OPEN STUDIO
Friday, Nov. 18 | 9:30 am – 4 pm in Keating 5
Join Ke Francis during his open studio hours for a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process. Mr. Francis will be enhancing the works of poets C.D. Wright and Forrest Gander.
ENGRAVING & VANDERCOOK PRINTING WORKSHOP
Saturday, Nov. 19 | 10 am – noon
Ke will be conducting an open workshop on the process of engraving and printing on the Vandercook press. 25 spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis. You must register by contacting Jill Lerner at jlerner@ringling.edu. Materials and tools for workshop will be provided. Ke’s work will be exhibited at the Basch Gallery starting November 16.
ABOUT KE FRANCIS
Ke Francis is a narrative artist currently teaching sculpture and printmaking at the University of Central Florida. He is the recipient of a Rockefeller Bellagio Study Center grant, the Susan B. Herron Literary and Visual Arts Fellowship, The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Visual Arts and a Southern Arts Federation Sculpture Fellowship.
In 1979, in Tupelo, Mississippi, Mr. Francis founded Hoopsnake Press, which has published 75 editions. At UCF, he continues to manage and publish limited edition art books and multimedia prints for the press, while he also oversees the productions of the University’s Flying Horse Press
My work is mostly narrative in intent. I wouldn’t say that I tell stories with my visual art. When I want to tell a story, I use words and write a story. The initial impulse that drives me to start an image is a narrative impulse. Once the work is under way, the artwork has a life of its own: the words drop away from that point on and the creation of the work is based on purely visual response. The decisions are almost entirely visual decisions. Most of my preconceptions are left behind and the work assumes its own identity, finds its own way to completion. I do what the work tells me to do. When a work is successful, it is because I’ve managed to get out of the way. This way of working makes bragging such a hollow experience; not the ego-building, uplifting thing that bragging was designed to be.
