[Working Art] An Artist Residency in Motherhood: Sasha French | Celeste Mahfood
Photo by Ashley Schomburg.
If there’s anything Sasha French knows, it’s that she cannot be categorized or boxed in.
As a multidisciplinary artist and mother of two girls, Sasha makes original art pieces while also engaging in her children’s lives. Whether painting collaboratively with her two-and four-year-old, teaching dance class and dance therapy, or hiding paintings around town for people to find, she believes everyone should experience art.
Sasha completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from the University of Florida and worked five years performing, producing, and teaching before making the international move to Canada in 2014. While waiting for her immigration to process, she began exploring new mediums and developing her visual art practice.
Photo by Ashley Schomburg.
With dance as her influence, Sasha thins paint with water to see how fluidly it applies to wood, paper, or canvas surfaces. In her abstract art, she creates movement in her subjects, which is often landscape, animals, or people, by contrasting straight lines and geometrical shapes to feel soft and fluid.
“My work is very narrative and shape driven,” said Sasha. “My degree, my time in school, my creative practice as a mover, as a choreographer, and as a dancer all applies to my visual art practice as well.”
Photo by Ashley Schomburg.
Her practice became a simple way to continue working when her first child was born despite the nontraditional work hours early motherhood required. Since then, her children remain an influential piece of her art. She is in a year-long, self-directed artist residency in motherhood, which endeavours to fight the myth of having to choose between being an engaged mother or serious artist.
Working from home with children is not always easy, said Sasha. Sometimes household chores and errands take precedence throughout the day, and she will work late into the night. Other times, her two girls paint, sketch, play and collaborate with her as she works.
She said the exploratory work for new projects is often driven by her children. She encourages them to experiment with the supplies alongside her and see what good can come from their mistakes. These moments are necessary for her practice, but also act as key connection points with her girls.
Photo by Ashley Schomburg.
“My work has bloomed and progressed so much during pregnancy, infants, toddlers,” she said. “My work has not suffered, it has grown.”
Sasha has an open studio practice and sells her original pieces out of her house where her children are nearby. The dining room acts as her art studio, complete with shelves to display her work, in-progress art pieces lying around, and her children’s art supplies in the corner.
She draws from her own experience as a mother of young children to make it easy for people who may not feel comfortable inside expensive galleries.
Photo by Ashley Schomburg.
During the COVID-19 quarantine, Sasha created art shows in her driveway with full art installations for her neighbours to see as they walked by every weekend.
Sasha believes art should not only be in galleries but should also be in nontraditional spaces. By creating more street murals and street art outside traditional spaces, Sasha hopes to light a fire under people to explore art themselves.
“We need more people making, creating, showing.”
“Art is for everyone, and we need to take art everywhere.”