FRANCINE GRAVEL

KELOWNA, BC

DOB: Mar-17-1944
Born: Montreal, Quebec

About Artist:
Francine's career as a professional artist was launched at the age of 23, in Montreal, with her first exhibition, a series of etchings and engravings. For the next decade she supported herself as a freelance graphic artist, painter and photographer, as well as teaching oil painting and drawing at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary and Concordia University in Montreal. She moved to Vancouver in 1978 and has worked solely as a painter and printmaker ever since. In 1986, Francine settled in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. Francine's work is widely sought after because of its musicality, which has garnered her commission art works with many important musical productions, including the ProCoro Society, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera Association and C.B.C. Records. She is the recipient of a Diplome d'Honneur from the International Arts Guild and LesPalmes d'Or des Beaux-Arts. Francine's work enjoys an international reputation and is frequently featured in one-woman shows.

Shows & Exhibitions:

• December 1986 Harrison Galleries, Vancouver BC
• November 1995 Harrison Galleries, Vancouver BC
• November 1996 Harrison Galleries, Vancouver BC
• October 1997 Harrison Galleries, Vancouver BC
• September 1998 Harrison Galleries, West Vancouver BC
• October 1999 Harrison Galleries, Vancouver BC
• May 2001 Harrison Galleries, Calgary AB
• November 2002 Harrison Galleries, Calgary AB

Statement:
"I do my best to make the passage from one medium to another as casually and subtly as possible, so that the shapes and colours create the expression and atmosphere that I believe necessary for the composition. My works are often large poems that glorify the joy and peace of the inner self ... this, in spite of the tumultuous world that surounds us. i want to give others the chance to dream. To create this atmosphere, music and dance are often presented because they give this opportunity to create the movement and the ambience of happiness and gaiety."

History:
Francine Gravel was born and raised in Montreal, where she attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, taking Saturday classes from the age of six. After completing high school, she studied full time at the Ecole, under Albert Dumouchel and Pierre Ayot, and received a Diploma in Painting and Printmaking in 1965. She obtained a teaching certificate in 1966, and later pursued post-graduate studies in Belgium at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and in Alberta at the University of Calgary.