Vanessa Jean Falgoust

Vanessa Jean Falgoust
Artist

Visual realization of Memories and Memories of Memories

Contact me at vanessafalgoust09@gmail.com

Copyright information / The images are copyrighted,. Please do not download them without permission

Artist Statement

My experience as a hospice chaplain was a profound honor and changed my purpose for creating artwork. My recent work is an endeavor to visually realize the subjective, dreamlike narratives of memories and memories. memories, wherein lies the sum of a person’s life.

An “objective” narrative of a major life event will not reveal the role that event played/s in a person’s spirit and self-identity. Thus, my paintings are my own memories and memories of memories. I once heard that the more personal an expression, the more likely it will engage others.

I am captured by figures and the gestures and expressions which reveal what the person is experiencing. Therefore, I am a painterly painter and recently color has played a more active and even central role in my work.

My father, *Hymel Falgoust, was an artist and Professor of Art at Southeastern Louisiana University. He encouraged me to draw and paint as a child. Even so, I did not seriously pursue drawing and painting until after I had earned a B.A. in religion and philosophy from Texas Christian University and an M.Div. from Yale University.

At the Art Students’ League of New York City, I studied figure drawing and anatomy, and traditional painting techniques. Creating art has been crucial to my life ever since. My Dad encouraged me, and after I returned from a term in Overseas Ministries (Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, two of his colleagues and friends, Gail Hood and Barbara Tardo, helped me create a portfolio for graduate school. I eventually earned an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. Most recently I have studied with Margaret McCann at the Art Students’ League after I began exploring realization of memories in painting.

Another major influence on my art journey are the writings of the theologian Søren Kierkegaard, who explored the spiritual metamorphosis of the self from despair to hope. I am inspired by manty artists, but most especially Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent Van Gogh.

I have made and sold artwork while working and serving as a minister, healthcare chaplain and hospice chaplain (my ordination is in the Disciples of Christ). My work has previously been tonal, employing traditional drawing and painting techniques. I am grateful for my background and continue to paint “indirectly” while exploring color dynamics more deeply.

I live with my husband Alan Cox, a classical musician and composer and our dachshund, Toby, in Poughkeepsie, New York.

*Hymel Falgoust Jr. was a direct descendant of Louis Marcel Falgoust, a physician and surgeon, who arrived in Louisiana at the bidding of the Bourbon Court. Because he was born into a French speaking family in St. James Parish, my works referring to him and my native state are titled in French.

About Me

Education: Texas Christian University, B.A., Yale Divinity School, M.Div., The Art Students’ League of New York City, L’école des beaux-arts de St. Giles, Bruxelles, Belgique; The San Francisco Art Institute, M.F, A.

Vocation as an Artist: I have created art my whole life. My father, Hymel Falgoust, was Professor of Art at Southeastern Louisiana University whose spiritual journey was rich and profound. I learned early in life that the truth about how and why human beings are here is most fully and deeply known through metaphor and the arts. Upon returning from my term in overseas ministries in Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo), my father encouraged me to consider my talent in drawing and painting. I subsequently earned a graduate degree in drawing and painting.

Selected Group Art Exhibitions: Gallery of the Art Students’ League of New York City, Centre Culturel Jacques Franke, Art de la Ville , Bruxelles, Belgium, Southeast United States Juried Exhibition, Houma, LA, Arts for the Mission District, San Francisco, CA, , San Francisco Bay Area MFA Honor’s Exhibition, San Francisco, CA, Lower Eastside Artforce, New York, NY, Salmagundi Club Gallery, New York, NY, Park Avenue Christian Church, Art for Lent and Easter, New York, NY. Solo Art Exhibitions: Southeastern Louisiana University Clark Hall Art Gallery, Hammond, LA, El Taller Latinoamericano

le miracle du petit garçon et de ses oiseaux, paroisse Saint-Jacques

One Morning in Leflore County, Mississippi, Year 1931

An experience relayed to me by my mother.
She was about four or five years old at the time.

After the Storm

So very many storms

l'odyssée de mon père

So many, many of so many memories relayed to me

Night Ride from New Orleans to El Paso

West Texas at three o’clock in the morning after being on the road for twelve hours in route to San Francisco with Dad.

Fools and Cowards

I was about six years old when Dad received a threat from the Ku Klux Klan. He was working with a taskforce to help the impending desegregation of public schools move in a hopeful and positive direction. Apparently, this offended some. I heart Dad and Mom talking about the message rolled up on the front door stoop and was frightened. Dad put me on his knee and said “Honey, don’t worry, they are nothing but fools and cowards.”