciate the work of Francine Marchese and other artists from the 21217 Zip Code, at Within Walking Distance: Local Artists in Celebration of the 200th, at MICA’s Meyerhoff Gallery in the Fox building. The Opening Reception is June 18 from 6:00-8:00 pm. After the 18th, the show will be up until July 19th. More examples of her work can also be found on her website, www.francinemarchese.com.
–Sarah Ramirez Cross
