Avadora June Look Book

Avadora June Look Book

A Collection of Artist Inspiration and Selected Works

by Franchesca Taylor

This Look Book blends the art, inspiration and urban planning projects of Franchesca Taylor.

Family

Purpose + Dedication Avadora June Š 2017

Originally from Prichard, AL, Franchesca began painting after studying abroad in Rome, Italy. Inspired by the use of art to tell stories in basilicas and public spaces, her work narrates her life events.

The Avadora June collection showcases her influences.

The title of the collection is a composite of family names.

Each piece within the collection is a metaphor, or phrased poem. The artist plays with words just as she plays on perspectives, to tell multiple stories in each piece. Her mediums of choice are oil and acrylic.

- Dedicated to Momma, Pops and Nae’, the home team.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Artist’s Inspiration Artwork Poems

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Chapter 2: Poems, Projects and Pictures Womanhood Sankofa Eye Sea Pop – Up Project She Whispers to the Ocean Untitled + Italy Sketch Family Portraits Your Light + Ancestry

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Artist Info

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On Self-Knowledge Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.

You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

Chapter 1 Artist’s Inspiration

And it is well you should.

The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea; And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure; And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."

Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."

For the soul walks upon all paths.

The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.

The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.

- Khalil Gibran 4

Kehinde Wiley Judith and Holofernes

Artist’s Inspiration Artworks

Monica Stewart Flow

Jacob Lawrence Great Migration Series: And the Migration Spread.

Charles White Love Letter III

Aaron Douglas Building More Stately Mansions

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I, Too, Sing America I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes.

Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.

Artist’s Inspiration Selected Poems

- Langston Hughes

We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask!

-Paul Laurence Dunbar 6

Chapter 2 Poems, Projects and Pictures

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Womanhood Oil on canvas, 44� x 20�.

Exploring themes of femininity this piece reflects the likeness of woman who have influenced the artist. The piece layers coats of paint to create texture and dimension. Warm colors illustrate the personalities of the face-less figures.

Poems, Projects, and Pictures Womanhood

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: Womanhood

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: Womanhood in Black and White

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Sankofa National Historic Park Franchesca’s life goal is to help improve the way people live. This was the driving force behind attaining her graduate degree in Community Planning and a constant reminder as she navigates her career. While in graduate school, she authored a plan to connect the Historic African – American sites through the state of Alabama. Visitors could travel the entire state using various modes of transportation, each mode symbolic to the state’s history.

Sankofa is a West African phrase, that loosely means, “to understand your past, to embrace your future”.

Poems, Projects, and Pictures Sankofa

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Eye Sea Oil on canvas, 32� x 24�.

A play on words and perspective this fanciful piece captures the beauty of a sunset through the eye of the beholder. The iris of the pupil mimics the glory of the sun. The artist continually experiments with blending the subject of the artwork with its surrounding landscape.

Poems, Projects, and Pictures Eye Sea

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: Eye Sea 10

Pop – Up Project Oftentimes, helping create change has started with helping people see the need for an improved quality of life. Pop-Up Project allowed citizens to reimagine their pedestrian experience.

With an emphasis on economic development, multimodal connectivity and public art, the Pop-Up Project helped spur development in Birmingham, AL. Layout Credit: Jessica Fadelvich

Poems, Projects, and Pictures Pop – Up Project

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She Whispers to the Ocean She whispers to the ocean, the sun covets her skin. Oil on canvas, 24” x 36”. Of note in this piece is the play on perspective. The woman figure whispers to the ocean in the foreground while becoming part of the background landscape. This technique acts to invoke a sense of oneness with the subject’s environment.

In 2015, this painting was displayed in a storefront in Ensley, Alabama; a historically black neighborhood currently undergoing redevelopment.

Poems, Projects, and Pictures She whispers to the Ocean

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: She Whispers to the Ocean

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Untitled The sun glimmered and caressed my cheek.

I thought of you and smiled Because I loved how you warmed me.

Later, the sun hide its glow In the horizon To make room for the dusk.

The sky changed colors.

And I recalled every feeling I’ve felt about you.

Later, before bed, I prayed.

Picked a star, and wished to never think of you again.

- Franchesca Taylor

Poems, Projects, and Pictures Untitled + Italy Sketch

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: Artist Sketch of an Italian Piazza

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Family Portraits A work in progress, Family Portraits are oil on four 12� square canvases. Using a vivid floral theme, they depict the beauty and mystery of their subjects.

Poems, Projects, and Pictures Family Portraits

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: Family Portraits – Works in Progress

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Your Light Death is a strange friend He plays doorkeeper to two worlds, - the now, and the eternal.

Survivors are few.

For as those around you die, so do you.

Yet, death reminds us to live while there is still a chance to.

It gives meaning to life.

And, if you’ve loved And were loved.

Cried and laughed, all in any one day’s course.

- Then, Death has yielded to the time set by your light.

- Franchesca Taylor

Poems, Projects, and Pictures Your Light + Ancestry

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: Ancestry 15

Artist Info AvadoraJune@gmail.com INSTA: @BlackUrbanistTraveller TWITTER: @easycovrsation

Franchesca Taylor Avadora June: The Collection 16