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DAR Art Award

I am honored that the local DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) has presented me with an award for my accomplishments in the field of art.

DAR presents Janet Francoeur with Award for her accomplishments in the field of art.

The Women in the Arts Recognition Award, a national DAR award, is given by the American Heritage Committee. The award is designed to recognize and honor worthy women at the community level for outstanding achievements in the non-performance arts. The recipient of the award is expected to have contributed to her artistic field in an outstanding manner beyond mastery of technique. This may include innovative design work, featured exhibitions, publication, research and technique development.

I was nominated for the Women in the Arts Recognition Award by DAR  member Melanie Dino.

My Mom was a long time member and would be thrilled, she spent 50 years or so helping others trace their ancestry back to their people that fought in the American Revolution.

I was really honored by this letter that friend, artist, and director of CRAFT wrote about me, the committee asked for a letter of recommendation from someone in the field of art.

Daughters of the American Revolution To Whom It May Concern 

It is a privilege to endorse Janet Francoeur for a DAR Arts Award! Her lifelong career as a prolific artist is marked by enduring energy and exquisite quality. 

I have known Janet for more than twenty years and continued to be inspired by her talent and commitment to the arts. In addition to being an artist myself, I am the Executive Director of the nonprofit trade association, Craft Retailers and Artists for Tomorrow. Janet actively served on our Board of Directors for many years, using her extensive experience to help both artists and retailers grow successful art-based businesses. 

Janet’s art is both beautiful and meaningful. She lives in New Bern which was the first capital of North Carolina. It is a picturesque city filled with important historical and architectural treasures. Janet is devoted to capturing the beauty and culture of New Bern in her art, giving both residents and tourists important insights, information and local artistic treasures. Over many years. Janet has captured her city’s history and beauty in annual calendars, ornaments, and cards. 

Janet’s body of artwork is very diverse. She paints in watercolor, gouache, acrylics and oil on canvas, paper, wood and pottery. However all her work is immediately identifiable, united by a strong personal style and an impressive attention to detail. Her love of gardens is obvious in her botanical art. Her devotion to New Bern is apparent in gracious architectural renderings. She embraces wildlife, the seacoast, and the warmth of human connections, making her art-work both important and celebratory. 

Janet embodies the soul of an artist—she is curious about our world and eager to translate its beauty for all of us. As an intrepid traveler, her artwork interprets the magnificent diversity of our world with an experienced eye and a talented hand. We all see the world better through her eyes! 

Sincerely, 

Diane Sulg Executive Director 
CRAFT

Thank you Diane and the Richard Dobbs Spaight Chapter of the DAR for this award.

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Ireland – Scotland Part 2

I took this trip in October 2018, just shortly after the hurricane. I have been on several trips since but am just now getting around to finishing this post!

We met up with the rest of the group in Dublin then traveled north to the  Giant’s Causeway, a geological area in Northern Ireland. It’s also where a lot of The Game of Thrones was shot. Then we continued along Causeway Coastal Route to catch our ferry to Scotland, and ultimately the Isle of Iona in the Inner Hebrides, a group of islands off the coast of Scotland.

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Our bus took us to Oban to catch the ferry Craignure on the Isle of Mull. There are mostly single lane roads on this island, but there were lots of places to pull out to let others pass. We headed to Fionnphort to catch our next ferry. This island is the second largest island in the Hebrides, so the one lane road was a surprise since we had to drive about 35 miles on it. Even though it is a large island the population is only about 3000.

Arriving in Fionnphort we got our first glimpse of Iona. A tiny island just a mile off of the Isle of Mull.

This island has been a place of Christian pilgrimage since the 6th century. It’s described as a “thin place” – there are lots of interesting articles about thin places here is one from The New York Times – and another – and one more. What is a thin place? “It is a place where the boundary between heaven and earth is especially thin. It’s a place where we can sense the divine more readily.”

Iona was the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. St Columba (grandson of the Irish King Niall) arrived there in 563 AD, built a monastery and converted the pagans to Christianity.

The island is home to the ruins of an ancient nunnery, a medieval abbey, and the burial ground of 48 Scottish kings. It’s a tiny island just 3 miles long and 1 mile wide.  Over the centuries the monks of Iona produced elaborate carvings, manuscripts and Celtic crosses. Probably their most famous work was the Book of Kells, from 800 AD, which we saw at Trinity College in Dublin.

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On the hike we crossed the most unusual golf course I’ve ever seen with grazing sheep on it.

We arrived at the beach where St Columba first landed and we picked up green serpantine marble – it is a traditional charm against drowning and the evil-eye. The stone is also called Iona greenstone or St. Columba’s tears. There are lots of different types of rocks on this island – some being the oldest rocks on earth – 3 billion years old. To read more about the geology of the area click here.

There is a rock labyrinth on the beach too.IMG_1574IMG_1557IMG_1555IMG_1541

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Our days on Iona were spent going to a worship service at the Abbey at 9 am and 9 pm each day, visiting the craft shops, reading, hiking and thinking about life. It was a relaxing visit.

While on a hike across the island we saw spray shooting up out of a hole in the top of a cave, our guide said that only happens when there are big swells on the ocean indicating a storm in the North Atlantic, and in this case heading toward Iona, more about that later.

For such a tiny island with a population of only 175 there are about 10 shops, mostly craft shops. They get about 130,000 visitors each year which supports the shops and the few hotels on the Island. You’ll find lots of things made from wool, there is a potter or two on the island, weaving, paintings, and jewelry made from local stone.

The Abbey was beautiful, the few streets on the island were picturesque, and the view of the sound was lovely.
We intended to leave on Sunday but Saturday morning we were told if we didn’t want to stay until Thursday we needed to EVACUATE today!! Evacuating two times, just weeks apart was no fun but it did add to the adventure.

Since our tour guide could not get a bus around on such short notice to pick us up we had to take public transportation to get to Glasgow. That was a trip.

We took the ferry across the sound and waited for the public bus to leave. As we drove across the island we saw 11 individual rainbows!

We took that bus to the next ferry, which took us to the train, except they were working on the tracks so we took another bus to meet the train which took us to Glasgow. By arriving there a day early we got a chance to do a little touring there. I loved the architecture in the city, we went to the cathedral then we got to go to the Kelvingrove Museum.

Then back to New Bern to get back to the cleanup after the flood. To read part 1 of this trip click here.

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How a piece comes together

I’m often asked to do commemorative pieces to be given as gifts for retirements, birthdays, weddings, etc. The piece I’m showing here was for someone whose career lasted over 30 years and she was involved in many of the projects that have shaped the way our downtown looks today.

First we started with a list of the projects…

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…I took reference photos…


…I built this pot using slabs of clay…

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…bisque fired it to 1950 degrees…
…did rough sketches of the places that were to be included on the pot…


…figured out how they could work together on the piece…
…sketched them on the pot – btw the pencil lines burn out in the kiln…
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…using underglazes painted the image then outlined the image with black line…


…covered the entire pot with a clear glaze…
…fired it again, this time to 1911 degrees…
…and it’s done!
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A one of a kind, special gift.
If you have an idea for a special gift for someone let me know! In my next post I’ll show some other pieces I’ve done for people that aren’t quite so elaborate!